22 LR ammo observation

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I have a Ruger standard model 22 pistol, that I shoot 86 rounds per week in. Last week I finally cleaned it well for the first time in a long time. It was dirty, and having lots of malfunctions (FTF, FTE, misfires-you name it). Like many people here, I prefer to buy the cartons of ammo that has 500 or so rounds. I have been using the Winchester hollow point in the bulk packs from wally world. Last week I noticed I was almost out, so I went to replenish my ammo, and all they had was a Remington round nosed lead pack, about the same price. Today, I started by finishing up the Winchester (with a clean, well-lubed gun) and it acted just like before, for about 3 mags. Several stoppages of different types, and typically 1 or 2 misfires per mag (with what look like good strikes to me). Now, I'm thinking I need new springs. Switched to the Remington, and it ran flawlessly. I could also detect an increase in slide energy and recoil (such as it is in a 22). I only fired about 50 rounds of the Rem. Has anyone else had experiences like this with Winchester 22 LR?
 
The Ruger's blowback design likely needs a specific minimum of rearward momentum imparted to the bolt face to work, and I have also had problems with high round counts and no cleaning.

About 1,500 rounds seems to be the line for particular pistol, a stainless Ruger MK II Gov't with 6 7/8-inch heavy barrel. At a total round count of about 50,000 rounds, I did replace the recoil spring after seeing issues similar to yours and it has been doing well since. Of course, I could be faulted for being lazy with a cleaning interval of about 1,000 rounds, but as long as I stay under that number, things seem to run smoothly. After that though, around 1,250 or so, I can feel the sluggishness starting.

The other thing that I did was go to a more powerful choice, went to the CCI 40-grain Minimag CPRN from the weaker Winchester stuff that I was using.

Heck, give replacing the recoil spring a shot. It is an inexpensive thing to do, and might alleviate the issue along with a more frequent cleaning schedule (I know...I am not the paragon of virtue in that regard... :p)
 
I have plenty of issues with the Win Western and Win 525 copper plated HP (both the same stuff). Many fail to fire with four different, .22LRs, both rifles and pistols all with good, solid strikes. Can't even make the FTFire rounds to go boom in a revolver! It's the nature of that crappy bulk ammo. I have less issues with the Fed Red (WalleyWorld) and Fed Blue (same stuff) copper plated HPs. I had stocked up with the Win junk right before the shortage...I'm down to my last couple of boxes of that stuff. Boy am I glad!
 
I have occasional problems with cheap 22 bulk ammo. The most common is the bullet not being quite straight in the brass. The second most common is FTF after a solid strike on the primer. If it's in a revolver, just rotating the round in its chamber usually fixes the problem. I find 22 ammo in general to be less reliable than centerfire ammo.
 
Have three firearms that are chambered for the.22 LR. A 50+ year old Glenfield/Marlin semi auto rifle, a Walther P-22 and a Ruger Mark IV. The Glenfield will shoot anything. Short's, Long's and Long Rifle. The only Winchester brand .22 ammo that the two pistols will shoot w/o a problem is the Super X. Using white box Winchester results in the same problems that the OP describes. My Hi-Power also will not shoot Winchester white box 115 gr. w/o a FTF or three in one magazine though the 124 gr. usually runs with nary a problem.
The last couple of years my go to .22 LR has been CCI Mini-Mag, Vipers and Stingers. Yeah they are a little more expensive but they are usually recommended for use in any semi auto pistol manufactured within the last ten years or so.
 
Winchester is about the worst bulk 22 ammo made in my opinion. I like blazers and Remington golden bullets myself.
 
I find that all that bulk .22LR ammo is pretty much junk. They all shoot, but they're not that accurate. The CCI Mini-Mags and CCI-SV is pretty good.

Those are two of my favorites. I've also had good results from Winchester ammo in the 100 round plastic boxes, but the cardboard bulk packs are really bad. Some bulk ammo is definitely better than others. Blazers and golden bullets shoot almost as well for me as mini mags, though the mini mags are certainly more reliable.
 
