Semi-auto and low caliber

[zanthal]

Can anyone with experience with .22 and .25 semi-automatic handguns and rifles tell me if a hypothesis I have is correct...



I'm thinking that it would take very little resistance (due to lack of cleaning or foreign objects) to cause the relatively small recoil of such a small caliber to start failing to have enough force to load the next round into the firing chamber.

Another question would be, do these low caliber semi-autos have a higher tendency to jam because of this or another reason?




Thanks

['ol shooter]

They are a little peppier than you think. Want to find out? Put your thumb on the rear of the slide, and touch a round off. I think you will find they aren't as anemic as you suspect they are. Most .25's are jam 'o matics because of shoddy workmanship and poor materials.

[Carcassonne]

I am not sure what you are asking.

Semi-auto .22 and .25 caliber guns usually rely on straight blow-back to cycle the slide/bolt. If there was more restriction in the barrel then more of the force from the gasses would be applied to the slide/bolt, and it would go back sooner or farther. A dirty barrel may cause more carbon to be blown into the chamber/feeding area which could cause a malfunction.

The force needed to load the next round is supplied by the compressed spring. The farther back the slide goes, the more the spring is compressed.

For best results everything should operate smoothly.


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[zanthal]

I haven't actually fired a semi-auto .22 or .25 caliber firearm.

Carcassonne essentially my question comes from a doubt that the slide could be reliably and continually brought back on a semi-auto with such a small caliber, and if they are prone to jams or misfires because of it.

Bob B. sounds like the voice of experience that my doubts are unfounded, which is great, thanks to you both.

[AR22]

With he right ammo, my wifes little Ruger SR22 cycles 100% perfect.

Runs perfect on even Standard Velocity CCIs, which are only 1050 FPS.

I have never seen a good .25 semi auto, so I will not even comment on those and that useless round

[MongooseV8]

Even with the heavy bolt in a 10/22 they are extremely reliable. There is a lot of force in a little dinky 22LR, and a lot of force in a rearward charged bolt/slide and recoil spring. If you saw how dirty my 22LR autos were between cleanings you would see they are plenty reliable even with junk in and around the chamber.

[zanthal]

While I have your attention, does California have different laws for .22 caliber, as in, does it have the same magazine size restrictions as assault rifles?

Maybe 20 years ago I was reading a catalog and say a semi-auto .22LR rifle with a 150 round magazine, talk about loading on Sunday and firing all year.

[MongooseV8]

There are different laws for rimfire, but mag capacity is universally limited to 10 rounds. That is unless you owned an 11+ mag before they were restricted and some leo/military exemptions. But even then its only legal for the time being.

[fishnbeer]

Any cycling problem i have had with .22s is due to lack of cleaning. 22 is a dirty round

[Carcassonne]

Maybe 20 years ago I was reading a catalog and say a semi-auto .22LR rifle with a 150 round magazine, talk about loading on Sunday and firing all year.

These use to be legal in California.

http://calicolightweaponsystems.com

http://calicolightweaponsystems.com/home/index.php?page=22-2

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[Carcassonne]

I haven't actually fired a semi-auto .22 or .25 caliber firearm.

Carcassonne essentially my question comes from a doubt that the slide could be reliably and continually brought back on a semi-auto with such a small caliber, and if they are prone to jams or misfires because of it.

Bob B. sounds like the voice of experience that my doubts are unfounded, which is great, thanks to you both.

Force = Pressure x Area

The pressure of the 22LR can reach 25,000 psi.

(25,000#/i^2) x (pi(.22i/2)^2) = 950#

So at one point there can be as much as 950 pounds of force against the slide/bolt. It would be for a fraction of a second. That is basically a snapshot when the pressure has peaked. There is more to it than that.


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