Reliability of Remington 22 shells

[earlmck]

Took a granddaughter out today for her introduction to shooting. Not a lever gun but a little bolt gun called a "cricket" that is just kid sized but set up pretty nice with a peep sight and has a bolt that has to be physically cocked for each shot.

Had about 100 rounds left in a "bulk pack" of Remingtons that I took for her use. We ended up shooting up all the ammo eventually and she was really getting into it. Out of the 100 shots we had 2 misfires. One of these fired after ejecting it and trying again; the other wouldn't go off no matter what.

And that is why I haven't bought a Remington manufactured 22 shell in a number of years (when I think it has been a couple of years it is at least 5) so I don't know when was the last time I bought Remington. But 12 years ago our local Bi-Mart store had 'em on sale and I picked up several of the "bulk packs" cheap. Then later discovered I got an occasional misfire. Figured they just had a bad batch and sometime after that (maybe a year or two later) I bought another pack or maybe two. Dang, still got the occasional misfire. Swore off Remington after that but made the mistake a "few" years ago of buying a brick of Peters shells. Same occasional misfire, like 1 to 3 out of 100 rounds. And I know other folks talked about the same experience at the time.

My question is -- is this still happening with Remington 22 shells? Reason I'm asking is that on a fairly regular basis the Remington bulk-pack is put on sale. And one of my rifles happens to even prefer the things by a significant margin. But I'm still not buying any more if I hear they are still producing those things with a small percentage of duds.

What say you other 22 shooters? Has Remington fixed their little quality problem? Am I safe to start buying Remington again?

[Hobie]

I have customers who have told me that the misfire syndrome extends to shotshells as well. Still, Remington Corelokt centerfire ammo is the most popular come hunting season. Price likely has something to do with that. It has been a long time since something has failed to go bang in one of my guns and that was shooting DA in my S&W 43. Those guns are somewhat known for that.

[Pisgah]

Really, this happens with virtually all bulk-produced-and-packed .22 rounds, to one extent or another, regardless of brand. Rimfire cases are notoriously difficult to prime properly; add to this the fact that their design requires a pretty good hammer blow for consistent ignition (smaller, lighter guns manifest this phenomenon most often), plus the fact that quality control is simply not as stringent on bulk runs of ammo, and 1, 2 or 3 misfires out 100 is not rare.

[Don McDowell]

I used the bulk packed Remington Golden bullet for a couple of years doing prairiedog control. When I had trouble with misfires with the stuff, usually a complete cleanup including getting the crud from around the firing pin would clear that problem up. Seems like about every 300 rounds or so.

[Blaine]

I bought some bulk Rems years and years ago, and not only were there mis-fires, but I could hear a difference in them when they went off occasionally. I personally prefer the Federal bulks....On the other hand, Remington centre (a little Euro Lingo for Nath)
fire 30wcf and '06 work wonderfully for me and I wouldn't use anything else...the .444 240s, as well.

[3leggedturtle]

They suck worse than #$@%^&^. Wouldnt buy them if even if i had no other choice. I also think they are also the dirtiest ammo to shoot short of BP ammo. CCI, Federal and WW in that order is what I will only buy and shoot. On the range 7-8 of every 10 dud rimfire rounds are RP.

[Buck Elliott]

I quit buying Rem. .22 lr ammo many years ago, for the same reason..

When I go afield, I often come upon places where folks stop and plink, and has been stated above, nearly all the dud rounds I find on the ground are Remington made..

Big Green's shotshells seem OK, and their center-fire rifle ammo is stellar. Wish I could say the same about their revolver ammo.. I don't like their handgun brass.. To brittle and inconsistent in dimensions..

In the last 30 years plus, 95% of my ammo has been handloads, except for shotgun rounds..

Most of my rf ammo of late has come from CCI or Federal, with a little Winchester tossed in, here and there..

[jdad]

22 ammo gets better, in quality, as the price goes up, but I avoid all Remington rimfire ammo. It's poor QC and very dirty.

If you're a competitive 3 or 4 position match shooter there is a reason why you buy this stuff.
http://www.championshooters.com/store/p ... 295&page=1

[Tycer]

I have one rifle that loves it. It has misfires, it's dirty and chronys off. It's accurate in that gun. Luckily that gun also likes the Federals.

[Ji in Hawaii]

Amen on Remington ammo misfires. I usually buy CCI Blazer or Winchester bulk ammo. I tried a bulk box of Remington Thunderbolts and they were terrible. My guns are always thoroughly cleaned after each shooting session and no matter what firearm the first 200 rounds had a 10% failure rate so I stopped and the last 300 rounds are gathering dust. This was over 5 years ago when I was still living on Maui. I won't buy anything new with the Remington label nor associated brands like H&R or Marlin.

[AJMD429]

They were on sale before the last election, and I just knew ammo of all kinds was going to be hard come by, so I bought five or six bricks; been shooting them up as fast as possible for 'plinking', because I can't depend on them. Seems to be true for several different guns. Old Winchester, Old Federal, Old CCI, all do better than old OR new Remington...

