Dang rimfire ammo...

22 Long Rifle ammo is finicky. Tell us all about it here.
caseyboy
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Re: Dang rimfire ammo...

Post by caseyboy »

At our club, I take care of the dud box. I pull everything apart including rimfire. Lead goes into the bucket to cast fishing weights, powder gets colleted and used as fertilizer and brass goes into the scrap bucket. I look at a lot of the rimfire that has a strike to see what happened. In most cases, it was a portion of the rim without primer compound. If the round were twisted and tried again, it would go. I even see this on the pricey stuff.
Jerry G
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Re: Dang rimfire ammo...

Post by Jerry G »

I replace my springs every couple of years. I shoot Eley of many different color boxes. White, orange, blue, black, and red. I can't remember the last time I had a misfire.

The guy I was spotting for at the WY SB match was having problems with misfires. I think he had 4 or 3 in one 40 round match. We put a new spring in after the match and his problem went away. I'm not saying that is a 'cure all' but it seems to help when you are shooting target grade ammo.
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timfinle
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Re: Dang rimfire ammo...

Post by timfinle »

Here is something someone told me just recently.

A firing pin that hits inconsistently can cause a difference in accuracy. If you get a light strike that fires, but is not same solid strike as the previous bullet can cause the bullet to change point of impact.

I just had my firing pin lengthened on my uberti 1866 22lr just because of this situation. The rifle now fires consistently every time and when it misses, its all me. Well, at lease so far.
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steve b.
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Re: Dang rimfire ammo...

Post by steve b. »

Howdy all,

I have seen this too from different ammunition manufacturers from time to time, and it just seems to be a part of the mid-level rimfire ammunition game. I have seen the occurances dro poff quite a bit over the years, so overall I think the ammunition has gotten better. Still, it happens. When I was shooting alot of BR, I would get it in various lots of Eley Black Match and it made me crazy. One "Dropper", and you were done for the rest of the day. When you're shooting 10's and X's, and then you roll one into the black (we call it dirt at our club), you cannot recover from the point loss.

But, there is also a few other issues that come into play here.

1. Ignition..! Yes, weak ignition really magnifies the problem. A strong ignition can "shock" the rear of the case enough to make the round go off, even if there isn't primer material directly under the case rim. I don't have an hard testing to support that, but I have also changed springs and the problem seemed to nearly go away in the same lot of ammunition. It's always worth a try. A new set of J&P springs is not a bad investment any how.

2. FP length, yeah, check this. FP's wear out and it's a good thing to check in relation to your headspace.

3. Ignition speed. I'm probably gonna upset someone's apple cart, but I feel light and fast is the best ignition method. Slow and heavy can create a serious lookin mark in the case rim, but it still won't set it off as reliably as a light ans fast hit. With that said, make sure there is nothing in your bolt that dragging on the FP, things like debris, goo, spanish moss, or anything else. The Spanish Moss is for my cajun friends.

4. Monday morning ammunition. Some lots are just better than others. I try to avoid the ones made on Monday morning.

Good luck!
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