Ruger SR22 and ammo

[Ghost_widow]

I just purchased my Ruger SR22 about two months ago and up until a week ago I was using Winchester ammo. I purchased some Federal due to Winchester was out of stock. When I went to the range the Ruger performed very poorly. After you fired the case would not eject or if the case did eject the next bullet wouldn't automatically go into the chamber.

Has anyone else had the same type of issues? My husband has a glock 9mm and the federal doesn't work well for that firearm either.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

PJ

 

[OSU Beaver]

Sorry you've had trouble with the Federal. I shoot Federal bulk almost exclusively in my SR22 and haven't had any problems at all. That being said, when the gun was new, maybe the first 400 rounds, I experienced a failure to eject every 40 rounds or so. But now I'll get a failure to eject every 300 rounds or so, so it might have been attributable to a break-in period. I'll be interested to hear if others have had your same problem.

 

[contender]

Welcome to the forum.
Often a new gun will exhibit a definate preference to a peticular type of ammo. And, as it's used, it'll get more ammo friendly. Clean the gun, use it for about 500-1000 rounds, and see if the problems continue. If so,, just use ammo it prefers.
I too use a lot of Federal bulk ammo with rarely an issue in anything. But most of my shooters are well broken in. But,, my SR22 is still new,, in that it's only fired about 600-800 rounds so far.

 

[Frank in GA.]

Have you cleaned the firearm since last using it? If not, doing so may help matters.
Some firearms prefer certain types & brands of ammo however, given that the SR22 is nearly new there maybe some other issues that need to be addressed at hand. I just today sent my SR22 back to customer service for repair. Mine would not cycle at all, leaving the spent case in the chamber and had to have a rod inserted down the barrel to dislodge the case. This happened with Federal and Winchester plated ammo and non plated ammo as well. This occurred even after it had received a detailed cleaning and lubrication. This was only one of several issues with this pistol which was purchased new a few weeks ago.

I'm a newbie on this board as it's my first posting but, not at all new to firearms or other fine Ruger products.

If cleaning and lubricating the pistol does not improve the functionality of the firearm and you don't trust it's reliability then by all means contact Ruger Customer Service and have them look at it, I did. I've had brand new Ruger products work just fine right out of the box just as they should and you should expect the SR22 to do the same. You should not be made to feel like a Beta Tester when you pay hundreds of dollars for a product.

 

[Twoboxer]

I have a little over 2300 rounds through my SR22 as follows:

- Winchester 333 (terrible FTLs, but these were the first rounds used)
- CCI Minimags (cleared up the early FTLs and got me throught the "break-in" & learning period
- CCI Blazer (these would run for a while, then FTL, then I'd run a few mini-mags through and the Blazers would run fine for a while).

At this point I figured out my SR22 would run pretty much anything . . . if it was clean and "wet". I then ran almost 1100 rounds through with only 3 FTLs (Blazer).

- Switched to Amer Eagle and the FTLs start to re-appear quicker after cleaning and oiling.

I really haven't come to a conclusion yet, but I keep the pistol cleaned and lightly but clearly wet and it runs just fine with any ammo. I also bring a few mini-mags along just in case it needs to be "cleaned" out at the range. Maybe it should go back to Ruger . . . and maybe it will, but not yet.

 

[mark_s]

I had experienced pretty consistent issues with failures to strip the first round off of the mag, during the first 300 rounds. I also encountered some FTE with Federal Value Pack. After two cleanings, hitting the 400 (or so) round point, and discovering that slamming the magazine in is not want you want to do with this gun, I've encountered virtually no problems of any kind with 800 rounds now through the gun. Simply pushing the mag in until I feel the click, seems to have resolved any failure to load the first round, and I attribute it's tolerance to Federal to break-in.

[edit]: Just put 200 more rounds of Federal Value Pack through it at the range. Not one hiccup. Cleaning, lubing, and 1,000 rounds through it might be all it takes. Also, FWIW, I coat the *outside* surface of the barrel with either Rem Oil or Corrosion X (for guns). I'm not really sure how much slide to barrel contact there is, but it can't hurt. Just don't get oil in the barrel or on the feed ramp.

 

[Ghost_widow]

Thank you to those that posted. The Ruger does get cleaned after every use so I don't think it was that. I did go to the range last night and used the Winchester ammo. I went through about 70 rounds and every other magazine it would eject the casing every time but the bullet didn't go into the chamber after I fired.

I am very new to shooting and I still get nervous when firing that first time so my husband is going to check it the next time we go. It maybe just the way I am using it. I was also told to change the grip to the bigger one.

Practice makes perfect and the more rounds I use to get the Ruger warn in I am sure it will also make a world of difference.

PJ

 

[Frank in GA.]

Actually it's "Good Practice that makes Perfect" as practicing poor technique will only make you worse.

 

[Ghost_widow]

True true!!!

