.22 rimfire case failure

[captaint]

So my son and me are shooting 22 pistols (ruger MKII's) indoors last week, have been on vacation since - and the darndest thing happend. One of the rounds had a case failure - 2 spots on the rim blew completely out. Made a funny pop and some smoke and everybody stops & looks and says "what was that??" The ammo was Federal and was old, probably at least 20 years old. Now I've shot my share of .22 rimfire over the years, but never seen that. Certainly, this was caused by the age of the ammo, but still, never seen this. The gun is in perfect shape, before & after. Just found it odd, that's all. I told my son - take that brick of ammo back to your pal and tell him to take it to the local police for disposal. They do that around here.. By the way, the ammo looked perfect on the outside. Must have corroded from the inside. Just wanted to pass this along and see if anybody else has seen this kind of thing. Enjoy Mike

[StarMetal]

So my son and me are shooting 22 pistols (ruger MKII's) indoors last week, have been on vacation since - and the darndest thing happend. One of the rounds had a case failure - 2 spots on the rim blew completely out. Made a funny pop and some smoke and everybody stops & looks and says "what was that??" The ammo was Federal and was old, probably at least 20 years old. Now I've shot my share of .22 rimfire over the years, but never seen that. Certainly, this was caused by the age of the ammo, but still, never seen this. The gun is in perfect shape, before & after. Just found it odd, that's all. I told my son - take that brick of ammo back to your pal and tell him to take it to the local police for disposal. They do that around here.. By the way, the ammo looked perfect on the outside. Must have corroded from the inside. Just wanted to pass this along and see if anybody else has seen this kind of thing. Enjoy Mike

You know oddly enough over 20 years ago I was shooting some federals, that were old, out of my Ruger Mark I and had a rim blow out.

Joe

[The Double D]

Don't blame gun or ammo, just shoot it. It's not a new problem. It's been around for years

It is just a characteristic of the blowback design and rimfire folded or balloon head design design. Case heads are unsupported and rely on the strength of the brass to hold the pressure. Read some of the old writings and you will see it widely reported. I believe Phil Sharpe mentioned in his book on reloading written in the 1930's.

I have had it happen in all my .22's over the years, most notably the 10-22's. In my bolt guns I ususal don't notice it until I clean up my brass and notice a ruptured case. The 10-22's usually sound louder and may or may not leave the case in the chamber.

It's the reason for all the problems in the 17HM2. The higher pressure of that cartridge blows and bulges cases. Last year I shoot a bit more than 3500 rounds of 17HM2, this year 15 rounds more than 4000 round of 17HM2 through my Martini and have not ruptured a case but lots of bulges. I have ruptured cases in my .22 Martini.

It's just a weakness in the cartridge design.

[Rocky Raab]

What DD said. There is some reason to believe that brass can harden and get a bit brittle over years, and that might contribute to this - but it certainly isn't a new problem.

[Ricochet]

Nor is it an old problem. I buy those bricks of Federals on sale, and along with the duds now and then I also get an occasional case head rupture.

[lathesmith]

Nor is it an old problem. I buy those bricks of Federals on sale, and along with the duds now and then I also get an occasional case head rupture.

A good place to put a reminder in here--this is a prime reason we ALWAYS wear our safety/shooting glasses when shooting ANY firearm, rimfire, centerfire, muzzleloader or otherwise.
lathesmith

[John Guedry]

I have cases split in my single six pretty often.

[Char-Gar]

About two months ago, I had a total case seperation (head blew off) in my Clark modified Ruger II race gun. This happened during a match. I am left handed and my right thumb got a dose of hot gas and a few tiny brass particles. The happened during a match. The ammo was four year old Federal.

The problem could have been just a bad case, but also could have been lead/lube build up at the front of the chamber or rear of the barrel that did not allow the case to go into full battery and yet the trigger could be pulled and the hammer released. This seemed to be the best guess of folks who know about these things.

Since them I put a few drops of Kroil on a brush and give the chamber and barrel a few strokes. I follow this by a couple of patches wet with Ed's Red and them some dry patches.

I had had no further problems.

[JIMinPHX]

I had a similar problem with some Federal "hi-power" .22lr ammo. It was about 30 years old & had a picture of a rabbit, a squirrel & a target on the box I think. The box was probably gold, black & white. It was a while ago. My memory of it is starting to get a little fuzzy.

When the ammo was new, it shot fine. After sitting for 30 years, it blew the magazine out of the bottom of a 10-22 & locked up the bolt on an old Remington single shot rifle. Other ammo shot fine in both guns.

The ammo was bought new by my uncle, back when he was still alive, & I was the net custodian of it after he passed, so I know it was reasonably well stored. That ammo just got flaky when it got old.

[Rockydog]

I had a case blow out the rim in about 1965 or so. I was shooting an old Rem. 33 single shot. Very lucky. Brass pieces all over my face but none in my eye. Pain and ringing in my ear from the blast of gas around the bolt lasted for days as I remember. This was nickel plated brass that was corroded under the nickel. Blew out the rim about 1/2 way around. RD

[shootrj2003]

P

I had a case blow out the rim in about 1965 or so. I was shooting an old Rem. 33 single shot. Very lucky. Brass pieces all over my face but none in my eye. Pain and ringing in my ear from the blast of gas around the bolt lasted for days as I remember. This was nickel plated brass that was corroded under the nickel. Blew out the rim about 1/2 way around. RD

