22 LR malfunction

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GaryS

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Been shooting a long time and have never seen this before.

A friend was shooting my Ruger 22 LR pistol with his magazines and ammo he uses in his Ruger 22 LR pistol. Both pistols were designed to use the same magazines and are similar model pistols but manufactured in different years.

Pistol fired but did not load the next round and bolt did not close. The next round was part way stripped out of the magazine.

The round cylinder from the brass was still in the barrel. NO bullet was found in the barrel. The rim was found down in the area that the magazine would normally be after the magazine was ejected. Was able to remove the cylinder left behind from the brass with the tip of a pocket knife blade. It was not bound or frozen in place in any way but it would not fall out.

Photos taken with cell phone so they are not perfect.

After clearing the debris in the photos, (3 images are of the what is left of one piece of 22 LR brass) I fired 2 magazines or 20 rounds from the pistol without malfunction. Several hundred rounds have been fired from this pistol since I purchased it. IT was clean when I got it and I cleaned and lubed it before I fired it.

I find nothing wrong with the pistol but am unable to explain the malfunction other than saying the pistol fired without being in battery. I am unable to explain how a 22 pistol can fire without being in battery.

I am sure there will be lots of debate on this thread.
 

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Remington .22 ammo. There's your problem. :D

Just kidding. Well, sort of... Were they Thunderbolts?

While you expect the gun to be designed in such a way as to prevent the capability of being fired when not fully in battery, in reality, design tolerances allow it to happen. You could have had a build up of debris, like wax from Thunderbolts, in the chamber that kept the bullet from fully seating. Thereby, leaving the rear most portion of the bullet unsupported when fired.
 
“Remington .22 ammo. There's your problem.”

~20 years ago I had a MKII slab side and a Volquartzen match barrel that got what looked like dimples in the barrel. I called Ruger, described what it looked like and his immediate response was, “Were you using Remington bullets?”. I was using the thundercraps, or ones just like them. They said ship the gun in, we’ll rebarrel it and don’t use Rem ammo again, they were seeing a fair amount of this barrel damage.
I prefer to run plated or CCI SV in my MKII & MKIII.
 
Fired out of battery and strong firing pin mark leads me to think that you should pull the bolt apart and see if the firing pin channel is clean and if the retention pin is installed. Take a look at the chamber edge for peening too.
 
Out of battery is a serious contender. But I wouldn't write off a bad case either. I've seen a shotgun pull a shell apart and leave part of it in the receiver.

If they were lead round nose, mine has a tendency to damage the bullet going into battery. So the shell might have been damaged on the way in. Mine will bend the bullet and usually jams the gun up. To the point I only run plated in mine.
 
chiefjason said:
Out of battery is a serious contender. But I wouldn't write off a bad case either. I've seen a shotgun pull a shell apart and leave part of it in the receiver.

If they were lead round nose, mine has a tendency to damage the bullet going into battery. So the shell might have been damaged on the way in. Mine will bend the bullet and usually jams the gun up. To the point I only run plated in mine.
Click to expand...
Case failure gets my vote.
Looks like the rim went right where it's formed and it took a little extra in a couple spots.
 
chiefjason said:
Out of battery is a serious contender. But I wouldn't write off a bad case either. I've seen a shotgun pull a shell apart and leave part of it in the receiver.

If they were lead round nose, mine has a tendency to damage the bullet going into battery. So the shell might have been damaged on the way in. Mine will bend the bullet and usually jams the gun up. To the point I only run plated in mine.
Click to expand...
When I had an older model Mark I, I noticed that the chambering angle was steep and created a lit of stress on the bullet during the ramp to chamber transition. If you extracted the chambered bullet it would come out looser in the case than before but went in. Never thought that was right, but the gun shot well.
 
Could have been a bit of wax on the rim preventing it from chambering but not enough to prevent firing. If you hold th bolt back just a touch will it still drop the hammer?
 
georgel said:
When I had an older model Mark I, I noticed that the chambering angle was steep and created a lit of stress on the bullet during the ramp to chamber transition. If you extracted the chambered bullet it would come out looser in the case than before but went in. Never thought that was right, but the gun shot well.
Click to expand...

Mine has actually caught the lead tip on that sharp edge, bent it, and jammed. Copper plated never does that in my Mk II.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
My vote goes to firing pin stuck forward. Could be broken FP return spring , peened back end of FP or dirt / lead shavings buildup in firing pin channel.
 
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