 

[GeorgeP]

I just got my SR22 and haven't fired the first round yet... but I know I'll start (and likely only use) Blazer 40gr LRN and CCI Velocitor. I have a number of 22 pistols and found several months ago that the Blazer (boxed bricks, not bulk) functions flawlessly in all of them. Also, I make a habit (good or bad) of never having an empty gun in the house so the new SR22 will join the other 22s with Velocitor loads in standby.

 

[cvctiger]

Like ANY gun and from what I hear ALL should fire whatever you feed it. I have yet to get my SR22. I have fired my SR9 and 10/22 both with different brands of ammo so far I have had no issues. My SR9 I have fired Blazers, Federal Independence, and UMC. My 10/22 I fired Remington, Blazers, and Federal Champions. So I would expect the same from the SR22 when I get to fire it. 22s may be more finicky than center fire type firearms but so far I have encountered none.

 

[Msmith50]

I've had a few FTF's with my SR22. My young son has the problem most often, and I'm thinking it might be due to his hands not fighting as hard against the recoil of the gun. If the gun is held steady, all the recoil energy goes into ejecting a round and feeding a new one. But if the gun is allowed to move a lot on recoil, I'm thinking this reduced the relative velocity between the slide and the rest of the gun, and reduces how much energy is available to do the eject & feed.

Any opinions on if this sounds plausible or sounds like bunk? I'm not sure myself, but there definately seems to be a correlation with my son having more FTF's than me.

 

[cvctiger]

You are correct your son is limp wristing.

 

[GeorgeP]

I finally got to the range with my new SR22. I went by Bass Pro and picked up boxes of all the 22lr brands they had. That included, Federal Target, Federal (same as bulk), American Eagle, Remington Golden (round nose), Remington Golden (HP), Remington Cyclone (Standard Velocity), Winchester SuperX, and from my stash, CCI Blazers and CCI Velocitors.

I shot 2 mags from each brand starting with Blazer and then a mag of Blazer between each two brands (Blazer is my standard). BTW, the only standard velocity I could find was Remington. All others were Super/High Velocity. Next outing I'll add some bulk stuff. Except the Remington Golden HPs all were 40 grain (if marked on the box) with some lead and some copper coated.

Every CCI round from start to finish was flawless as were the all the Remingtons. All the rest experienced Failures to feed with increasing frequency as the gun got dirtier (I did not clean during test). The Winchester SuperX were the next best with only 4 failures, all being good primer hits without a bang. American Eagles were the absolute worst. The end of the American Eagle box had to be manually racked after every round. You could even hear and feel how low and ragged the power was. Federal should mark the box with a "rifle only" warning. The Federal Target were nearly as bad.

All the failures, other than the Winchester Fail to Fire, fired the round, ejected the round but the slide did not go back far enough to pick up the next round. Oddly, the Remington Cyclones felt and sounded hotter than any of the Federals.

I had my MKIII 22/45 along as my other standard. All the ammo, except the American Eagle and Federal Target, performed great with that longer barrel.

At lease I now know when I can't find Blazers that Remington Golden bullets are a great back up...just cost more.

 

[TexasFats]

I shot some American Eagle through a Buckmark once. Once was enough. Now, I call that brand American Eagle guano. Same for bulkpack Remington. But, it works flawlessly with CCI standard vel. Also, I once tried some Independence .380 ACP (9x17, 9mm Kurtz, etc.) in a Walther PP. Never again. Pistols can be picky about ammo, especially if they are either dirty or new and still in a break-in period.

 

[1911Suck]

TexasFats: I also have a SR22 and its only about 6 months old. I have shot every kind of ammo (about 2k rounds in 1st weekend to break it in) I could get my hands on and never had any issues... Untill last weekend. I never tried American Eagle .22lr ammo before and the store only had that in stock. It SUCKED!!!!! Everyone was laughing and saying I bought a piece of $h1t... Without doing anything to the gun, few days later I got to try a few other brands and it shot just fine. So never again will I buy anything that says American Eagle on the box!

 

[Rumrunner]

I just picked up an SR22 last week. First time out I shot Federal's Champions, American Eagle, and bulk solid points. Also Wolf Target, Eley Target, and CCI MiniMag HP's. Put over 200 rounds through with out any hitches. I took it out a second time and put another 50 rounds of the Federal bulk though it.
I'm surprised of the Am Eagle problems. I shoot it all the time and not only does it feed well for me, it is very accurate in my 10/22's and MKII's.

 

[1911Suck]

A.E. ammo has shot well through everything else I have that is in .22LR as well. Just not the SR22 for some reason.

 

[sharpshooterassassin]

My SR22 would pretty much eat anything I put through it. Although it liked the CCI Minimags the best and Federal a close second. The Blasers it would shoot pretty good until the lead fouling built up. All in all, it's a good pistol.