[Dewight]

I brought 3 cases of Remington 22 ammo this year. I've shot probably 2 cartons and had on misfire. Of course it was made in 1955! CMP surplus. Remington bulk pack is noted for its misfires at our range. As noted earlier some rifles seem to shoot it really well.

[Tycer]

Thunderbolts are the very worst of the worst. They make the bulk look like match ammo.

[piller]

My Henry and my 10/22 both like the Federal and the Winchester bulk pack. Remington gives too many dud rounds to be worth it. I use CCI in the places where I am truly depending on a .22lr to go bang. They are accurate, and my guns like them. I just don't spend the money for them when all I am going to do is put holes in paper and not worry too much about being more than inside the 10 ring at 25 yards.

[earlmck]

OK gang, sounds to me like Remington hasn't improved their rimfire manufacture process/quality control since I last bought it. That's what I needed to know and I'll continue with the bulk Federal and CCI Blazer that I've been happily using for the past ?? number of years. I don't think I've ever had a misfire with either of those brands.

I still happily use Remington primers and I only recall one misfire with a Remington primer. I bought a batch of CCI large rifle primers right there when the "shortage" was hitting us 3 years ago. These were pumped out probably during the third shift old CCI had put on to try to catch up and I do get an occasional (one per thousand maybe) misfire with those. I'd bet CCI will have fixed any qual control problems they were having then. But if Remington hasn't fixed their problem in at least 12 years, they don't intend to fix it and I won't bother buying their rimfire ammo. Thanks much for the input.

I used the bulk packed Remington Golden bullet for a couple of years doing prairiedog control. When I had trouble with misfires with the stuff, usually a complete cleanup including getting the crud from around the firing pin would clear that problem up.

Don, it sounds to me like you just got lucky and bought stuff that was made better than their average. Those Golden Bullets have given me failures in every 22 I've tried 'em in, including an old Browning auto pistol that had never had a failure to fire until these Remingtons showed up. Today was my first time using them in the kid's "cricket", so add one more rifle to the Remington reject list. I should confess that I seldom clean a 22, but my dirty 22's seem to fire Federal and CCI and Winchester without fail.

[piller]

Hope that Crickett is as good as the one my son had has been. RKrodle and 86er have both used it to teach youngsters to shoot. As far as I know it will be passed on to more young hunters whenever it is needed. I even had fun with it in the back yard using Aguilla Colibri loads from it as bird control. It is as accurate as any .22lr I have ever shot.

[Don McDowell]

When I bought those we bought 6 or 7 boxes of them, and a 4 of the boxes of 100 ct so we had "ammo boxes" in the pickups without scattering 22's all over the place. They were way cleaner and fewer misfires than the Winchester Wildcats, and much cleaner than the Federals at the time.
Probably killed well over 2000 prairiedogs with them from pointblank to somewhere past 200 yds.
Placed pretty well up in the field at a couple of 22 bpcr side matches out to 230 yds with a box of em that were left after we got the prairiedogs poisoned...
Over the years most of the "misfire" problems in 22 that I've ever been around can be traced to a dirty gun or a weak firing pin spring, and once even a worn firing pin tip....
Always tickles me how this or that brand of whatever is a pile of junk, few years ago it was cci primers... now it's remington ammo.... next year who knows..

[AJMD429]

The thing is, it can't all be the "dirty gun" syndrome, or so many folks wouldn't say that the Federal, CCI, and Winchester ammo works fine in those same guns...

[Borregos]

I have not bought any Remington 22 ammo for years, not since I was getting a fail to fire rate of around 2%.
Never had a problem with Federal or Winchester bulk, although occasionally the Winchester bulk sounds a bit different from shot to shot.

[RIHMFIRE]

I have shot rem 22 ammo all my life and yes there have been misfires....
As of right now most of the time I buy the federal value packs and they
have been very reliable...with very few misfires, same with winchester...
Very happy with CCI

[Don McDowell]

The thing is, it can't all be the "dirty gun" syndrome, or so many folks wouldn't say that the Federal, CCI, and Winchester ammo works fine in those same guns...

Really? If remingtons ammo was that bad, I'ld think there'ld be a major recall on the stuff, but I don't recall seeing or hearing about it.
22 ammo is prone to misfires no matter what brand, and 22 rifles probably get less maintence and upkeep than any other rifle, and get more rounds run thru them in even a brief range session than do centerfires.
Keep in mind also that neither of my rebounding hammer 94's or my winchester 95 have the oft and continous claim of misfires...... in accuracy...

