I bought a incredible 22 magnum a few weeks ago. I think it is by Magnum Research. It is am amazing gun.
I shot it some this weekend. The ammo was probably at least 10 years old. On several occasions, the gun jammed. At first, I thought it had simply not ejected the spent cartridge. Upon further inspection,I saw that the entire cartridge base was GONE. All that was left was the tube. I have never seen this before.
On my first range trip with the gun, I shot different but old ammo and never had this problem.
Depends on what ammo you were shooting. Magnum Research states the rifle is Designed to shoot 40 grain and 50 grain ammo ONLY. Firing 30 grain ammo will void the warranty
I followed another thread on the Cast Boolit forum with similar results but I think the other guy ended up with a damaged rifle. Was interested in buying one but was scared away by the ammo restriction. I simply don't understand why any 22 Mag builder would restrict certain bullet weights.
My biggest fear is when I die my wife will sell my guns for what I told her they cost.
Ten year-old, or even twenty year-old, rimfire ammunition is hardly ready for the scrap heap (at least not due to age alone). I suspect that the lot of ammunition which was giving you trouble was defective.
That being said, the .22 WMR is infamous for being difficult to successfully adapt to self-loading actions. It is loaded to pressures that are borderline for the simple blow-back actions of most .22 Rimfires, but its limited size makes it impractical for a gas-operated action.
I'm not familiar with the functional design of the MR .22 WMR, but it may very well be extremely sensitive to what kind of ammunition you feed it. I've had a little experience with a Brno 611, which seemed to be partial to Fiocchi.
Posts: 13259 | Location: Henly, TX, USA | Registered: 04 April 2001
I have a M.R. .22 WMR that is several years old with a heavy barrel. It is extremely accurate. I have not had any issues described above and ran all different weight bullets through it. I hope the scenario above is the exception and not the norm. Originally M.R. made the rifle in .17 HMR and had issues. They recalled the rifles and were re-barreled in .22 WMR mine included. The only semi autos that were able to handle the .17 HMR is the Volquartson. I am glad no serious injury occured . Safe shooting.
I had a problem with a batch of Winchester 22 mag ammo with my zkm611. It would blow the head off the cartridge and leave the shell in the chamber. It was 40 grain hollowpoint. Turned out it was oversize. I have a S&W 22 mag revolver and I could barely insert the ammo into the chamber and it was a problem it get out. Different lot of ammo worked fine. I now test every box with my revolver.
After your experience I would be extremely careful with any further use of that gun. Personally, I would ask the manufacturer to buy the gun back from me. That being said it might be a good idea to tie the gun to an old tire and pull the trigger with a long string for the first few shots to see if there are any problems.
It probably won't feed without any mass behind the stock, but at least you won't be in danger.
Good luck.
Tom Z
NRA Life Member
Posts: 2347 | Location: Pennsylvania | Registered: 07 January 2005
I thought it was Magnum Research that recalled or at least suspended production on their .22 WMR semi-autos because of spring and inertia timing problems causing just the issue you are dealing with Larry. It can be dangerous. I, too, would ask if they are interested in buying it back.
There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t. – John Green, author
Posts: 16669 | Location: Las Cruces, NM | Registered: 03 June 2000
I have been around a few MR long rifles and they all worked fine, but they did have very tight chambers and sometimes had extraction problems with some ammo.
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Posts: 42446 | Location: Crosby and Barksdale, Texas | Registered: 18 September 2006
Glad it worked out for you. Looking back, what are you thinking? Manufacturing/design problem made right? Wouldn't buy that gun again? One off defect? Peter
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