10/22 ruger jamming

Mark Gregory

Inactive
Have any of you have the problem with your 10/22 not fully ejecting the spent cartridge, causing a jam? Or is the 10/22 just sensitive to what ammo is fed to it?
 
10-22 jamming

I have had the same problem with my two 10-22's ever since day one. I have yet to talk to anyone that has not had jamming problems with one. They are a fun gun to shoot but you get what you pay for with them. They are not top of the line rifles and they are very prone to jamming. I have had alot better results with my Remington and Marlin tube fed autos than with my 10-22's. The nature of the beast, I believe.
 
Have you ever splurged and got it any ammo besides cheap bulk ammo?

My 10/22 has had fits on range trips before. Always when my cheap buddy brings cheap ammo. When I fill it up with CCI Mini-Mags it just purrs right along though, or Stingers, or Federal red box.It does 'ok' with Rem bulk but with some jams.
 
The majority of jamming problems I've had with mine were solved with different ammo. Try a good cleaning, then buy some CCI mini-mags. If that doesn't work, I'd have someone look at the extractor and ejector, or just replace them. I put a volquartsen extractor in mine after a few thousand rounds and don't remember the last time it jammed - then again I dont remember last time I shot something other than Minimag ammo in it. Worth a try.
 
I've never had a jam in my 10-22. Bought it new for $39.00 in 1974, shot a bazillion rounds thru it, cleaned it once in all those years. Love it.
 
I have come to realize that it must be the cheap ammo. I loaded the marlin 60 full, and then shot several magazines full. With the cheapie ammo, you would be amazed at the difference in report between rounds. A few rounds sound really hot, most sound about the same, and a few will be weak, and you can tell power on them is weak. I believe the weak rounds are not cycling the action hard enough to fully eject the spent shell. My best guess as to what is happening.
 
I sampled about 10 different types of ammo. I wanted to stick with Standard velocity to improve Benchrest accuracy and have never had an issue with Wolf Ammo. Just my 2 cents:D
 
For me, the cheap bulk Remington ammo caused both of my 10/22's to jam up. I started to use CCI and Federal Champion ammo and they both work pretty well. Also, you might want to try a new magazine. Wally world has factory 10/22 mags pretty cheap.
 
what worked for me

I radius'd the bolt, ever since then, it ejects the rounds very cleanly, plus cocking the rifle is much easier. Just took a few minutes with a file and then a good polish.
 
A 10-22 that runs well on cheap ammo is a RARE gun. I switched over to Marlins, they are drastically more reliable and drastically more accurate when comparing one base model to the other straight out of the box.

I have had a half dozen 10-22's looking for 'the one', several of them were reliable with Mini-Mags and high end target ammo, but why put up with it when I can get a gun that costs less and is more accurate and reliable? 5-10 TIMES the cost of cheap ammo to get the gun to run doesn't seem reasonable to me, not when 99% of what I will do with the gun is plinking.
 
Wow, I guess we got lucky with my kids 10/22. :confused: I had no idea so many people were having problems with cheap ammo. We put thousands of the cheapest bulk ammo I can find downrange. The only problems I've seen with it were all magazine related. With factory mags it'll run 100% on any ammo. I do clean mine after every time out and have since it was new.
 
Mine had problems from day one also. But after I got about 3000 rounds down the pipe, that all went away. I haven't had a jam with any ammo for a long time now. And stay away from Remington rimfire ammo. I remember shooting Thunderbolts out of my M60 when I was a kid. What a joke. That stuff was absolute crap. Squibs every other shot, some that seemed double charged. CCI blazer is now my cheap plinking ammo and it does great. Mini-Mags for hunting. Winchester Wildcats from Wally world do great also.
 
I need to feed mine CCI mini-mags usually. Bulk ammo seems to stovepipe a lot for me. There are some tips available at rimfirecentral.com like polishing the "op rod" I think it's called and some other DIY things for better reliability. After performing their suggestions, my results with bulk are better but still not as reliable as with quality ammo.
Tom
 
Days long ago I used CCI in my Ruger and never had problems with it, I guess I just liked the pretty plastic boxes! I have gotten a bit better accuracy lately with Winchester Super X and any Win. that is copper plated seems to work OK in all my 22's. Even got some bricks of PMC Zapper once and it was apparently not as hot as some of the other hivel brands, but was accurate. Only ammo that would ever give me jams was the stuff with the funny pointed bullets instead of the round nose shape. It would hang up on the edge of the chambers. My Rugers were notable among 22's in that they would never seem to have much problems with jamming, but I am usually a meticulous cleaner. I clean after any trip to the range, if only wipe down the bore and breach face(q tips). I don't try to see if I can get thousands of rounds without doing it. Might not be a problem but I try to avoid problems. I never have bought any Remington bulk ammo so that might be the problem you all are having, a couple junky brands. Maybe the priming is not spread out evenly in the rim causing misfires.
 
I've never had a jam in my 10-22. Bought it new for $39.00 in 1974, shot a bazillion rounds thru it, cleaned it once in all those years.

same here, only I bought the deluxe model for about $80. My oldest son also has a newer 10/22(1990s) and I have never seen him have a problem either....must be luck of the draw. The youngest son decided on a Remington pump instead.......
 
Lots of 22rf over the years. The ones that NEVER jammed were Ruger 10-22's and a Remington Nylon 66 (1958 vintage). With any LR ammo. My 10-22's are 70s versions, too, so maybe workmanship has slipped as in much of Ruger's offerings since Bill Sr passed on.

Had a Stevens M87 that after many thousand rounds liked to go full auto on me. Emptied the mag ... but if you released the trigger it jammed good! Was actually fun on jackrabbits.:)
 
"...cheapie ammo..." The price of the ammo isn't the problem. You could use the most expensive .22 ammo there is and still have the problem. The rifle just doesn't like that particular brand. You have to try as many brands as you can to find the one or two your rifle will shoot well and cycle the action. The cost of said ammo means nothing. .22's are just like that.
 
My son and I almost always use CCI Mini-Mags in his 10/22. Never a jam in years of shooting. Many thousands of rounds. Recently on a day of shooting with a couple friends I noticed he and his friend with another 10/22 were getting some jams and found out they loaded them with some Remingtons the friend had brought. I think they were Thunderbolts. Switching back to Mini-Mags solved the problem.Mini's may be a little more than the cheaper
.22's but they are still cheap fun and much more accurate and destructive than the cheaper stuff. I've converted many that came to my home to shoot to CCI just by letting them use some. I ought to be on commission.
 
My Ruger 10/22T that I purchased new is a jam-0-matic. Finally had a gunsmith look at the rifle. The extractor is such a poor fit that it never engages the rim. The next time you clean the rifle, take out the bolt. Slide a 22 case under the extractor and see if there is a tight fit or if you have plenty of space. Those people who have reliable 10/22s must have properly fit extractors. Finally sent my bolt back to Ruger and asked that they correctly fit the extractor to the bolt. As the rifle was shipped, the cases were simply blowing backwards out of the chamber. After a magazine or 2 the jamming rate approached 50%. I tried every sort of ammo, new after market extractors, new barrels, etc. I tend to like Rugers, but 3 of the 4 Rugers I've recently purchased had to be sent back for repairs. Someone appears to be asleep at the wheel.
 
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