[mikld]

You would think Remington ammo would be reliable in a Remington rifle. Not so. I had a Remington Viper (don't remember mod. number) and bought/shot every kind of 22 lr ammo I could find. The least reliable (failures to fire and failures to feed) was Rem. Vipers followed closely by Thunderbolts. Yellowjackets were fairly reliable feeding, but not very accurate. I didn't try any of the other Rem. .22 lr ammo; targer quality stuff, 'cause I was not impressed by anything Remington. Federal and Blazer bulk was very good, no failures and was fairly accurate. Best groups came from 40 gr. standard velocity and CCI green tag being very good. Couldn't find/afford the target stuff like Ely back then so I settled on mostly CCI .22 lr ammo. Today I have a few .22s and none have tasted any Remington ammo as I have not purchased any since mebbe '87. Federal and Winchester bulk "Acu'rzred" shoots well in all my .22s

[DPris]

I'm obviously doing something wrong.
I use Remington Golden bulk pack fairly regularly in testing new guns, and I rarely have a misfire with the stuff. When it does happen, it's uncommon and occurs no more frequently than any other makers' bulk product.

Emphasize this is in NEW gun testing, which raises the suggestion that possibly those who experience more problems with it are doing so in well-used guns that MAY have dirt or weakened springs affecting firing pin impacts. I said MAY.
There may (MAY) be something in the case rim thickness or hardness that requires more energy than other brands for reliable ignition.

The last .22 I worked with was a new CZ boltgun on 5-8-12, in which the Remington Golden produced the best 50-yard group with zero misfires.

I've also used it in my own guns over the years, with no higher percentages of misfires than other brands.
Denis

[Malamute]

I scratch my head when I see the threads on Remington 22 ammo. I've shot probably several hundred thousand rounds of it. I haven't had trouble with it ever. I've tried Fed bulk stuff of various vintages and had many differing sounds to the reports, so didnt use it any more. The old Winchester Wildcat 22 were pretty good for "cheap" ammo, but the Remington golden bullet stuff has always been good in my guns. The Thunderbolt stuff wasn't very good, but the regular golden bullets has been quite consistant in performance in mine for many years.

Not saying guys havent had trouble with it, but I wonder why, since I havent.

[wolfdog]

Rem Golden is what my 3 Ruger Mark 2s like best. Most of the misfires I have had with it have been at the end of long, high volume range sesions. Clean the pistols and they are back up to speed. My 10-22 does not like them however have not had much for missfires, but Federal and cci shoot better.

[GonnePhishin]

I agree and do not purchase anymore. Dirty and poor quality.

[Ben_Rumson]

My Nylon 66 likes the goldens well enough holding around an inch @ 50 with the open sights off the bench... For the price I accept there will be a few duds...

[Bullard4075]

Interesting thread.
In the store all bad reports seem to have a Green Box origin to the extent I
no longer recommend it at all though it seems to flow out the door. American
Eagle (Federal red box) has been my go to for the last 100 thousand rounds or so
with nary a dud round that I remember. To be honest though a dud round now and
then would likely not be remembered though a dud centerfire would be and I've had none
in recent memory. Memory is not what it once was though!
I suspect priming to be the culprit in these misadventures with maybe Remington using old/worn
equipment or a weak QC department.
Remington Thunderbolt and Winchester Wildcat neither are in my employ from uncounted FTFs
the few times years past when I had yet to learn price verses quality.
Bare lead (waxed?) bullets in the above two may be the sticking point in the semi-autos but
dirty actions and drag at the feed ramp could contribute. I admit I also rarely clean my two-twos
as often as my center-fires despite their use far more often.
CCI ammo is on par with Federal in my book though usually the CCI bought is the CB version.

[earlmck]

So we have a few folks who've had good luck with the Remington and a bunch of us who have experienced too many dud rounds. I am beginning to visualize the Remington rimfire plant being something like Detroit auto factories of the 50's and 60's -- you want to avoid anything made on Monday 'cause the workforce is hung over. You would like to avoid stuff made on Tuesday 'cause some of the workforce is still under the weather. Wednesday stuff is good stuff. Thursday things start to deteriorate 'cause some of the workforce is losing concentration thinking about getting drunk on the weekend. Friday stuff you really want to avoid 'cause the whole workforce is thinking about the weekend party. So maybe we've got a 30 to 40% chance of getting good ammo when we buy a pack of Remington?

I'm going to give Remington one more try. I thought I still had a pack or two of the stuff I'd bought years ago. Nope, those shells I supplied to granddaughter were the very tail-end of my Remington bulk packs. So next time our Bi-Mart store runs it on sale I think I'll get a box. My Remington pump rifles like it fine and a misfire doesn't slow down a pump rifle much at all anyway. Beginning shooters, though, will be supplied with Federal or CCI from now on.

[.Dirty-.Thirty]

Hello Earl, Try some Remington Golden Bullets .DT

[claybob86]

Can't say anything about the Goldens, but I have had a ridiculous number of misfires with the Thunderbolts, far more than any other bulk .22s. Only Remington ammo I ever had any trouble with.

[1894c]

CCI anything (mostly Blazers) and Federal Bulk... :)