Subsonic 22 reliability issues

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  • kstone803

    Official Meat Getter
    Feb 25, 2009
    3,923
    Ltown in the SMC
    So I've been testing 22 subs for accuracy and out of the major brands I have been having horrible reliability issues. Out of multiple guns I have been experiencing 8-12% FTF on both Winchester and CCI subs. I've contacted both companies and they requested I ship the ammo back to them. Anybody else having these issues? Some of the CCI I have hit 4 and 5 times without them firing. Not light strikes either, all the guns run reliably with federal automatch and CCI mini mags. I'm looking for a round to hunt squirrels with during bow season but if I have a 1in 10 chance of the round being a dud that ain't exactly good for hunting.
     

    Wongler

    Member
    Nov 6, 2013
    48
    Carlisle, PA
    I use the Gemtech subsonic 22LR reliably in my Ruger American Rimfire, 10/22, and SR22. I've shot it supressed and unsupressed without issues.
     

    F-Stop

    Ultimate Member
    Feb 16, 2009
    2,484
    Cecil County
    If it's the Max Winchester sub, they have a more pronounced hollow point than some other makers bullets. Maybe that is causing some feeding issues. Eley and Remington have a smaller hollow portion which may feed better.

    I have not had issues as you describe though especially with the cci bit there could be a bad lot.
     

    kstone803

    Official Meat Getter
    Feb 25, 2009
    3,923
    Ltown in the SMC
    If it's the Max Winchester sub, they have a more pronounced hollow point than some other makers bullets. Maybe that is causing some feeding issues. Eley and Remington have a smaller hollow portion which may feed better.

    I have not had issues as you describe though especially with the cci bit there could be a bad lot.

    Sorry, I used FTF as failure to fire not failure to feed. No feed issues but getting high fail to go bang rates.
     

    Boom Boom

    Hold my beer. Watch this.
    Jul 16, 2010
    16,834
    Carroll
    That's a crazy high failure-to-fire rate for CCI subsonic. Something really fishy with Winchester and CCI both doing the same. Either the ammo got wet (condensing moisture at least) or you have multiple guns with roached firing pins. Do you dry fire the guns in question or might somebody else have dry fired them?

    Keep in mind failure-to-feed could be the entire problem if you're using semi-autos. Subsonic 22LR cannot reliably cycle most semi-autos.
     

    jrumann59

    DILLIGAF
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 17, 2011
    14,024
    Winchester is pretty hit or miss on their normal stuff. On M&P5 in 22 lr I had 4-5 out of 50 fail. Part me thinks the 22LR shortage may have caused some companies to cut corners on QA to get as much out as possible.
     

    John from MD

    American Patriot
    MDS Supporter
    May 12, 2005
    22,734
    Socialist State of Maryland
    I use Aquila subs and Gemtec and have no problems whatsoever. Lately, I have found Winchester lacking in quality control in their bulk 333 and 555 offerings. If they shoot they seem to be consistent but I have failures to fire that will fire if the case is rotated. That leaves me to believe that the machine that spins the wet priming compound is questionable or maybe not enough compound is getting into the case.

    At least they are nowhere near as bad as the Rem Golden bullets. They are so inconsistent, you can tell by ear and don't even need a Chrony to verify it. :sad20:
     

    lkenefic

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 19, 2011
    3,778
    I took FTF as failure to feed until I realized you were using a bolt gun... wow! 50 rounds out of a brick is a substantial loss in quality control. Back before the huge feeding frenzy of 22lr ammo, I'd expect maybe one dud in every other brick (0.5% failure rate). I stopped buying WW and Remington because of QC issues after stores started restocking on a more regular basis. Unfortunately, I still have about 2k of this stuff. Slowly, I'll plink it away and suffer the occasional dud. By comparison, I've never had a dud with Federal Automatch or CCI. I also shoot Eley Match... no duds either.
     

    gwchem

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 18, 2014
    3,434
    SoMD
    That's a crazy high rate of failure. Which rifle? Have you tried the ammo in another gun?

    I have shot 200 cci quiets out of my savage and all went bang. Have tons more you're welcome to try.
     

    BurtonRW

    Active Member
    Oct 19, 2007
    995
    Pasadena
    Which CCI subsonic? I’ve got a brick of Quik-Shok coming on Thursday. I’ll feed a bunch through my 10/22 and AR-7 to see what happens.

    They have an even slower load. I forget what it’s called.

    -Rob
     

    kstone803

    Official Meat Getter
    Feb 25, 2009
    3,923
    Ltown in the SMC
    That's a crazy high rate of failure. Which rifle? Have you tried the ammo in another gun?

    I have shot 200 cci quiets out of my savage and all went bang. Have tons more you're welcome to try.

    This is out of a Ruger American rimfire, a Ruger mkiv with volquartsen kit and firing pin and a stock buckmark. Failures consistently in all guns. The CCI is the standard subsonic HP.

    http://palmettostatearmory.com/sub-sonic-22lr-40gr-lead-hp.html
     

    gwchem

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 18, 2014
    3,434
    SoMD
    This is out of a Ruger American rimfire, a Ruger mkiv with volquartsen kit and firing pin and a stock buckmark. Failures consistently in all guns. The CCI is the standard subsonic HP.

    http://palmettostatearmory.com/sub-sonic-22lr-40gr-lead-hp.html

    Bad batch, I would guess. Hopefully CCI sends you replacement.

    You're welcome to try the quiets, I don't use them and have a brick collecting dust. But at only 800fps they might not be the best for squirrels.
     

    manderson

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 3, 2008
    1,243
    That's a crazy high failure-to-fire rate for CCI subsonic.
    Last time I took my High Standard Victor out I used all CCI Subsonic. I was specifically working on mag lip adjustment on three mags and wasn't paying much attention to the target. Didn't have any fail to fire. My target was out 25 yards and I really can't see 22 holes very well at that distance. When I walked out to check I was pretty amazed to see all the shots within about three inches. No problem with CCI subsonic here.
     

    teratos

    My hair is amazing
    MDS Supporter
    Patriot Picket
    Jan 22, 2009
    59,775
    Bel Air
    Bad batch, I would guess. Hopefully CCI sends you replacement.

    You're welcome to try the quiets, I don't use them and have a brick collecting dust. But at only 800fps they might not be the best for squirrels.

    The quiets are fun for plinking unsuppresed. I have killed a few groundhogs with them. Head shots. No problems killing them humanely.
     

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