Five pounds of rodent

[earlmck]

Went looking for rock chuck. They live in a pile of rocks beneath the big juniper tree the rifle is pointing toward.

RockPile0889.jpg

This fellow showed his head to see if the coast was clear yet. I judged him to be just about the same weight as the 5# bag of sugar I poured into the boss' sugar jar this morning. This would be this year's crop of chuck -- kind of a teen-ager at this point. I think the big mommas and poppas may already be down for the aestivation.

RChuck0888.jpg

Today I had a misfire with a Winchester (Super X, 22LR hp). That's a first for me I believe. So in the last couple of years I have now had misfires with all the major brands: CCI, Federal, Remington, Winchester. Not enough to be really significant, like Remington did for something like the first decade of this century (I was getting two or three misfires per hundred from those as I recall) but maybe one or two per carton. Friend Butch and I had the conversation that... "did we have misfires with 22 shells when we were kids?"

I just do not remember ever having a misfire back "in the day", but maybe I am just not remembering. Did we get misfires from 22 shells back in the 50's and 60's? I do recall the shock I got when I started picking up the first of those Remington misfires from a bulk-pack of the "golden bullets". No big shock now, and I don't think Remington is particularly worse than anybody else anymore, though I sure don't have any statistical analysis to go on.

[claybob86]

I don't recall having many misfires back in the 60s through 90s with any .22s, regardless of brand. Remington bulk-pack .22s made in the last 15 years or so are the only ones I've had routine misfires with. I don't buy them any more. (Even if I found them available to buy!)

[J Miller]

What do you do with a 5# dead rock chuck? Eat 'em?

Long story below, pass on by if you don't wanna read it.

When I was young .... , I was shooting centre fires in difference to .22s. Not overly flush with funds, but when I let fly with a 30-30 or a 303 Brit, I knew it went off and enjoyed the mayhem caused when that big slug connected.
With a .22 it was .... click ..... um did this thing go off???? Person next to me would be like ... well yeah, didn't you feel it?
Nope.

Anyway, I don't "remember" many misfires either with the fresh ammo that I did buy.
What's worse is I'd go out in the AZ desert and pick up scads of 22 cartridges left behind by others. Most had never been tried, some had mangled bullets from defective feeding mechanisms, and some had one firing pin indent. Rarely would I find one with more than one try.

I'd clean them, straighten the bent ones, smear a bit of bullet lube on them and take them back out and shoot 'em. Had a lot of fun with other peoples leavings that way.

Some of the ammo I fired was so old the bullets were pitted and the brass was black from the sun. But they fired. American manufactures made some good ammo way back when.

I miss the good old days. (And don't tell me these are the good old days cos they ain't.)

Joe

[jdad]

Earl,

Remington rimfire ammo is "cheap", to compensate for the poor QC. Ammo made by ATK (Federal and CCI) has always been much higher quality. I cannot remember ever having a round of CCI that didn't fire. Federal AE yes, but CCI no. Winchester (Olin) quality has dropped also unfortunately. I shoot craploads of rimfire and the new bulk (325) Federal Automach has been surprisingly high quality bulk ammo. If I'm going to punch paper I use my match ammo. (Wolf Match target/SK Standard plus or Wolf Match Extra/SK Rifle Match)

Good shooting on the chuck's too.

[mikld]

I didn't start shooting until the mid sixties, with my first .22, a Single six (city boy living in the ghetto. didn't shoot until after I got my driver's license). I do not remember any misfires with any 22 ammo, but later when I got a 10-22, I found Remington to occasionally give a dud. More so with their hyper-velocity stuff pluss it was pretty dirty...

[earlmck]

What do you do with a 5# dead rock chuck? Eat 'em?

Some of the ammo I fired was so old the bullets were pitted and the brass was black from the sun. But they fired. American manufactures made some good ammo way back when.

Joe

If you are hungry, rock chuck isn't bad. If you are hungry enough it is down right delicious. But if you aren't particularly hungry it fails to be real good... a lot more like jack rabbit than cottontail.

And the ammo... yeah, that's the way I remember it: if you could get it in your gun it would fire.