.22 LR ammo matters

[gmerkt]

I promised to give a little pocket .22 pistol to a lady I know. I let her pick one out of a selection of three that were in Dave's stuff. When I first got Dave's guns, over the course of weeks I test fired as many as I could to make sure they were functional before I attempted to sell them. These three guns had been test fired, but I thought I'd do it one more time to make sure. So about a week ago, I took them to the range. With some of Dave's CCI Mini Mag .22 LR ammo. The date July 1974 was noted on the ammo box label. The potential for deterioration of .22 LR ammo has been discussed many times before. I'd been shooting this ammo in bolt action rifles, no problem.

When I got to the range, and tried the 1974 ammo in these guns, they wouldn't work right. They wouldn't fully eject a fired case. Then I tried some newer, meaning less than 10 years, Aguila. These guns wouldn't eject the fired cases of this ammo either. I was starting to think I had three dud guns on my hands and wondered if I'd actually test fired them before and they passed, or had I imagined it.

Next I decided to try some fresh CCI Mini Mags, around a couple of years old. All three guns fired, extracted and ejected as they should. To make sure it wasn't a fluke, I did this in several batteries of five rounds for each pistol. They all worked fine with the newer CCI Mini Mags.

My conclusion is that .22 LR ammo may last indefinitely if stored properly, but it may lose a bit of energy over time. The 51 year old Mini Mags worked okay in bolt action rifles; if I hadn't tried them in the little pistols, I wouldn't have known this was the case.

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[ilikegunspdx]

I promised to give a little pocket .22 pistol to a lady I know. I let her pick one out of a selection of three that were in Dave's stuff. When I first got Dave's guns, over the course of weeks I test fired as many as I could to make sure they were functional before I attempted to sell them. These three guns had been test fired, but I thought I'd do it one more time to make sure. So about a week ago, I took them to the range. With some of Dave's CCI Mini Mag .22 LR ammo. The date July 1974 was noted on the ammo box label. The potential for deterioration of .22 LR ammo has been discussed many times before. I'd been shooting this ammo in bolt action rifles, no problem.

When I got to the range, and tried the 1974 ammo in these guns, they wouldn't work right. They wouldn't fully eject a fired case. Then I tried some newer, meaning less than 10 years, Aguila. These guns wouldn't eject the fired cases of this ammo either. I was starting to think I had three dud guns on my hands and wondered if I'd actually test fired them before and they passed, or had I imagined it.

Next I decided to try some fresh CCI Mini Mags, around a couple of years old. All three guns fired, extracted and ejected as they should. To make sure it wasn't a fluke, I did this in several batteries of five rounds for each pistol. They all worked fine with the newer CCI Mini Mags.

My conclusion is that .22 LR ammo may last indefinitely if stored properly, but it may lose a bit of energy over time. The 51 year old Mini Mags worked okay in bolt action rifles; if I hadn't tried them in the little pistols, I wouldn't have known this was the case.

I had some old blazer unopened bricks. Tried them and some sounded like a
Mouse fart, some sounded normal, some were in between. Deteriorated with proper storage. Not sure how old they were but maybe 15 years?

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Ammo will degrade over time...even with proper storage.
In many cases...if not most of them...the ammo will still function as intended , even with age or deterioration .

.22 Ammo as a general rule can be an exception to the above.
As seen in the OP.

Another general rule is.22 semi-auto firearms can be picky about their ammo likes and needs

In my experience with older / vintage .22 ammo...it tends to work best with bolt or other manual action firearms...
Or revolvers and single shot firearms.
Andy

 

[Caveman Jim]

Dang, I better start going through the mega-million I dragged from Wa…

 

[64MercurysRule]

Caveman shooting up his 22 ammo ........


View: https://youtube.com/shorts/R0fuJ8H9wj4?si=U-rZeFp-FC0MWspa

 

[1911Fanatic]

I am glad the OP brought this up. I have a bunch of really old 22 LR ammo. I will be sure to use them only in my single action revolvers going forward.

I have been using new Aguila Super Extra and CCI mini Mags in my semi autos.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Caveman shooting up his 22 ammo ........

View attachment 2172152
View: https://youtube.com/shorts/R0fuJ8H9wj4?si=U-rZeFp-FC0MWspa

I'm contemplating doing that since "I CAN" in a free state.

 

[Caveman Jim]

My stock would last a few weeks then I'd have to sell my soul for more.

 

[ynot762]

I can't imagine a box of .22 living that long on my shelf.

 

[Old John]

I have a brick of .22 in a utility room closet that has been in there for many years.
The bullets have turn white, apparently from. oxidation.
A bit afraid to shoot them as I do not know if lead oxide is abrasive.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

I have a brick of .22 in a utility room closet that has been in there for many years.
The bullets have turn white, apparently from. oxidation.
A bit afraid to shoot them as I do not know if lead oxide is abrasive.

Easy fix here....
Take a lightly oiled gun rag and wipe the oxidation off.

Key is lightly....here.
Andy

 

[Federal92x]

I love CCI Mini Mags, it's the only ammo I've found so far that runs well with my Ruger Charger.

 

[arrowshooter]

Easy fix here....
Take a lightly oiled gun rag and wipe the oxidation off.

Key is lightly....here.
Andy

This

As an enhancement if you will, take a Chapstick to the range with you and give the bullets a little twist on it. It just takes a bit, so you don't need to make ice cream cones that you'll have to clean out of your gun.

 

[Mark W.]

OK I'm all good my stock pile of .22 rimfire only goes back to 1981 I shot up the old stuff. I do on occasion shoot some of my old stuff and I can't say I have ever had a problem. But then the only semi auto .22 I have is a Ruger MKIII hunter that I generally shoot Mini mags or Blazer in. No problems.

 

[Caveman Jim]

I can't imagine a box of .22 living that long on my shelf.

These are my boxes of 22lr & they full…

 

[2ndtimer]

I have 5 of the 100 boxes of Mini Mag from the old White Elephant store in Spokane marked $1.99 each. Might be 45 years old. I will have to test them in my S&W M&P 22 Compact, if I can get it back from my son who "borrowed" it over a month ago.
Also have 6 or 7 bricks of Winchester 40 gr Power Point Hollow Points from back when Winchester made decent rimfire ammo, roughly 30 years ago. Wouldn't take today's production as a gift.

 

[Alexx1401]

Rimfire ammo, like .22, never seems to be "sealed up" as well as other ammo. Guessing something about the way its made? I have a few times found some that had been forgotten that was decades old and it shot fine in my semi's. Ammo was never left outside or such though. Have shot a LOT of Mil Surp ammo that was FAR older than me and stuff always worked great but, they do seem to seal their stuff real well.

 

[childrenofthesun]

I used very old 22 ammunition, short and long, that was sealed in an WW2 ammo boxes year unknown, along with other boxes of 32 ammunition that was black powder..
No corrosion was present.
The 32 ammunition I did not use. The 22 ammunition was in good condition and I used it.
I do have a 32 Revolver but I have no knowledge how to use old black powder.is also I have no experience with the old 32 revolver.