P-22 issue with Winchester 555 ammo

[critter592]

Ok, I like my P-22 (that I got for my step-daughter to use) and I've read lots of reviews on how to break them in. But here's what happened with me if anyone is interested.

Using the Winchester 333 then 555 pack I had two occasion where it tried to double feed. The fired round was not extracted and a second round came up behind it. Took out the mag and extra round. Then cycled the slide to extra the cartridge. It wouldn't. At all. Now I had a dilema. Did it really fire? Is it a live round stuck in the barrel? I dismantled the gun down to the barrel and was careful about it being a rimfire round. Used heavy gloves, extra eye protection and put a cleaning rod down the front of the barrel. Reading further on such issues I've seen it suggested to have a wood dowel for such occasions. Fortunately it was a spent cartridge. Along with the cartridge came a lot of silver material. Seems each round had been coating the inside of the barrel. I ran a bore snake through it with some lube. It ran for another 2-300 rounds and did the same thing again.

I went with a bore snake to clean it on the recommendation of a salesman. Well, bore snakes don't push stuff out. And when I did get a brass brissle brush I saw how coated the barrel REALLY was. I had not realised that the rifling was completely filled in. So, now that I have cleaned it up really nice and inspected I'm looking forward to getting it to the range and seeing how it goes again.

I believe this issue is the ammo and not the gun. But I would like to hear from the group on suggestions of how to handle it or what to look for if there is a problem.

 

[Fireaxes]

Well, .22s are funny. One brand of ammo may not work well in your P22 and it might shoot like match ammo in my P22.
I would suggest switching ammo. While keeping the above statement in mind, I have had good results with the 550 bulk pack federal rounds in all my .22s.

.22 rimfire rounds are not jacketed, you will have some leading in your barrel. I wouldn't think it would be bad enough that just pushing a cleaning rod through the barrel would knock a bunch of stuff out. I would try different ammo and see what happens.

 

[Stschil]

Stick with CCI mini mags or Stingers and you should be fine. But, Stay Away From Remington Golden Bullets....I've seen too many split casings stuck in barrels (mostly in 10/22's) to ever trust them in any of my rimfire shooters.

 

[Shoots4Fun]

Mine had similar issues as you mentioned with the Federal Bulk packs.

It works fine with some of the more expensive ammo like the CCI but to be honest I want to shoot a lot and with the cheapest thing I can use as this is just for fun for my children and me.

I have found that the Remington Thunderbolt packs work the most reliable for me. You may give them a try. You can buy the 50 bullet pack at Walmart for cheap and I like the small boxes over the bulk packs because they are easier to put in my bag.

When mine has jammed in the manner you described, I can usually get the jacket out with a pocket knife or sometimes I have to get a cleaning rod from my shooting bag which is very frustrating.

I'll be watching this post for other ideas.

Thanks,

S4F

 

[DaKruiser]

I have several thousand rounds of Remington bulk threw my P-22. It's about the only thing it likes! I would try several other brands and see what works in yours, besides thats just more shooting you "NEED" to do!

 

[Cat-Herder]

did you buy this P22 used? you said it was so fouled up you couldn't see the rifling. did you shoot it that much, or was that the first time you'd taken it that far apart for cleaning?
the gun being that dirty might have been the problem...

I had feeding, firing, extraction, and stovepiping issues with mine, using a variety of ammo for a good thousand rounds.
My combination is bearing grease on the slide surfaces and CCI mini-mags for 100% reliability. Federal bulk and Rem Thunderbolts give about 95% reliability. Otherwise, it's just hit or miss (pardon the pun)....
Good luck with it though!

 

[critter592]

We bought it new. I did not break it down to inspect that closely if it had been used before. We followed recommended breakin of "hot" 22lr. I'm forgetting the specific brand but it worked great. Then cleaned it with the bore snake. Thought it looked clean but I did not notice much rifling groves. Started on the 333 pack. Nearing the end of that we had the first failure to extract that required the brass rod. Bore snaked it again. 200 rounds later into the 555 pack it did it again. Cleared it with the cleaning rod and bought a brass bore brush. THEN I started noticing the residual and it took me almost 30 minutes of lubing and passing the brush through to get it close to all clean. So that was probably my issue.

