Question on .22 Magnum

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Visor1

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I'm a new member and have a question some of you may be able to help with. I'm wondering whether the number of misfires (failure to fire) of a .22 magnum is similar to that of a .22 LR. I recently bought a .22 pistol to target shoot and was surprised to get two misfires in the first 30 shots using Federal ammo.

A friend told me this happens some with .22s. I'm pretty new to handguns, so I haven't had much experience myself yet. Have any of you found that other brands of ammo are more reliable?

I have thought about buying a Ruger .22/.22 Mag., but I don't really want to buy another .22 if misfires happen pretty often.

Thanks in advance for any information or experience you might have.
 
If I understand you correctly, you got the misfires with .22 LR not .22 Magnum, right? No, .22 Magnum rounds don't get anywhere near the number of misfires that general quality .22 LR rounds do. I believe the quality control standards are much higher for .22 Mag.
 
You did not specify the type of firearm. This is always helpful when "diagnostifcating."

MOST LIKELY: Check that the rear of the chamber, where the firing pin strikes, is not dented. The dent comes from dry firing and if it's deep enough, the firing pin can't strike a sufficient blow.

ALSO:

Check that the firing pin (if any) and its spring (if any) are clean and reasonably free to move when the hammer hits it.

Check that the hammer or striker spring is not weakened.

Check that all firing mechanism parts are clean and can move freely.

Check the age and storage history of the ammunition, and maybe try a different brand.
 
Yeah, sounds like a gun problem not an ammo problem. You should be able to go through hundreds of rounds without any failures to fire. Try cleaning the firing pin, might be gummed up so it isn't hitting hard enough.

Or, it might be a bad lot of ammo, I suppose it happens sometimes. Try a different brand.
 
Waynedm, I HAVE had more than one bad BRICK of CCI minimags (and I don't shoot that many minimags, so two or three bad bricks out of less than 30 is not a good ratio). Say, 10% of them failed to fire (rotated 180 degrees, and they shot fine...bad spot on the primer).

It can happen to any manufacturer, any caliber, but rimfires can really have that problem a lot.

As for .22 magnum, you probably won't see such cheap/shoddy ammo as often, because there isn't the super high demand for lowest common denominator ammo like you do in the 22lr (everyone wants 2 cent per shot ammo...). Anytime you are manufacturing something with such a thin profit margin, you are going to see a higher incidence of shoddy manufacturing.
 
Standard .22 rim fire ammo uses a heel-type bullet. .22 Mag does not.

The bullet for a .22 mag cartridge is forced into the case mouth the same as with any center fire cartridge these days.

It's this difference that I believe causes standard .22 cartridges to misfire so often. The case being roll crimped into that bullet heel doesn't provide as much of a sealing surface as simply forcing the bullet into the case, like a cork in a bottle, does. This allows moisture and oil to slip past and deactivate either the powder, primer, or both ( How many times have you heard to keep .22 LR dry and free of excess oil? ). The heeled bullets also aren't as sturdy, having a bit less support at the rear of the bullet, and can get loose in the case if they're handled much, making the case even less water/oil resistant.

But it's the rim fire primer that ends up taking the blame, not the bullet construction. So, all rim fire ammo is usually considered less-than-trustworthy, even though the system, if sealed up tight ( or simply kept dry ), is fairly reliable.



J.C.
 
.22 Magnum cartridges vary quite a bit in case head hardness and some guns will not reliably fire with certain brands.

The most reliable cartridges I have found are Winchester, these will reliably fire in about all the various .22 Magnum firearms on the market.
Unfortunately finding any sort of Winchester .22s available on the market right now is pretty touch and go.

CCI full metal jacket rounds are my second choice.
 
After suffering through MANY 'dud' Remington Thunderbolts (that fired when struck on the other side of the rim), I pulled apart a couple boxes to look at the priming compound.

Sure enough, there were several with gaps in the compound that, luck of the draw, is where the firing pin hits...you have a 'clink' instead of BANG.

Heel type bullet construction certainly CAN allow more moisture/oil into the case...but I'd wager that most misfires are just gaps in the priming compound on the Mega-mass produced .22's.

Building over 2 Billion rounds a year means they are spitting them out! If you are just plinking, an occasional dud isn't that troubling and the bulk ammo is OK. If you are target shooting and it actually matters that you have 100% reliability, you might need to go to Target Grade ammo and pay the increased price for the more careful assembly.
 