I have found in bulk .22 ammo that Federal works about the best in my guns, but there's still quite a few failures and accuracy isn't all that great either. Winchester is the next step down and don't even get me started on Remington's bulk ammo.
 
Sounds like its not me or my gun. We'll see how it runs as I cycle through this brick of Remington.
 
Those are two of my favorites. I've also had good results from Winchester ammo in the 100 round plastic boxes, but the cardboard bulk packs are really bad. Some bulk ammo is definitely better than others. Blazers and golden bullets shoot almost as well for me as mini mags, though the mini mags are certainly more reliable.

That's been my experience, too. The CCI stuff seems have the most reliable priming in the industry; likely why it was so hard to find during the great .22 shortage of the last few years. Loaded warm, ultra reliable priming, clean shooting...what's not not like?
 
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Before I found Wolf Match Target ammo, CCI MiniMags and Standard Velocity were my go-to choices in .22LR ammo. Yeah it was more expensive but it was worth it with it's solid reliability and accuracy.
 
When I was a kid we squirreled away mini mags like they were gold plated. Mom would rarely spring for them being 5 times the cost per round as wildcats. It had to be a real special occasion to get out the minimags, like a raccoon or a crow. My brothers and I had to hide them from each other.
 
I've never cared for the Winchester stuff in my guns and just burned through the last of the Remington. It's ok but the Remington stuff was better IMO. I don't plan on buying either again.

I've been replacing all 22 ammo with mini mags. It's accurate and more reliable than anything I've tried. SVs may be just a tad more accurate for me but if the price between them is the same I'll go with the mini mags.

I normally clean my guns between 500- 1k rounds and haven't replaced any springs. Clean mags really help too.
 
I have a Ruger standard model 22 pistol, that I shoot 86 rounds per week in. Last week I finally cleaned it well for the first time in a long time. It was dirty, and having lots of malfunctions (FTF, FTE, misfires-you name it). Like many people here, I prefer to buy the cartons of ammo that has 500 or so rounds. I have been using the Winchester hollow point in the bulk packs from wally world. Last week I noticed I was almost out, so I went to replenish my ammo, and all they had was a Remington round nosed lead pack, about the same price. Today, I started by finishing up the Winchester (with a clean, well-lubed gun) and it acted just like before, for about 3 mags. Several stoppages of different types, and typically 1 or 2 misfires per mag (with what look like good strikes to me). Now, I'm thinking I need new springs. Switched to the Remington, and it ran flawlessly. I could also detect an increase in slide energy and recoil (such as it is in a 22). I only fired about 50 rounds of the Rem. Has anyone else had experiences like this with Winchester 22 LR?
I bought some Browning (Winchester made) ammo 1400 fps & right off the bat this ammo choked in all my semi autos - even my nylon 66. They work in some of my bolt guns, cz, Winny. As I see it the bullets are too big - too fat which does not allow for seating all the way in the semi's. Some will have light primer strikes while others won't fire at all. Winchester has got it wrong. I tried calling them a year ago & it just fell on deaf ears. As bad as I know Remington .22 ammo is I would choose it before this new Winchester junk.
 
I bought some Browning (Winchester made) ammo 1400 fps & right off the bat this ammo choked in all my semi autos - even my nylon 66. They work in some of my bolt guns, cz, Winny. As I see it the bullets are too big - too fat which does not allow for seating all the way in the semi's. Some will have light primer strikes while others won't fire at all. Winchester has got it wrong. I tried calling them a year ago & it just fell on deaf ears. As bad as I know Remington .22 ammo is I would choose it before this new Winchester junk.

I almost forgot about that junk. I bought a brick of the browning 22 ammo a year ago to try. I could not get through a single mag without a fail to fire. I closed up the box, stowed it away in the closet and wrote “crap” on it with a sharpie.
 
It used to be that most .22 semi-autos (even nice ones) were finicky as to ammo brand or type. If you went down to Sears and bought a box of off the shelf ammo, you could expect two or three misfeeds out of a box of 50.

