I pulled out the little 22LR Husqvarna I bought a while back and decided to do some backyard plinking with Aquila's Colibri rounds. These are 22 Long cases with a light bullet (I think 32 or 29 gr) and primer powered only, no powder. Muzzle velocity is supposed to be in the 350 fps range.

First shot gave the usual "thwok" when the bullet hit bark, next shot was at a much harder target with a soft backstop and I thought I missed.

Went back to plinking the tree, each round making a satisfying little smack when it hit.

For reasons I'll never know I deccided to pull the bolt and look down the bore and low and behold, it was black. No Light. I tried to blow throught it (no bolt in the gun) and NOTHING. I got the ole cleaning rod and sure enough, I pushed out a bullet.

A little trial and error later, I confirmed that after the first round, the second stuck in the barrel and each successive shot pushed the prior bullet out the bore. It shot that way from there on. I think it was compressed air in the bore that was propelling the stuck bullet. There was no indication the bullets were contacting eachother in the bore.

It would be funny other than the fact that had I not noticed, I would have probably later fired a regular long rifle full power round in the rifle with possible dangerous results.

Just a word of precaution to anyone with this ammo. The barrel is 24" and in good shape. The little pills stuck about 20" down the bore. Prior to this I had shot them in pistols and a Romanian training 22 rifle of about the same barrrellength with out issue.

Bad, t-tate!

"WARNING: These primer only loaded rounds must be fired only in handguns. When fired in long barreled firearms such as rifles, bullets may remain lodged inside the longer barrel. A subsequent firing of a regular .22 rimfire cartridge may result in injury or death to the user or others."

While I highly doubt the "injury or death" claim, a lodged bullet can certainly cause a "ringed" barrel in a .22 rimfire!

Squibs do bad things to barrel integrity. You may need to have it cut back and re-crown it to remove that weak spot. It almost certainly will not shoot like it did now. I would imagine that the action is still strong though.

So you don't feel as bad, I once ringed the barrel of a brand new Browning Buckmark 5.5 Target the very first time I had it out. I was shooting at a crowded indoor range, and it was more than loud with every lane full. I didn't hear the squib over all the rapid firing in the lanes around me, and the slide ejected the weak load just fine. The next round felt a bit strange and there was a puff of gray smoke at the muzzle. I stopped shooting and checked the barrel but didn't see anything at the time. Every shot after that went to crap, and I realized something had gone very wrong and stopped shooting.

After I got home I noticed the ring about one inch in from the muzzle right under the front site. The pressure had actually cracked up through the front site mounting hole. I had managed to "port" the barrel the hard way. That was the end of accuracy from that pistol, and I sold it pretty much right away to a pawn shop for next to nothing. I did tell them about the flaw as I felt it was the right thing to do.

Bottom line weak loads do happen and bullets get stuck. Those rules about shots that sound different unfortunately are there for a reason. The barrel obstruction that really makes me nervous is that one day I will miss a cleaning patch or part of a cleaning patch for some reason. I do check every single time I put a bolt in that I can see light clearly out the end of that sucker though.

Wow! Glad you did not suffer injury or damage the rifle! That is scary!

quote:

Originally posted by DaMan:
Bad, t-tate!

"WARNING: These primer only loaded rounds must be fired only in handguns. When fired in long barreled firearms such as rifles, bullets may remain lodged inside the longer barrel. A subsequent firing of a regular .22 rimfire cartridge may result in injury or death to the user or others."

While I highly doubt the "injury or death" claim, a lodged bullet can certainly cause a "ringed" barrel in a .22 rimfire!

Real men don't read directions, DaMan.

I don't think there is any cause for concern to the rifle. These rounds are so weak that the pressures at the obstruction are somewhere near pellet gun pressures. Looking hard at the spent bullets, I am pretty sure the stuck bullet was pushed out by air presure before they had a chance to make contact. Had I left it that way and fired a full power round later, I probably would have ringed the barrel, at best.