Increasing # of misfires in 10/22

[ruggedruger]

Hi all. I purchased a Ruger 10/22 from a guy last fall. Shot it occasionaly and came up with the occasional "dud" in my box of Federals (bulk 550). Then one day, when myself and two friends put a couple hundred rounds through the gun, we started having 2-3-4 duds PER MAG! We saved the 'duds', put them in another .22 rifle, and it shot them all fine.

My 10/22 IS leaving a dent in the rim of each cartridge, and the markings on the 'duds' don't appear to be any different than those on the fired casings. (perhaps there IS a diff, but it's neglible to my eye).

I brought it in to a local gunsmith. He was not in, but another guy at the store talked to me and when I told him that it was not the original barrel (the prev owner had put a nice stainless one), he said it could be a problem with the 'gap space' or 'head space'? I can't remember what he called it, but said I might have to RE-barrel the rifle - buy a new barrel.

Yikes! I live on a tight budget, bought the gun for a nice price, but figured I was just going to be paying for a little adjustment or a new firing pin!

Has anyone here had a similar experience? What kind of fix did it require, and how much $$$ (although I assume many of you fix this type of thing yourself - I'm new and too busy to figure that out properly).

 

[Snake45]

Have had that happen in a couple different guns. What happened was the chamber was getting dirty, the rounds wouldn't fully seat, which cushions the firing pin blow. Try giving the chamber a good cleaning and see what happens.

Also, it could be that cheap Fed Walmart Bulk ammo. It USED to be very reliable, but this year I have had boxes that had a LOT of duds in them. Nearly all of these would go off if put in another gun, like yours, or even if smacked a second time in the same gun.

I don't think you have a major problem.

 

[45flattop]

In addition to the prior solution which is sound, you might look at
the snugness of the barrel to receiver fit, if the aftermarket barrel
even a good one, isn't snugged down well by its two anchor screws
under the forearm, you might give them a tightening, in addition, the
V block that secures them in place is, I BELIEVE, made of Aluminum
and there are all steel replacements available at Brownell's. I would
NOT over tighten the V block however, I don't know of the proper
torque to apply on them but perhaps someone here on the forum may.

 

[blume357]

Even though the gun smiths 'solution' sounds good... i suspect the folks above are right. Clean everything real good and possibly replace the firing pin first.... for sure check how tight the barrel is locked to the receiver. Also, and this is usually the first item on the list... try some different ammo. then again, you probably don't want to have to give up shooting Fed. bulk.

It's really not that unusual for the ammo to work on a second strike... did you try the dudes a second time in the same rifle? I bet they would would go off...

The fun of a 10/22 is making the time to fix it... unlike high end center fire rifles... you can mess with these critters and usually not screw anything up that $50 or so won't fix.

 

[Pat-inCO]

I would also suspect a very dirty firing pin channel. Try the instructions at
http://www.alpharubicon.com/leo/triggerruger1022.htm or
http://ruger22.com/newpages/bolt.htm
for some help on disassembly.

It may look daunting, but if you take your time AND DON'T FORCE ANYTHING, it is easy.

 

[ruggedruger]

Thanks for the great solutions/ideas. I feel stupid for bringing the gun away right away. I'll talk to the guy Monday about it, and we'll see what he thinks. I need to get up to speed on gun care/cleaning/maintenance/repair a little. I usually tackle things myself (like auto repair), but for some reason I totally passed this off to someone else.

I think there's a lot of expertise on this board!?