Thanks for replies!

Thanks for all your replies.

The gun is a new Taurus (I should have mentioned that.) As near as I tell it is clean.

I'll try some other brands of ammo and see what hapens.

I'm glad to hear that the magnum ammo is probably more reliable. after the other commnets though, and reading some of the other threads on 22 mag for self defense, I doubt I'll buy a 22 mag.

This a great forum, I've learned a lot just reading.
Thanks!
 
My .22 mag misfired every shot for a while. I then figured out why not to get that foaming bore cleaner anywhere but in the bore. It gum's things up quite a bit. After a good hose down with Break-Free it work's great again.
 
ive noticed the same qual control with 22lr the cheeper u go the less go bang

if you have to bet ur life on 22lr go with fedral ultra match target ammo this stuff is dimpled in the case head to asure the distribution of the priming into the rimspace,ive never had a round not fire.

of coure ive only shot 700rds its rather expensive to blow out alot of but the testing continues.
 
husker

in the mid 80s b4 i got into hguns real serious i used to think a ruger standard mk1 loaded with stingers was the sd gun to have.then 1 night i hit a deer in my pickup,it was still alive so i tryd finishing it off with my 22.the stingers blew up on the skull and it took 1 round of rem 32 smith long from my 1st centerfire hand gun to do the job.

i know deer skulls are better armored than a bgs but i prefer to have the deck stacked in my favor espec with 22s.ill take 40 grain solids for defense and use stingers on small varmits.


all in all tho my current sd gun of choice is a glock26 loaded with 115jhp+p+
10 in the gun 17 in the spare mag(g17 mag)
 
Years ago on the line at an Army Regional Match, I knew a guy who would switch to CCI Minimags when going from the near targets to the distant set. He said that he didn't have to change the elevation that way.

During a record string, a minimag misfired and he dropped 10 points.

I think that he wished that he stayed with the Fiocci stuff.
 
Visor1,
If you find the firing pin is working properly and this happens with more than 1 brand of ammo, there exists another possibilty, however improbable, that the ammunition may be too far from the breech face.

If this is a revolver, and misfires regularly, have a gunsmith measure the distance between the firing pin orfice to the back of the cylinder and compare to factory specs. I know of 1 case where a revolvers cylinder was actually positioned ever-so-slightly forward, causing light strikes of the firing pin. A thin shim fixed it.

If an auto loader, make sure the barrel is secure and cannot move forward when locked. I had a shotgun the barrel wasn't correctly positioned that would fail to fire, and all I had to do was tighten it up. When the firing pin would strike, the round, and maybe the barrel, just moved forward slightly, enough to stop ignition.

Again, this is if everything else checks out.

PM me with what you find out, if you would.
 
Visor1;

Several here have alluded to it, but I'll specifically point to ammunition. As with any .22lr, the gun itself will almost certainly show distinct preferences for the ammo it likes. Usually this is quite noticable when an accuracy check is made.

Therefore, I'd buy a box of many different brands, and as many types within a brand, as you can reasonably afford. In your specific case, I'd not only check accuracy, but function as well. It would not surprise me in the least if you find that the fail-to-fire changes, as well as accuracy, with the changes in ammo.

900F
 
I've owned .22LR pistols for over 20 years, and .22LR rifles for the last couple years... and have never had a misfire. I shoot any brand of ammo, mostly cheap stuff. I still have a couple boxes of Winchester Wildcat that were part of a brick I bought back in the 1980s, and they shoot fine with no misfires. Mini-mags... no misfires, rem thunderbolt no misfires, etc etc.
 
twist the missfires about 90 degrees and try again. Sometimes rimfires don't have the primer compound evenly distributed. There is a reason the stuff only costs 1.99 for a box of 50.

keep the misfires and have a friend with a 22 try and shoot them. If they work fine for him that would of course indicate a firearm problem
 
Look at how deep the pin strike is the ones that fired vs the ones didn't. Variation in the depth can be a sign of some different things.

Also, I'd recommend trying some better ammo. You don't have to go too fancy, but some CCI Stingers or the like seem to be much more reliable than any of the bulk pack stuff.

With the cheaper ammo, misfires seem to be some of the trade-off. Sure you may get a few that don't fire, but when you're paying $8 per 500, it seems to make it a pretty good trade. There isn't any really cheap .22 mag ammo, so you don't run quite the same risk.
 
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