After the next range visit I'll report what ammo and what results I had.

 

[Typhon1390]

I have a P22 just for plinking. There are some rounds it will not feed literally 100% of the time. Obviously Stingers are great, but the point of this gun is to not spend money on ammo for me. I've had great results with Remington Golden Bullet 550 packs. I did have one shell casing get lodged in the barrel and I'd say almost routinely have issues feeding, but as far as I'm concerned the feeing problems are from the weapon itself. If you're having problems finding ammo that works, just go to Walmart and buy 4-5 50 packs of different brands and see what works best. And to anyone considering buying one, if I had it to do over again, I'd have bought a different .22. But it works well enough for me, its short comings are tolerable.

 

[nate77]

My P22 pistol, and G22 bullpup both love Federal 550 bulk packs, my P22 will even shoot cheap lead Blazer .22 fine. The only problem I've had is with limp wristing, it will eject the spent casing, but not strip a new round from the magazine, but I could count on one hand how many times this has happened.

 

[Mr.Strato]

I have never had much confidence that a bore snake does as good a job as a wire brush and hoppes when it come to removing lead from a my p-22.
I'd have to dig around in my ammo locker, but I shoot "copper washed" ammo in my p-22. Can't recall the brand; as I recall I got it at an indoor range- something about the copper washed being better on the lungs if shot indoor. I don't notice any leading problem with that stuff.

 

[Jimbovia]

Winchester HV seems to work very well in my wifes P22. Everything else, even CCI will FTE.

 

[revance]

The only two things I have found that shoot reliably through my P22 are CCI Mini-Mags and Remington Golden Bullets.

Someone else mentioned split cases with the GBs... I have had 2 out of many thousands of rounds split on me. Its not that big of a deal, just keep a multi-tool with you and pop the thing out.

Also if someone hasn't already mentioned it, check out the P-22 bible (google it). Also keep the thing really clean and VERY lightly lubricated. I use Remoil and wipe it almost dry afterwards. Mine does not run well dirty.

 

[critter592]

Well, got out to the range with the same Winchester 555 (hey I gotta use it up!) During the second magazine of 10 I had a failure to extract after firing. Couldn't get it with a finger nail. Had to remove the slide and use the little wrench to catch a corner. Spent shell came right out. Barell clear. Put the gun back together and began again. I ran about 120 more rounds through it (all from the same bulk Winchester pack). Didn't have a single failure to extract. This has got to be the ammo.

When I got home I went to clean it and man it was tough to get a brass brush through it again. First couple of passes pushed out long silver strips matching the rifling grove width. I used Shooter bore cleaner with a q-tip and let it soak a little longer. Took a lot of passes to clean it up. Still not perfect but I figured close enough.

When I actually try different ammo in it I'll report again.

But hey! My HK USPc .40 ran flawlessly and that's what I have for defensive carry so

 

[critter592]

Sorry for the long over due update on the P-22. I got 100 rounds of Federal Game-Shock. It was FMJ. Also on the package it says it is "high velocity". But what is the qualifier of "high velocity"? Anyhow it worked great and there was NO, I repeat, NO buildup of lead in the barrel. It even took out the spots I couldn't get clean from the trouble before with the bulk pack. Yah, the ammo was a little more expensive but WAY worth it to avoid the headache of the cleanup.

 

[JSeroka]

I have had TONS of issues with Remington 550 box of ammo. It seems EVERY mag has a jammer. I personally have had a lot of good firing with Federal 555 boxes, about 1 every hundred mis-fire or jam, and have had a 100% rate with stingers, of any kind.

 

[HamsterStyle]

Neither one of my p22's would cycle anything "reliably" other than thunderbolts or golden bullets. I didn't care for the gb's because my hands and guns looked like we had relations with tinker bell after a box of ammo. That dust is just a nuisance to me. I have tried all the federal, Winchester, cci bulk packs and the mini mags, both round nose and hollow points to no avail. The thunderbolts are normally $1.99/50 and I have seen them as low as $1.29/50 on a deep sale. That's been a while though. I solely buy thunderbolts now for my p22. They also run my sons plinkster 702 really well too. And I have run 1200+ rounds through the p22 without cleaning before with out having more malfunctions than normal.