Here's a strange...

canislatrans54

canislatrans54

New member
I just got a text from one of my sons.
He just bought his girlfriend (soon to be wife), a little .22 semi-auto handgun. (He didn't say what it was.)

Anyway, he said they are going to the gun range this weekend, to fire it.
I told him that I have some 22LR ammo that I'm not using, if he wants it.

He tells me that the guy at the pawn shop (I know the guy & he's always seemed competent), told him to "only fire High Velocity ammo in it, because 'standard' ammo will jam in it."

Like I say, I haven't seen the gun.
But, I have owned about 10 different 22LR handguns since 1983. Both semi-autos & revolvers.
I have never heard of a gun that is marked "22LR", being picky about ammo.

Have you??
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Yes. Sig Sauer Mosquitos like high velocity ammo for awhile until they get good and broke in.
My friend's Mosquito wouldn't eat anything except CCI HV ammo, even after about 1,000 rounds. Funnily enough my Mosquito ate 50 rounds of the CCI HV and then anything I fed through it. I had a suppressor attached most of the time though.

My Ruger and S&W .22's have all ran out of the box with everything until they get so dirty they wouldn't cycle.
 
Yes I have. A few years ago the internet was full of comments on how terrible the SIG Mosquito 22LR handgun was. I purchased one and in the instruction manual it plainly stated to not use promotional or cheap ammunition in it and to only use high power quality ammunition.

So. While everyone was moaning and complaining that their favorite brand of cheap 22 LR ammo caused the gun to jam and that it was the gun's fault, I was shooting CCI and Winchester plated HV 22 LR ammo through mine and thoroughly enjoying it without a hitch.

To satisfy my mind, I did try some cheapy Federal lead bullet 22 LR ammo and some Remington green and white box lead bullet stuff, and they gun did not like either one.

LOL. It looks like we were typing at the same time, wormy.
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What make/model is it?

I've heard that about a few of 22lr's semi autos running better with the HV ammo.

I have or have had multiple different semi auto 22's, currently have three, and they all have run fine with anything and everything I've fed them. The only issues I've ever had with any of them is when shooting the really low velocity subsonic ammo, it usually doesn't have enough energy to reliably cycle the bolt.
 
I always thought the Sig Mosquito was one of the best looking 22LR semi autos made.

Didn't the later ones start shipping with two different recoil springs, one for HV ammo and the other for LV stuff??
 
Originally Posted By: B23I always thought the Sig Mosquito was one of the best looking 22LR semi autos made.

Didn't the later ones start shipping with two different recoil springs, one for HV ammo and the other for LV stuff??

Yes that's correct.
 
Originally Posted By: wormydog1724Originally Posted By: B23I always thought the Sig Mosquito was one of the best looking 22LR semi autos made.

Didn't the later ones start shipping with two different recoil springs, one for HV ammo and the other for LV stuff??

Yes that's correct.

Same same with mine except that mine is an early Mosquito and it came with two springs also.

My Mosquito shoots so well with HV ammo that I've never bothered to change the springs, even with the two brief forays into cheap promotional ammo. If the cheap stuff had worked with the lighter spring, I'd still be using the HV ammo for the pistol.
 
I purchased a GSG firefly,the Sig mosquito clone, it also ships with two springs. The "high velocity" spring is factory installed, I have been running the 36 gr CCI hp through mine(7 and change per hundred at wally world). I also picked up several boxes of 200 factory 2nds of same load for 10 bucks at my lgs. Both run perfectly and gun shoots very well.
 
Originally Posted By: B23I always thought the Sig Mosquito was one of the best looking 22LR semi autos made.


Good gawd...
 
i shied away from the sig because of those hv/lv issues.

went with a walther initially, eats everything i put in the mag 1000 fps or more. broke it in with a couple boxes of stingers and then fed it whatever i had on hand.

also have a ruger MKIII the same way - altho thats never seen stingers, nor will it (match chamber IIRC). otherwise as long as its 1000 fps and up ammo no worries.


neither will cycle the CB (710fps) loads. however that mkIII is mouse fart quiet with them and the can on. first time i did it in front of my dad he thought i was screwing around with him. i had to ding one off the burn barrel for him to believe i fired the gun.
 
I saw some stingers recently for the first time in a decade and haven't seen any since.
I have a Ruger MK1 that still shoots good and wouldn't know what the best .22 semi auto currently is.
 
Some people may not think much of the Mosquito, but I'm a rim fire handgun freak, both semi-autos and revolvers, and it would be hard to live without my Mosquito and some HV Winchester ammo. It's not my favorite among the ones that I have of just about any make you can come up with, but it's definitely in the running.

My favorite semi-auto is another Sig... A P229-22. It's built on the Sig 229 frame and it is a tack driver. It's a hand full, but it's sweet to shoot. The best thing that I did with it to make it a favorite was to get some magazine followers that hold the frame open after the last shot. It didn't come from the factory that way, but that addition made the pistol almost perfect for me.

