Ruger 10/22 first shot issues

[Malibuss]

I have a loaded up 10/22 with mainly Kidd parts and my first shot with a new mag in the gun is always .2 mil to the left. Any ideas?? I have talked to one other guy that shoots with me and he has the same issue with the same type of gun. We use these guns for NRL22 matches and that first shoot kills the scores if I forget to hold over for it.

 

[whatsupdoc]

Try loading one less in the mag and see what happens.

 

[quickdraw]

1st round fliers in the 10/22 is all too common. A few of us have seen the same thing a bunch of times. We've played with everything there was to play with and just gotten more frustrated. There are just to many factors that cause slight issues such as action torque settings, mag feed angles, mag spring tension, ammo types and lots to start with. Combine that with the external ballistics of a 22lr round and the environment and it will make you crazy.

Good luck with your rifle. All I can say is to work through the obvious factors and try to tighten up everything along the way.

 

[Fret]

If the barrel has a chance to cool and you use wax coated ammo, maybe the viscosity change of the wax in a cold vs warm barrel might cause a shift? I've used SK so far (which has an oily type coating) in the 10/22 I just got together and so far it doesn't seem to have a cold bore first shot shift. I might try waxy coated next time and see if it happens.

 

[ToddM]

It can be a lot of things, but it's definitely a common problem with 10/22's. I have a volquartsen deluxe that will throw the first shot same place outside the other 9 every time, tried all sorts of different ways to chamber the first round, 5 rounds in mag, different ammo, etc. never have fixed it.


In a stock 10/22 bolt some feel the firing pin can raise up and cause inconstient ignition, others feel it's a less than square bolt face, either combine with hand chambering the first round to cause an issue.

I've heard of no less than 5 ways one should chamber the first round in a 10/22 and all of them appear to fix the issue for some users, and do nothing for others.

1) Leave the bolt closed, insert mag, rack handle as fast as possible
2) Leave the bolt locked back, use bolt release to close bolt
3) Leave the bolt locked back, slingshot bolt closed
4) Leave the bolt locked back, ease the bolt forward
5) Hand load the first round into the chamber, ease bolt closed.


If you are loading 10, some feel the extra mag tension of the 2nd round impacts how well the bolt closes
Some will say depending on the ammo and rest period between groups the lube/wax cooling messes up the first shot ( I have seen this first hand, some ammo is worse than others )
Along that line is that some get frustrated with bad groups when switch between ammo, when you switch between ammo for groups with different types of lube etc. you may need to fire 5-50 rounds to get the new lube/ammo to settle down. This is probably one of the biggest mistakes I see people make when testing out different .22 ammo brands at the range.

 

[Tucker301]

I'd guess it's something to do with how the action is closing when released manually vs when it cycles itself.
Pretty easy to test that.

 

[darth_ritis]

I've had the same issue. I thought it was my suppressor, but I guess not. Bummed to learn it's an unsolved problem.