Just to add to this old post but an ever present risk,I just had a case blow out in an old bolt action,I don't know if the damage in the chamber edge was before this incident oa result of the incident but it appears a small piece of the edge of the chamber is gone and the case blew out,the gases followed the extractor through the bolt with enough force to recock the bolt striker,fortunately ,the design was strong enough that the striker did not let loose into my face,all I got was a hard puff of gas and probably particles and I blinked fast enough to avoid that directly on my eye,it did not really hurt ,....two days later Friday,my eye was screaming and I had a headache,it is now Sunday and my vision and eye are back nearly normal but it had me freaked ,I normally wear eye protection but took them off because the frame obstructed my view a bit,now I have anew pair that have no such problem,50 years of shooting a couple of mistakes and I could have lost my eye or worse,don't take even a .22 rimfire case rupture lightly,it has happened before with just a puff of smoke But not like this and not really often,but just once was almost bad.
Not likely for ammo to look good on the outside and corrode from inside,especially smokeless rds,more likely a dirty chamber or a defective chamber or firearm

[Drm50]

In the 1980s Charles Daily was selling 22lr under their label. I think it was made in PI. Outdoor Sports HQ in
Dayton, Oh carried a lot of it. I bought several cases of it. Only because it was cheaper than name brand bulk.
I had all kinds of complaints on rims blowing out. One guy got it bad enought for emergency room visit, lucky no
eye damage. He was shooting a newer Marlin BA rifle but it was blowing out in all kinds of 22s new & old. I pulled it off the shelves. Over the years I shot it up mostly in 24savages and still had a lot of blow outs. The other rim blow outs I have come across were mostly in older 22s with worn ejector, like Stevens Favorites. If case has a point where it's not properly supported it can blow out or buldge at that point. I'm surprised there isn't more blow outs today from lousy QC on 22lr ammo.

[tazman]

I can't remember the last time I had a case failure with 22lr ammo. I probably have had some over the years but I can't remember any.

[17nut]

Don't blame gun or ammo, just shoot it. It's not a new problem. It's been around for years

It is just a characteristic of the blowback design and rimfire folded or balloon head design design. Case heads are unsupported and rely on the strength of the brass to hold the pressure. Read some of the old writings and you will see it widely reported. I believe Phil Sharpe mentioned in his book on reloading written in the 1930's.

I have had it happen in all my .22's over the years, most notably the 10-22's. In my bolt guns I ususal don't notice it until I clean up my brass and notice a ruptured case. The 10-22's usually sound louder and may or may not leave the case in the chamber.

It's the reason for all the problems in the 17HM2. The higher pressure of that cartridge blows and bulges cases. Last year I shoot a bit more than 3500 rounds of 17HM2, this year 15 rounds more than 4000 round of 17HM2 through my Martini and have not ruptured a case but lots of bulges. I have ruptured cases in my .22 Martini.

It's just a weakness in the cartridge design.

So the 17HM2 max pressure of 24kpsi is somehow greater than the 22LR at 24kpsi and makes the HM2 blow cases big time, huh?

https://saami.org/technical-informat...ami-standards/

[Traffer]

I have had a few case failures. But they were on overcharged reloads. The Eley's here were new primed cases. I won't say the charge but the ones that did not rupture were running at 1650fps and more with a 40 grain bullets. The old ones were reloads and I forget how badly I overloaded them. These little cases will hold near a double charge though. A couple of them were plumb full of smokeless powder.
A lot depends on the shape of the bolt face. Some are full face bolts, some have the bottom portion open. It appears that the newer bolts are made with a void on the bottom of the face so that if the cases rupture the gasses go down through the magazine. I had that happen a couple of times on a new Savage Mark IV. It blew the gas into the magazine, separating it into two halves. When I pried it out the spring went flying. The old cases here were blown in a Remington 514. The gas went through the bolt into my face. It stung.

[Texas by God]

I've had split cases but only two blowouts. One in a BL-22, (no damage) and one in a Rem 597(blew the extractor out somewhere on the High Plains).
Both times were within a month, both with CCI Stingers. I only use them in bolt action rifles now.
+1 on the eye protection. You can get by fine with hearing loss but sight is precious.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[Chev. William]

"You can get by with hearing loss . . . ".
In my Personal Opinion, not really.
I have 'Service Connected Hearing Loss' from my Active Duty Navy Time and I don't like it one bit. Constant Tinnitus in both ears plus deep hearing loss in both ears in the Mid frequency range. Right in the area needed to hear/understand small Children and Women' voices. Before I went into the service I had a fair Baritone singing voice and could follow music well, after My service I could not follow most music anywhere near as well and my singing suffered for it.
The V.A. Pays for my Hearing Aids and Batteries as 'Service Connected' damage/Disability. The Last pair are Valued at about $2000.00 each!

So hearing loss may be a 'Livable' loss but is certanly is not easy now.

Chev. William

[EDG]

About 1965 one of my buddies had a Rem 552 auto loader in the family that did not work.
I picked it up loaded it and it would not chamber a round. They said the rifle refused to chamber a rounds for several years. Internally it was covered in bullet lube wax, powder residue and crud from never ever being cleaned. I ran a rod and brush down the muzzle to get out some of the junk so I could see a little better. The brush pushed a headless case out of the chamber. The brand of ammo that blew out is unknown. The 552 is one of those mickey mouse designs with a bolt the size of the case head and a flimsy extractor. I always credited that skinny little bolt design with not supporting the case and causing the blow out. After a good cleaning especially of the chamber the old rifle went back to shooting just fine.
Some people are just lazy and that family was. They would not even bother to look at the rifle in order to get it to shoot again. They also had a Rem model 24 copy of the Browning autoloader. It was also full of crud but it was still working.