Don't get me started. I could talk RF handguns all night long.
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Thanks for the responses guys!

I did find out, over the evening, that the gun in question is a Walther P22. (Because it's for his girlfriend, he bought her the "pretty" pink colored version. Hahaha)
I went online (with son), and yep, Walther does strongly suggest that only high velocity rounds be used.

http://www.waltherarms.com/handguns/p22qd/


I got to thinking back on the .22s I have owned.
The semis I had were:
Ruger MKI
Ruger MK II
Bersa (an older model, don't recall which)
Browning Buckmark Camper (I don't think they even make this model anymore)
A Smith & Wesson (don't recall which model)
 
tell him to break it in with a box or two of hyper-velocity stuff (velocitors if you can find them, or stingers, etc) or even a couple boxes of like mini mags, or other quality HV ammo.

once you wear the rough spots off from machining, it should eat anything you throw at it.

i had mine for a couple years before i got my suppressor, and as i noted above - it doesnt care what i feed it as long as its not CB's. Fed 525/555's, WWB 333 packs, even remington golden bullets (which are my absolute most hated 22lr on the market, due to the dirty powder they use) no worries. have had 0 problems with any quality HV stuff - automatch, mini mags (HP & RN), whinchester super x, rem yellowjackets & thunderbolts, etc. same goes for subs - cci SV, norma subs, rem HP subs, gemtech subs....

suppressed or not they all run nicely.


as an added bonus, because of the 3.4" barrel - you can run most bulk HV ammo and it'll stay subsonic in there too for cheap suppressor fun. Even with quality HV like mini mags, i only get maybe 20% of them that give a sonic crack, but they are also louder at the shooters ear too as they're right on the ragged edge of supersonic on a barrel of that length.

however - because of that i rarely run actual subs in either of my pistols ( i had my MKIII cut to 4" for the same reason) which lets me save them for my 10/22 where i need to run subs to keep it quiet.

HTH
 
I'll let him know.
They are heading to the range in the morning (Saturday) to get her used to it & have some fun.
I've talked them into letting me tag along, to watch. Hahaha
 
Also, it may run just fine out of the box with regular-whatever .22 ammo.

The gunshop guy maybe has seen some returned for 'not cycling' but only needed a little break in, or oil. I think it was a nightmare for Sig when the Mosquito was first released and people were having issues. Including the second spring helped and also word of mouth about the HV ammo too. Gunshop guy may have just been prepping your son to not come running back if it had problems right out of the box. .22's, in general, can be finicky.

With my .22's, I clean them in the ultra sonic and then LIGHTLY oil them. I used to dump oil on them thinking more is better, but all that did was cause it to gum up since .22's are notoriously dirty anyways. My M&P22 I barely put any oil at all and it cycle's great for thousands of rounds. I had 5,500 rounds on it before I cleaned it, the thread adapter was so full of carbon and lead the bullets started keyholing. Once I did clean it, it was fine. I won't be doing that again.
 
Well, we went to the range Saturday morning.

I found out (son hadn't previously mentioned it to me), that this little gun is a used one.
Even though it needed cleaned, it looked to have not been abused (to me, anyway).

They hadn't bought a cleaning kit, oil, or ammo until Friday.
They also bought a used extra magazine for it. (Bought used due to the cost.)
Friday night, they oiled it, but didn't clean it first. (I thought I had taught my son better. Aarrgh!)

Once ready at the range (still hadn't cleaned it)...son fired off a somewhat quick 5 rounds at the target @ about 50 ft.
He didn't bother to do any checking to see if the sights were off. They were. He didn't adjust them though. He simply adjusted his aim.
All I could do was roll my eyes, as I was simply a spectator...and decided not to get involved.

His girlfriend then took a few shots. After every shot, she kept moving the safety, saying that she couldn't pull the trigger back, for the next round.
(My thought was/is that she wasn't fully moving the safety, to the fire position, and when the gun fired, it was moving the switch just enough to engage the safety again.

After the range instructor/owner came out & put his .50 cents in, everything got better for her. (Although, he did move her to only about 20 ft from the target...saying that if she was being attacked, that would be the proper distance to shoot from. He also insisted that...and I quote..."There isn't a .22 handgun on the market that is accurate farther that 20 ft. That's why you guys' shots were slightly off at 50 ft.")

Personally, I disagree with the guy. I had been there before, and think he's a real a******.


Anyway, they shot maybe 30 rounds, and called it good for now.

I told them that before they shoot again, they really should take the gun apart, and give it a thorough cleaning.
I also suggested that they invest in new magazines, as it started to not properly chamber rounds.

Time will tell whether they listen. Hahaha
 
I didn't realize Salina has a range with a dedicated RO/ or whatever he's called.

But more to the thread, I've got a Colt .22 semi-auto that is terrible with the old Remington exposed lead bullets. The old Thunderbolts come to mind. Any jacketed bullet seemed to do just fine until last year. I think it's a magazine problem, worn out springs, etc.
 


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