Are modern 22 LR so unreliable?

[Clusterfrack]

I have never to my knowledge had an age-related malfunction in any centerfire cartridge. I have shot ammo that has been lying around for 30+ years, and has lead bloom on the bullets. I also amuse myself by trying to fire factory 9mm that I find sitting in a rain puddle. They all go bang.

I can't count how many .22LR failure-to-fire malfunctions I've had. Hundreds at least. One factor is clearly age, even if the ammo has been stored in a dry, cool place. CCI Mini-mags, Wolf Match Target, and SK Plus have been the most trouble free.

Personally, I wouldn't use any .22 auto for life-safety purposes.

[GJM]

I have never to my knowledge had an age-related malfunction in any centerfire cartridge. I have shot ammo that has been lying around for 30+ years, and has lead bloom on the bullets. I also amuse myself by trying to fire factory 9mm that I find sitting in a rain puddle. They all go bang.

I can't count how many .22LR failure-to-fire malfunctions I've had. Hundreds at least. One factor is clearly age, even if the ammo has been stored in a dry, cool place. CCI Mini-mags, Wolf Match Target, and SK Plus have been the most trouble free.

Personally, I wouldn't use any .22 auto for life-safety purposes.

Interesting. We had a CZ bolt blow up with .17 HMR, and Hornady reimbursed us and said that .17 rim fire loading was subject to an aging issue. That was it for .17 HMR for us.

[the Schwartz]

....LCR .22LR...

Forced to rely on a .22LR for defense, the LCR22 is what I'd choose for its ability to cycle past a 'dud' round with another pull of the trigger. A ''reload'' would be a second LCR22 carried off-side.

[farscott]

I shoot a lot of .22 LR. Cases and cases of it through firearms ranging from a Winchester 52D to stock Ruger Standard RST6 models with ammo ranging from fifty-year old Federal to SK bought in 2023. I have experienced misfires where the round was loaded into the chamber and the firing pin strike is solid with a variety of high-quality firearms in great condition. Try the round again with the firing pin striking a different part of the rim and some did fire. Some did not.

CCI is the most trouble free when comparing bulk ammo. The European target stuff is the most reliable period.

[awp_101]

Interesting. We had a CZ bolt blow up with .17 HMR, and Hornady reimbursed us and said that .17 rim fire loading was subject to an aging issue. That was it for .17 HMR for us.

No kidding? I’ve got half a box that probably dates to the mid-aughts. I’ve kept it around in case I ever run across an HMR that interests me in both price and features (I had to buy it, I have ammo for it!).

Perhaps I should File 13 it out of caution.

[GJM]

As I pulled into the range a few hours ago, I saw a man standing, trying to clear a malfunction in an AR looking long gun. As I looked closer, I could see it was a M&P 22 magazine.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

I forget that I had a very nice Ruger SS Bearcat. Pretty, SA gun. Sold it as I had more use for the money. No problems with it though. Usually shot CCI. Lately - Herter's 22 LR hasn't given me problems. I bought a G44 for the theory of a cheap ammo practice gun. Turns out that I hardly use it for that. Took it to practice day but didn't see what it gave me except the lesser cost.

Like it, might be an old age gun? But I'm still good hand wise.

[ragnar_d]

It's been several years, but my last stint in the firearms industry involved a lot of time behind the trigger on .22 rifles and pistols (more pistols than rifles). I have seen guns go tens of thousands of rounds with sub-1% stoppage rates factoring in both ammunition related and gun/magazine related. I don't have my notes anymore, but I recall the rifles were more problematic than the pistols from my testing. The aforementioned M&P 15-22 did seem to be slightly higher stoppage rate than a 10/22 but it was close overall. The bulk of the ammo I shot was CCI Standard but also included ammunition from Winchester and Remington as well. I have not messed with any Remington .22 post-Federal buyout. Of the big three, I recall that Winchester seemed the most problematic, then (Cerberus era) Remington, with CCI/Federal being the top performers.

The caveat I will put on that is that a lot of those guns were used and abused on an indoor test range, not "real world". Could that put an asterisk next to the data? Maybe, maybe not. But the performance I had seen outside of testing would indicate that it did correlate to actual use cases.

In a properly designed gun plus quality, modern .22 ammo, I think the "rimfires aren't reliable" ideology might be

Interesting. We had a CZ bolt blow up with .17 HMR, and Hornady reimbursed us and said that .17 rim fire loading was subject to an aging issue. That was it for .17 HMR for us.

My limited experience with .17HMR was enough to make me just decide to stick with .22LR and .22WMR.

[awp_101]

This is from last Sunday’s session:



Recent production (within the past 2 years) CCI SV, pistol was a HS Supermatic Trophy. It didn’t like feeding the CCI but the rest of the CCI rounds that fed fired.