Faulty Federal ammo?

[Chefantone]

Hi, has anyone had any issues with Federal .22 ammo recently? A friend of mine just sent me a picture of a .22 casing while at the range today. I know Winchester had a recall lately for a possible double powder charge on 2 lots of ammo. This casing looks suspiciously like it may have had the same. The lot on the ammo he has is 2FJ729. I just wanted to put this out there. Thoughts anyone? And yes, he stopped using the ammo immediately and will contact Federal about this.

[Tank 57]

That looks like it may have fired out of battery.(Bolt not fully closed) Your friend should take a look at his gun as well.

.22LR ammo does have the occasional case head seperation.

[MDCHUNKER]

I had the same OOB kaboom happen to me in a S&W 15-22.

Always wear your eye protection. I had a nice chunk of brass hit me square in the right eye of my Stihl safety glasses.

[as_rocketman]

Yep, that's a classic out-of-battery discharge. This is not evidence of overcharging or any other ammunition fault.

After an OOB always stop and be sure you and those around you are uninjured. Usually it's nothing so long as you're wearing your eye and ear protection, but little bits of brass can cause nasty puncture wounds. A case rupture like this can also cause a squib, so you should snake the barrel if there is any doubt at all.

Then make sure the rifle is clean, you don't have a sticky firing pin, and that rounds are chambering easily. After an OOB it's not unusual to have bits of the old case floating around in the action.

Rimfire OOB's are also more common as temperatures rise and ammo gets left in the sun. Be careful out there.

[Chefantone]

Talking with my friend later I did find out this occurred while shooting his M&P 15 with a 22 conversion kit installed. I'm not sure of the manufacturer of the conversion kit but am more apt to believe now that it was indeed an OOB. Not being familiar with this type of failure I just wanted to put out a safety notice just in case.

[shadow65]

Nearly all out of battery discharges are cause by build up in the chamber not allowing the bolt to fully seat the round.

.22 is pretty dirty and can build up quickly.

Dave N

[Jimi Jah]

That Champion stuff turns out to be the best ammo for my Ciener conversion bolts. I shoot dime sized groups at 25 yards when the other crap is all over the target.

I did polish the chamber/feed ramps so the ammo feeds better.