Federal 22 duds

Joined
Mar 20, 2011
Messages
8,923
Likes
1,627
Location
Central MA
Feedback: 22 / 0 / 0
I have a few boxes for Federal 22 target that I purchased recently. I have been experiencing quite a few duds in a few different guns. Has anyone else been experiencing this. Maybe like 3 out of a hundred. The strikes look good and most will fire if I re-chamber them.
 
3 out of 100 duds for bulk pack .22 was par for the course when I was shooting regularly (until 3 years ago). That's still much better than the 1 in 10 of the last box of Remington Golden Duds I bought.
 
I've have noticed a lot more duds lately. Sometimes I have to drop the hammer twice on .22. The ammo manufactures are cranking that stuff out. There's bound to be mistakes.
 
I have experienced similar results.

I have a pretty good stash of .22LR, purchased back in the day when a 550 round box sold for $9.99 at Wal-Mart.
That works out to a little under $0.02 per round. I can live with a few duds for that price.


Chris
 
I have a few boxes for Federal 22 target that I purchased recently. I have been experiencing quite a few duds in a few different guns. Has anyone else been experiencing this. Maybe like 3 out of a hundred. The strikes look good and most will fire if I re-chamber them.

I had the same problem with one of Federal's "Fresh Fire" 325rd sealed cans. Probably the same primers?
 
Most of the stuff the you can find on the shelf these days is hit or miss. The only ammo that I don't have a problem with is the cci mini mags.
 
Welcome to the new world of "shoot the ammo you got"!

[laugh]

this is why there are Alibis .

Now....where did you get it, and $?

[wink]
Yes basically this is what it comes down to I guess. I still have a lot of CCI but I have been using the stuff I have been able to get recently and saving the CCI for riffle season. The Federal is the only stuff I had any issues with. I have picked up some Remington GB and haven't had any issues with it except it seems to be real dirty. I have had good luck at my local Walmart, the guy who stocks the ammo cabinet usually does it at the same time every day and we have developed a rapport. Haven't had much luck the last couple weeks though.
 
My S&W 22s is pretty picky with ammo as it tends to hit the primers very lightly. I actually find that it works the best with Federal. I might get one dud out of 100 with Federal compared to 1 out of 10 with CCI or Remington.

I should add that this is with Ammo I bought in 2012. Haven't tried any recent Federal, since I haven't been able to find any.
 
Getting some duds with .22's isn't unusual, but it seems to be increasing with the manufacturers being under pressure to crank the stuff out. If I understand the manufacturing process correctly, the .22 shell is spun and a drop of priming compound gets dropped in. The spinning is supposed to distribute the primer into the rim so it can be ignited when struck. If the primer isn't distributed evenly, there may be a void. If the rim thickness varies, that may also effect ignition. The few times I've had a dud, I've turned the cartridge so that the firing pin is striking a different place on the rim. That usually gets it to go bang.

Most of the stuff the you can find on the shelf these days is hit or miss. The only ammo that I don't have a problem with is the cci mini mags.

+1 on the mini-mags. That's my favorite rimfire ammo. I've have quite a stockpile of them, and so far what I've fired has worked very well, with excellent reliability. It's older stock, so I don't know if the newer stuff will have any reliability issues.

Finding ammo is frustrating for us as consumers, but it also has to be frustrating for the manufacturers. They're happy to be selling all they make, but I'm sure they're trying to find ways to up production to meet demand. No manufacturer likes to see their market going unfilled. I would expect the madness to continue, especially when Hillary/Warren get elected. I know, a disgusting thought. [wink]
 
Had some Federal duds last year, called the company and they took some for testing and gave me $20 for my troubles.
 
Yes, rimfire uses a thin, widened percussion cap inside the rim of the case. Maybe I'm using the wrong terminology referring to it as a primer.

I never new that, I thought the cartridge itself was the "percussion cap". Either way, it confused me....thought you were talking about .222 or something.
 
Yes basically this is what it comes down to I guess. I still have a lot of CCI but I have been using the stuff I have been able to get recently and saving the CCI for riffle season. The Federal is the only stuff I had any issues with. I have picked up some Remington GB and haven't had any issues with it except it seems to be real dirty. I have had good luck at my local Walmart, the guy who stocks the ammo cabinet usually does it at the same time every day and we have developed a rapport. Haven't had much luck the last couple weeks though.

Sorry you had trouble with those Federal rounds. I recall when you were happy to score them.
 
Back
Top Bottom