Troubleshooting .22 Auto Rifles C. Rodney James Guns, May 1993 BAM! JAM! This rhyme of frustration commemorates many an experience with .22 autoloaders. Most shooters tend to blame the gun, but more often ammunition is the problem. The idea for an autoloading firearm began in the mid-19th century, but it was not until the advent of smokeless powder that such a gun became practical. Selfloading handguns appeared on the market in 1893, shotguns in 1900 and the first rifle in 1903. That original autoloading rifle was a .22 rimfire developed by Winchester. The model O3 was originally intended for the .22 long rifle. Because of fouling problems with black and semismokeless ammunition, not to mention variations in overall length, bullet diameters, etc., Winchester elected to develop its own cartridge, rather than risk a flood of returned guns jammed and fouled by improper ammunition. The .22 Winchester Automatic cartridge was engineered especially for an autoloader and had a large diameter head, wide body and 45 grain, flatpoint and hollowpoint bullets. The bullets were inside-lubricated, set deeply in the case and firmly crimped in place-features to protect the bearing surface and keep the bullet from being tipped, flattened or telescoped in the case as it passed through the tubular magazine of the rifle. The O3 was listed until 1936 with over 115,000 being produced. Savage introduced the first .22 long rifle autoloader in 1912. It was for semi-smokeless/Lesmok ammunition with crimped-in bullets only, and the instruction sheet stated: "Owing to the variation in .22 calibre ammunition, under no circumstances attempt to use other than these cartridges." It was off the market within four years. By the 1930s, thanks to tile new high-speed, non-corrosive ammunition, long rifle autoloaders pushed the O3 and Remington 16, with their special cartridges, out of the market. Winchester revamped the O3 in 1933 as the famed model 63 in .22 LR Autoloaders really came into their own after WWII and continued to increase in popularity as G.I.s from three wars returned to civilian life. Many, introduced to firearms via the military autoloader, chose this type of action for their .22 sporter. Unfortunately the .22 LR is poorly designed for a self loading action. The case is rimmed-not good for box magazines. Thin case walls, a soft, heel-crimped bullet and a narrow length-to-diameter ratio of the cartridge renders it susceptible to cutting and warping in the feeding process. Early long rifle autoloaders were "ammunition sensitive" which is a euphemistic way of saying they were jammers and bullet-chewers. Those with tubular magazines were the worst offenders. I owned and shot more than a dozen makes designed in the '30s through the '50s, none of which left happy memories of accuracy or reliability. Buyers seeking a "classic" autoloader from this period are hereby warned. Having made this point, let me say I like autoloaders and with applied intelligence most can be made to perform reliably. Because of the recoil needed to operate the slide or bolt,an autoloader will always be more prone to feeding and ejection problems than a manual action. With this in mind, the approach is to try various brands and types of ammunition to coax the best performance from your rifle or handgun and not blame the gun if the first thing put in it fails to function perfectly. Often the action of a new gun will be still, owing to close tolerances or grease applied at the factory to protect the firearm. I recently got a nearly new HK300 .22 WRM autoloader for less than half what the first buyer paid for it because about one in 10 rounds of CCI ammunition failed to cock the hammer. A few boxes later the problem vanished and has not returned. Long rifle ammunition is still not really standardized, with enough variation in case length, case diameter and.bullet diameter to cause function and fouling problems. Bullet shape is a critical factor in feeding cartridges from a box magazine. This is particularly true with small-frame autoloading pistols. A smoothly tapered roundnose bullet like the Remington or one with a pointed truncated cone often feeds better than a blunt bullet. Hollowpoints are more susceptible to damage in feeding than solids. In a tubular magazine rifle, however, a blunt, flatpointed bullet will tend to align better in the magazine and deform less than a pointed bullet. The powder in long rifle ammunition is not all the same and some types, such as the ball powder used in Winchester ammunition, leaves more fouling than the flake powder used by Remington, Federal and CCI. To maintain top reliability, careful cleaning is a must, particularly in small-frame handguns where tolerances are fine. Nickel-plated cases offer slightly less resistance making for easier extraction and are not subject to tarnish and corrosion which will cause brass cases to stick quite readily. Through careful ammunition selection, a high degree of reliability can be obtained with small-frame pistols, but the dream of a .22 LR vest pocket autoloader with the reliability of a .25 ACP is still a dream, and will probably remain so unless a manufacturer brings out a cartridge specifically for these guns. Two examples are the Seecamp LWS .32 ACP/Winchester Silvertip combination and the AMT Winchester ammunition. Bullet lubricant that is excessively heavy or spread back onto the case will soon cause stoppages, especially in cold weather, as it builds up a sticky ring in the chamber. A similar fouling problem can occur shooting Stingers after standard cases when the longer Stinger case hits the fouling ring. For top performance, autoloaders require more cleaning than other actions. The blow-back action yields a relatively violent extraction of the case. Fouling is scattered in the chamber, the bolt-race portion of the receiver and on the bolt face. Eventually, a buildup of burned and unburned powder, primer residue, bullet lubricant and whatever else may have fallen in there will form a glaze around the counter bore. This fouling will eventually build up on the breech face, in the slot(s) for the extractor and under the extractor itself which will result in feeding and extraction problems unless removed. Autoloaders, by virtue of their large capacity magazines and rapid-fire capability, are shot more than