Now .22 pistols seem better designed to handle a broader range of ammo more reliably. My old Hi Standard Duramatic has a narrower range of ammo that it will shoot 100% reliably than my more recent Smith and Wesson 22A does.
Even so, I still expect newer .22 semi-autos to misfeed now and then. Since they aren't (or, at least, shouldn't be) defensive weapons, this shouldn't be an issue unless you're competing or something.

That being said, I find Winchester Super X hollow points to be the most uncooperative ammo to feed reliably. I really dislike it, and never buy it anymore. One guy at a gathering was bragging how his Walther could shoot even Super X ammo well. So I gave him a box of Super X hollow points...nothing but jams. I even have an old bolt action rifle that won't chamber Win. Super X hollow points.Presume it's the same for other Win. ammo, too.

I think Mini Mag is the best, but even then, some of my guns aren't crazy about the hollow point version. I stick with round nose.
 
.22 has had many variables over the years, some batches better than others even with the same line. Winchester plinkers that I've experienced have not done well, I don't consider those. One of the LGS had some Browning stuff that worked out at $.04/each. Bought 2-400 round boxes and shot some in the 10-22. Went back the next day and they'd sold through their pallet. Which was probably good because I found out it is Winchester. CCI has done well in my .22's so my small sampling seems consistent for them. Have yet to buy 5000 round case/s though. The Aguila regular and SE work well across mine, I've had samples of the SE spread over 20 years that this is my main goto. The Remington Gold in the batch I bought worked well, finished that off late last year. (To note that those were bought in the mid 90's packed in individual boxes from a 5000 case.) I bought some recently and some did not feed. Bulk buckets or loose bulk boxes I tend to get some with mangled bullets or empty cases where the bullet has come out.

The last was Federal AE which was such a tempting price and bought online. In 100 rounds I'll get about 3-5 no fire on first strike and about 5-10 low recoil ones. I'm shooting through that now. :( I don't discard the initial no fire ones so after ejected (After waiting for a hang fire) they are placed off to the side for a second feeding. They've gone bang on the second try so I suspect the primer cavity is not symmetrically filled.
 
I have a Ruger Single six, a Winchester 190 rifle and a Beretta Neos for my wife, that I shoot quite a lot, only the Ruger revolver will shoot all types of ammo, including most of the FTF's from the autos. I have had the best luck with CCI also in the auto's, I've had problems with both the Remington and Winchester in the auto's, but the CCI and the Aguila auto ammo works great in them, but the Aguila is greasy when it gets warm to hot. Over lubed is I guess why it works so well in the auto's. Strangely the accuracy is still great with all ammo, I've seen little variance in group size from batch to batch.
 
I have not had good luck with Winchester X-pert 36gr HP's in semi-autos. The conical nose HP catches on the feed ramp with some. I usually try to get something that is 40gr with a RN profile or close - like a Federal 510, Rem GB, etc for cycling. I know CCI gets a lot of press and you may get a little more consistency with SV or MM. Many people post a brag group with SV. I don't think it is that much more impressive over other bulk (flame away). It may or may not be worth the extra expense from a 22LR handgun. Consistent velocities and quality components are the keys to 22LR. One word of caution, though. If you start shooting the more expensive European made 22LR, as in Eley, Lapua/SK, or RWS/Norma/Geco - even out of a handgun - you may not want to shoot anything else.
 
I've had trouble with both Remington Golden Bullet and Winchester Super X. The Remington bullets wiggle around in their case which gives my semi-auto fits and I've experienced over pressure problems with Super X in a revolver. CCI and Federal work the best for me. Haven't tried anything else.
 
Thinking about it, I have never had issues with this poo Winchester ammo in my rifles- a savage MK2, a nylon 66, and of course a 10-22.
 
Same issue with me, I don't use any hollow point, plated or coopered. I do use in some pistols during the break in period high velocity but mostly std round nose in rifles and pistols.
Since, lately I have fun with steel challenge (about 3 boxes per week on a Ruger Mark III) Federal automatch white box gave megood results and few issues.
Aguila resulted to be very dirty.
Geco and RWS are good but expensive.
Winchester I do avoid them sound like they are a tad short.
I haven't shot Remington in years I should try again.
For my CZ trainer and Ultra Lux I use Elley or match ammo only.
 
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