There Is As Much Art As Science
There Is As Much Art As Science To Choosing .22LR Ammo. I have a SIG Mosquito which was finicky from the start on what ammo it liked. After running ~500 rounds of CCI Mini-Mags through it, it began to have feeding and ejection problems on all types of ammunition. The spent cartridge would jam with the next fed round at least once per mag or the last round would eject when the next-to-the-last round was being fed. I sent the pistol and the 3 magazines back to SIG for service.
The spring tension was adjusted on the magazines annd the Mosquito was returned to me in a week. I suspect they may have polished the chamber entrance also, but I can't be sure.
Now Mini-Mags feed, fire and eject without issue. After several hundred rounds, I took a cue from the SIG manual and lightly lubricated (I used a silicone gun cloth and a tiny spritz of silicone spray) some Winchester Wildcats and Remington Golden Bullets (both high velocity). Out of 400 rounds, I had one dud (Remington) and four light strikes that fired on the 2nd hit. Not a single jam or fail-to-eject.
Tonight I fired off the last of the Wildcats and 200 rounds of Federal Value Pack Bulk (750 Load) from Wally World, all lightly lubricated. A few light strikes on the Wildcats, all of the Federal lit off. No jamming or ejection issues. Later this week I'll try some of the Federal Automatch Bulk.
In a nutshell, it was the lubrication that allowed less-expensive high velocity ammo (the Fed Bulk Pack runs at 1200 FPS) to cycle as reliably as Mini-Mags. Without it, I would be picking out unejected spent shells from the chamber with my fingernail every fifth shot. It also seems to run cleaner with the lubed rounds, plain Wildcats would visibly soot-up the chamber area after 100 rounds. Now 350 lubed rounds is noticeably cleaner.
