Federal Champion Bulk Pack Extraction Issues

[southwest1]

Recently I have bought two 22LRs for the family to use for plinking.

A Savage Mark II and a Marlin 925R. Both have synthetic stocks and both are very accurate.

Last go around I used some Federal Champions and low and behold out of 150 rounds six failed to extract in the Savage. Had to use my fingernail. I googled the problem and learned the Savages have this issue. Not happy with this but willing to live with it, I decided to buy a Marlin 925R as well.

So I am out of the range again today and out of 200 rounds, 7 failed to extract in the brand new out of the box Marlin 925R. I couldn't believe it. These rascals were so tightly stuck a fingernail could not get them out. I had to carefully use a pocket knife.

My 1977 Glenfield Model 20 fires the Federals with no issue.


What gives. Are the tolerances on the new guns so tight that bulk ammo will on occasion get stuck or are the tolerances of bulk ammo suspect.

Any thoughts out there ?

 

[rangerruck]

first off, easiest thing is to try another ammo, not bulk. see if probs go away; for a very good yet cheapy, get american eagle-red box, with the geometric eagle on the front. these usually give great service to a wide variety of 22's, and also give great accuracy. You could also hand break in your new rifles, with some jb bore paste, or tooth paste, and an empty case, and work the action about 1 million times, just not enough to let the case fly out.

 

[southwest1]

Thanks...

So do new rifles need to be broken in ? That might be the issue since both brands have the same problem. During the 22LR shortage I bought 10 bricks of Federals so I am somewhat stuck (non-pun intended) for a while until I use them up. I do have some Winchesters on hand which don't seem to FTE.

Another thing I noticed is that the bolt of the 925R lost some of it blue after the first trip to the range.

 

[stubbicatt]

Clean the chambers of your rifles.

 

[StevenDale]

Several years ago I tried Champions in my Anschutz target rifle and had the same problem. Federal put a lot of lube on the bullets and it would build up in the chamber and I would have to drag out my pocket knife to extract some of the rounds, not what you want to be doing in the middle of a match. They did however shoot pretty well for practice. I would echo the clean your chamber advice and if the problem continues try another brand of ammo. You should have no trouble selling what you have with the current environment. Hope this helps.

 

[mothergoose]

I have had this issue with this ammo and my Mosquito as well. The Mosquito does not have a problme with any other ammo I have tried but last week I had about 3 FTE out of 200. I also had 6 FTF even though they all have deep primer strike marks. 6 is way too many for me. I think I have had maybe 6 with CCI out of all the rounds I have shot, which is tens of thousands.

 

[outerlimit]

I recently bought a value sized box of Federal bulk and I won't be buying it again. When I opened the box, to my surprise the bullets aren't even copper jacketed. So I shot some on my last range trip and my hands were all full of lead. I don't even want to dump them into my speedloader because I don't want the inside of it all full of lead.

The old Federal bulk were weak, but at least they were copper jacketed bullets.

 

[Bill B.]

What gives. Are the tolerances on the new guns so tight that bulk ammo will on occasion get stuck or are the tolerances of bulk ammo suspect.

In all honesty it could be both. A lot of bolt guns have tighter chambers than auto's simply for more reliable feeding in the auto's. CCI Blazer & Remington Golden bullet bulk feed very tightly into the match chamber of my Annie. For whatever reason though I have more trouble getting them in than out as they eject fine. I would give the chamber's a good brushing with Hoppe's to make sure there isn't a buildup deposited there. Also try some different ammo after doing so; preferably match grade that should be in tolerance.