other actions on the average day's plinking and thus need more cleaning. If cleaning doesn't improve the situation, one must look for mechanical causes. Feeding and extraction are the most common problems. The best way to diagnose these is to load the magazine and work the action, chambering a round. If it fails to chamber repeat the operation slowly and observe how the bullet leaves the magazine. Obviously, this should be done in a safe area because the gun just might go off. Bent or sharp lips on a box magazine will cut a bullet or angle a cartridge so it fails to enter the chamber properly. You can have a crack at straightening and smoothing, but a new magazine is generally the cure; dents in magazines are best removed by a gunsmith. Some guns have a ramp that the bullet must ride up on its way to the chamber. Rough ramps can be smoothed with crocus cloth. A cotton swab and Bon Ami provide a finishing polish. If a new magazine doesn't help, check to see that the cartridge head is properly engaged by the extractor. Fouling or a burr on the extractor hook may be the problem. Ejection problems are generally fouling related, or the result of a worn extractor, or a rough or pitted chamber. Replacement is a job for a gunsmith. Firing a round and manually extracting the chambered round and examining it for damage will explain many accuracy problems a good test for a gun you are considering buying if the seller will go along with it. A battered bullet will not be a straight shooter. A few of the autoloaders that have passed through my hands I regard as "engineering monstrosities." The two worst were the 550 Remington and the 77 Winchester. The Remington had a floating chamber designed to handle short,long, and long rifle cartridges automatically and interchangeably. It worked for a while but eventually the chamber loosened, began bulging case heads and jamming the action. My solution was to use shorts only or to turn it over to a gunsmith friend who did a brisk business silver-soldering floating chambers in place for exclusive use with long rifles. The Winchester 77 developed sear problems yielding two fast shots and a jammed action which defied repair. The Savage/Stevens autoloading rifles made from the thirties through the sixties were possessed of a common design, though bearing a variety of model numbers. Mine was the 87 Stevens. The action was made of stampings, pinned together, and held to the receiver by screws which had a bad habit of working loose after a hundred rounds or so, jamming on a live round in the carrier portion, just past the end of the tube magazine. Removal was by prying the cartridge out very gently with a screwdriver. I never had one explode. I was lucky. This was before such products as "Locktite" were around. Securing the screws would have solved this problem. Magazines,as I have indicated, are a major source of trouble. Tubular magazines, while they exhibit fewer feeding problems than the box variety, are easily bent and dented. The one inherent problem with the tube is the heavy spring in most of them that flattens bullets often tipping them in the case. The answer-load bullets with flat points and don't stuff the magazine full. About half to two-thirds capacity is best. The new large capacity magazines, featuring high-tech plastics work far better than those of stamped steel, but must be loaded with care to ensure proper function. That balance between reliability and accuracy generally equals what you pay. In the mid '50s both Remington and Ruger came out with rifles that get my Kalashnikov reliability award. The Remington Nylon 66 and the Ruger 10/22 will digest about any make of ammunition without a hitch and have a high tolerance for fouling. Remington claimed a 15,000 shot run for the Nylon 66 with no function problems. The 66 broke a world record in 1959 for hitting all but six of 100,020 two-inch wood-block targets in the air, beating the 1907 record of nine misses out of 72,500 made by the O3 Winchester. The Ruger magazine with its rotary nylon core and stainless steel throat handles cartridges flawlessly. Neither of these rifles has a reputation for great accuracy, although I have seen half-inch groups at 35 yards from a Ruger with some Navy Arms standard velocity ammunition. A similar group with this ammunition was produced by a French Gevarm autoloader that normally sprayed 1-3" patterns at that distance with about every type of fodder I put through it, which proves my point about selecting ammunition. It is a fact that an autoloader cannot out-perform a bolt action rifle and likely never will. Recent efforts to put a heavy barrel on a Ruger 10/22 action have improved accuracy considerably but do not equal groups that are obtained with target rifles. The explanation is in the chambering and throating. A match rifle target chamber has a short throat wherein the bullet is pressed into the rifling and is engraved by it as the cartridge is chambered. Thus the bullet is precisely aligned in the bore. Autoloader chambers are longer and to provide reliable functioning are made large enough to accommodate a certain amount of fouling build-up. Bullet alignment in such a chamber will vary from shot to shot. What level of acccuracy can be expected from a log Rifle autoloader ? Inch-and-a-half groups at 50 yards is a good average.If accuracy is the goal ammunition selection and careful loading practices can shave a half-inch off this in the better rifles. There are a few that will surpass this, mainly in the premium class in terms of price.The obsolete Weatherby Mark XXII and the Anschutz 525 are both straight shooters capable of one-inch groups at 50 yards with selected ammunition. The cost of such rifles is in the bottom range of what you would have to pay for a used Model 52 Winchester or 37 Remington target rifle. Although lighter,both the Weatherby and Anschutz at 42 inches and 43 inches are nearly as long as the 52 or 37 and thus have little advantage over the bolt rifle in terms on maneuverability for hunting. They deliver that quick follow-up shot-often necessary owing to their inability to deliver really tight groups. So, remember, the Long Rifle autoloader is primarily a hunting rifle for 25 to about 50 yards under the most optimist conditions. For short range work they equal or better pump and lever guns.