.22 pistol shooters

J

Joe-ker

New member
My Mark IV bolt likes to hang up on the lead round nose Federals. It didn't bother at first but after getting some use aka dirty it does. Cleaning and lubing definitely helps but still a problem. Of course I stocked up on the Federals because they were cheap. Seen the same issue with 10/22. Leaning towards something plated like Aguila or something else in the future. Just wondering what results others have seen. Seems like when I was a kid plated/jacketed were the norm.
 
Loaded chamber indicator?

Does the Mark 4 have that device? My Mark 3 did, note the past tense. that pistol went from jam o matic to boring reliability thanks to removal of that device.
 
My Mark II and my 10/22s feed unplated bullets fine. I shoot The Fed auto comp in the Mark II, CCI standard in the 10/22. It is important to clean the bolt face and the rear bbl face on the Mark II, any kind of grunge will cause a mis-fire. I shot Auto Comp in the 10/22 years ago, function was OK but lacked the accuracy of the CCI STD. Also, try some CCI Tactical, it is plated and is very good in a couple of my standard 10/22s. The plated bullets will prolly be cleaner than the lead ones.
 
“Doctor, it hurts when I do this.”
“Don’t do that.”

All of my .22s hate Federal ammo with a passion.
I found CCI blazer to shoot exactly like CCI SV but cheaper. Lot to lot, your mileage may vary.

My 10/22 loves Aguila (regular ol standard velocity. What they call it changes... it was on sale cheaper than Blazer. It smells different, not bad, just different.
 
Bulk-Packs ????

Joe-ker
I am going to guess that you are seeing this problem with the Federal "bulk-pack" ammo. I have had these problems as well and that is why I no longer buy any Federal bulk-pack ammo. I save this ammo for plinking out of my non-semi-autos. I am also Leary of "any" bulk-packs. .. … :mad:

If any LR ammo is going to fail the cut in Semi-Autos, it's the Bulk-Packs.

Be Safe !!!
 
I've found my Mk. I gets finicky with cheap, bulk, round-nose lead bullets when it gets a little dirty, too. Solution is to not let it get dirty :)

I took it out to play a couple weeks ago. Observed that I'd apparently neglected to clean it after its last time out. It appeared to be "not too bad," so I just went with it. It did give me trouble on the first mag-full or so, then settled down and ran fine.

(It did get cleaned, this time.)
 
Really lead?

There really isn't a reason to shoot plain lead bullets anymore especially in .22You can get copper plated or some other plating for about the same price or about a half a cent to one cent a round more. Shooting the plated sure does help to keep the gun clean especially the barrel. A box of 100 CCI Mini Mags I have seen as low as $5.50 for a box of 100. That is what I have been mostly shooting for the last 30 years in .22 caliber.
 
briandg---I'd be curious to know more/ a pic of what you did.

Ricklin the 4 does not have the indicator.

Pahoo--- this was 50 rd boxed in brick ammo.

I'm definitely going to be a little better with my cleaning, and try some plated---as mentioned it can be had for similar price if a guy takes the time to shop around.

Thanks all.
 
My MkIV chokes hard on each Federal ammo I’ve tried, except the Gold Match boxes. It runs find on the Gold Match. Oddly, my wife’s Buckmark does the same thing.

I’ve just crossed Federal off my ammo list. It’s the one consistent brand that fails in majority of my semi-auto 22s.

I will say the Auto-Match has been pretty good for me, but I can get a CCI box of 500 for not much more, so I don’t bother much with anything else for basic plinking.
 
I've been shooting lead round nose in all my semi auto 22s. My MarkIII loves Remington Thunderbolt. My M&P 22 compact is partial to Blazer. For whatever reason the Ruger's groups double in size with the Blazer. My rifles perform very well with the Blazer and only slightly less with the Thunderbolt. All in all, I've had some good success with $16/500 Rd bulk pack Remington Thunderbolt. I haven't used Federal for a little while. I had a couple boxes that gave me issues so I moved on. I don't care for Winchester.
 
Here's a url for Ed Harris experiments with .22 LR, both as to function and accuracy...for those of you not familiar, Ed was in Ruger's technical dept for years and on the American Rifleman staff as well...also the originator of "Ed's Red" arguably the most famous of home-brew gun cleaning/lubricating formulas. You can take his recommendations to the bank. Rod
http://www.grantcunningham.com/2012/06/ed-harris-friday-testing-22-ammunition/

This 2nd reference is to Ed's Back Creek Diary...a very useful page on a variety of shooting topics, but pay particular attn. to the .22 LR pages, there are several. The original recipe for "Ed's Red" can also be found here.
http://www.hensleygibbs.com/edharris/backcreekdiary.htm
 
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My High Standard revolver not surprisingly eats everything but so does my Woodsman, and Federal has generally been my go-to in the cheap bulk boxes.
 
My collection of .22lr pistols includes Ruger Mkii (2), Ruger Mkiii (3), S&W Models 41 (2), S&W Models 422 (2) and a Hammerli Xesse Sport. I think I have a couple of others, can't remember their brands just now. Also shoot a Ruger 10/22 and an Auschutz (sp?) bolt action. Most of the time if I keep everything clean and either coated or uncoated ammo works/feeds OK. Recently, I been shooting Aguila Super Extra HV 40gr coated with Ely primers, have almost used 10,000 rounds without any issues. Had used more than 15,000 rounds of Armscor 38gr HVHP with minimum random problems. Recently, using a new 5,000 round batch of Armscor I've experienced a 6% rate of failure to fire, all fed OK.

Folks tend to say certain guns tend not "like" certain ammo. Or, certain ammo seems to work better. Perhaps they're correct. I suspect I've been lucky with the guns I bought. Cleaning the guns regularly surely helps. I do lean toward the idea that certain ammo works better. CCI, Aguila (coated and uncoated) along with Armscor (until this last batch) have worked well for me, therefore I've stayed with them. I don't like this recent 6% failure experienced with Armscor, Since I bought 5,000 more rounds of it I guess we need to talk.
 
My experience is that CCI is the most consistent of the popular priced made in USA ammo.
I no longer buy Remington, Winchester,and only Auto Comp Federal. I've shot too much that was crappy, bad priming, under powered, inaccurate. I have been reading good things about Remington as of late but had such bad luck with it in the past I haven't bought any lately. Right now CCI, SK, Ely are all available at good prices, not as cheap as bulk Rem or Fed but still at decent prices.
 
Never much problem problem with CCI std velocity which is about the low end of what we use. SK and RWS are all good with accuracy as well as reliability. As was mentioned by pete2, decent ammo can be had at a fair price now so no reason to shoot questionable 22 LR.
 
There really isn't a reason to shoot plain lead bullets anymore especially in .22You can get copper plated or some other plating for about the same price or about a half a cent to one cent a round more.
Click to expand...

The very best target or match grade 22lr ammo are lead bullets with no plating. I use CCI Std. Vel. , SK , Wolf or Fed Match - not high end stuff but I'll take it over hi-vel for accuracy.

For plinking hi-vel or anything reliable works.
 
This is why you need to try a box of as many brands as you can to find the ammo your pistol both shoots well and cycles the action. .22's are just like that.
So change ammo.
It's also why you don't buy anything in bulk until it's proven to work. Got a .22 bolt action rifle?
 
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