.22 Caliber Reliability

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HughScot

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I have shot several thousand rounds of .22 ammo back in the 60s and 70s and never have had a misfire, yesterday in a Conceal Carry class the instructor said he couldn't fire over 100 rounds without a misfire....rifle or handgun. Did the manufacturing process and quality control decrease that much in the last thirty years? He said his experience was the same with all brands.
 
I think he exaggerated a bit, but in all yes I have seen more misfires with rimfire ammo than with center fire. It wouldn't surprise me if I had 3 or 4 failures per 1000 rounds. They will usually fire if picked up and tried again, making me think the priming compound wasn't spread uniformly along the rim...

I will say rimfire semi-auto pistols are more prone to feeding errors. Meaning... It will happen some. Most tube magazine rifles do just fine and are about as reliable as a firearm can be. 10/22s and their magazine system is pretty good too, though some of the cheaper aftermarket 30 round mags have feeding issues.
 
A great deal depends on the quality of the ammo and the firearm used. If that instructor didn't try a bunch of brands and was using a semi-auto pistol or rifle, it's entirely possible to have a lot of misfires.
That being said, I ran CF ranges every school year weekend for 6 years using low end IVI standard velocity ammo in No. 7 Rifles and Anschutz target rifles with no misfires. Shot brick after brick of Remington Target ammo out of my Smith 41 with no fuss either. The 41 liked the IVI stuff too, but hated anything else.
 
Maybe imprecise language? If you are running a .22LR detachable magazine semi-auto, your chances of getting a stoppage in 100rds are fairly decent - especially if you aren't using a brand of ammo tested with that firearm.

Now a misfire? That's rare in my experience. And if you grew up shooting bolt-action .22s or revolvers, you probably experienced a lot less problems as semi-autos were less common.
 
I think you have been very lucky and he has been very unlucky; or he is exaggerating a bit to make a point. Due to the manufacturing process 22 rimfire has always been subject to more misfires than centerfire ammo. If he is truly getting 1/100 I'd try another brand of ammo.
 
I have a couple of conversion kits for pistols that have never had a misfire or jams after thousands of rounds. I have several different kind of .22 rifles. The only ones that get misfires are the 10/22s. They misfire about 1 in 200 till they get dirty then much more frequently. The 10/22s also jam regularly, especially when dirty.
 
The 10/22s also jam regularly, especially when dirty.
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I don't doubt your experience. Mine has been rather different. I have a 10/22 that I deliberately did not clean, at all, for over 10 years. used with Ruger, Butler Creek, and Ramline mags, never jammed, never failed in any way (other than the top 2 rounds in a Ramline 50, which was the mag's fault)

When I finally decided to clean it, (since it wouldn't seem to quit) powder residue was 1/4" thick, all over the inside of the action, except where the bolt had run.

My opinion, and worth what you paid for it, is that if you have a 10/22 that jams regularly, then there is some issue with either your ammo, or your gun, or the fit between them. ;)
 
I don't doubt your experience. Mine has been rather different. I have a 10/22 that I deliberately did not clean, at all, for over 10 years. used with Ruger, Butler Creek, and Ramline mags, never jammed, never failed in any way (other than the top 2 rounds in a Ramline 50, which was the mag's fault)

When I finally decided to clean it, (since it wouldn't seem to quit) powder residue was 1/4" thick, all over the inside of the action, except where the bolt had run.

My opinion, and worth what you paid for it, is that if you have a 10/22 that jams regularly, then there is some issue with either your ammo, or your gun, or the fit between them.
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All else being equal (and it almost never is) bigger bullets tend to work better.
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Mine like to run wet. A couple of drops of 3 in 1 and usually I won't have a jam all day. Has never had a complete clean, just a snake every so often, and spray breakup in it, re-oil.
 
I hear people say similar things, but in half a century of shooting .22LR of various sorts, including my own weight of bulk pack stuff, I have been favorably impressed with its quality. I won't say there was never a misfire, but they were quite rare. Feeding issues maybe a few more, but still not at all common.

In all honesty, I have had at least as many problems with bulk pack center fire ammo as with rim fire.

I'm going to go have a candy bar so I can keep claiming I have shot my own weight.
 
FTF rare especially if the same round is given a second chance.
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I bought a couple cases of Rem. Golden before the last two panics set in and had got what at the time was a good deal. These are sub packaged in the 525 packs. 5-10 in EACH 525 Fail To Fire double or triple struck. Both cases are from the same lot; this lot is VERY inconsistent in performance. In group outings; I would happily let the kids blast away with it just to be rid of it. I still have 4 boxes of the stuff left. I have 400 rounds left of a case of Thunderbolt I bought a couple years earlier....that batch ran beautifully. I keep those as a control batch.

During and between the shortages, I have seen too many reports of certain brands having quality control issues. Big Green seems to be the most notorious.
 
Actually, the formulation of the priming compound changed a about 10 years ago. The new formulation is much less reliable than it was before.
 
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