Gary Reeder
Rain in the forecast for the next several days so I
Saturday, June 03, 2023, 17:27

decided to bring a bunch of 22 rifles in and make sure they were sighted in. The first gun jammed with the round trying to get into the chamber. I set aside to check it out later as I didn't have a lot of time on a Saturday. The second gun did the same. Then the 3rd, and these were 3 different guns, all semi autos but different brands. When 3 guns all jam that rules out the gun in most cases. That just leaves the ammo.
We buy quite a few estates and in each there are a half box of this ammo, half of another and so on. We set the half and partial boxes aside for test firing purposes. With 3 guns that normally never give me any problems now are jamming I pulled the box of ammo aside and checked it out. It was CCI Mini Mags in the older yellowish plastic box. Looking at the ammo there was a thin layer of a waxy something on the cases and on the nose of the bullet. I took my knife and scraped all the waxy crap off the rounds and put then back in the guns. This time no problems. They all fed fine and had decency accuracy. I had about half a box of Stingers so I decided to try them. I figured with the nickel cases and no visible wax or other coating on the bullet and case it should run fine. And all 3 guns ran fine. Not a jam or hiccup in the shooting session.
I know a lot of times when a gun jams we automatically blame the gun, seldom the ammo. But this time it was fully the ammo.
On another gun I tried a different brand of ammo. It is the CZ 512, the semi auto 22 Magnum. It loved the Hornady Critical Defense with the heavy 45 grain bullet. My Rock Island XTM 22 Magnum 1911 style pistol also loves the Hornady. Today I had a box of Winchester Dyna Point 45 grain 22 Magnum on hand so I figured why not try it. The CZ 512 and the Rock Island XTM both ran it perfectly with not a jam in a whole box. Most 22 Magnum semi autos, both handguns an rifle are picky on ammo. But they all seem to like the heavier bullet brands of 40 to 45 grain bullets.
Here is the CZ 512
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And the Rock Island
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Quite a few folks in the gun shop today, most with minor problems with their guns so my time in the machine shop was limited but I got quite a bit done.

Several guns that I swear by didn't let me down today. That is the model 29, model 30 and model 31 J.C.Higgins 22 LR, each gun made by High Standard for Sears. I have yet to have any of them give me any problems. I like them as they are a man size 22 rifle, not one of the little ladies guns you find all over the place.
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One of the guns had the expensive scope on it when I got it. It think it was $2 extra when you bought it with the gun at Sears. The ad showed it better.

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Another one that I brag on a lot is the little Marlin 99-M1 in 22 LR. It puts every shot in a dime size group at 20 to 25 yards if I do my part. I have had to put a scope on the little Marlin but that is not the fault of the gun, just my chity eyesight.
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All in all a good day. I have a couple of big caliber rifles to sight in soon too. These are Colleen's rifles and she will have a couple of them on her next Africa hunt. Her 458 for sure..as that's her baby. I built it for her for her first Africa hunt back in 1993 and she has used it quite a bit since then. She is in the process of changing her scope on it. She hasn't made up her mind on which scope yet.
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Her Colt Sauer in 300 Win Mag will be with her too.

Maybe next weekend on them.


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