22LR with waxy buildup on bullet

[dans]

went to the range this morning. After firing her S&W617 a few times, my wife says “these cartridges don’t fit in the gun.” She had put a few rounds aside. When I looked at them they had a waxy buildup on the bullet (not the case. Just the projectile.) I scraped the wax off and the now fit in the cylinder. I fired them and tried a few more. Maybe a third of the rounds I tried had the buildup. I pulled another from the case and it hung up coming out. When I looked in the box there was a cone of wax that had come off and stuck there.

These are CCI Mini mags. I have had them for a couple of years but have never seen this before. This is the only 22 I buy. I haven’t looked at the rest of the boxes to see if there are others like it.

Anyone
Seen this before?

 

[one-eyed Jack]

Probably mfg. QC for that lot. Jack.

 

[mac1911]

It’s just lube all lead bullets have some sort of lube on them. These particular rounds just made it through with some excessive lube.

 

[LLF]

I have had similar problems with Winchester White Box 22LR. Quite a few rounds wouldn't fit into my S&W 617. I now use CCI Standard Velocity -- never a problem.
I have also run CCI Mini Mags thru the 617 but the shells can be difficult to eject after a while. My totally uneducated guess is that the Mini Mags either expand slightly in the cylinder or heat it up to the point that ejection becomes difficult.

 

[Al-Jim19]

A lot of the lead .22s have that coating. I thought I got a bunch of garbage ammo the first time I saw it. Usually it’s on smaller batch higher quality ammo.

 

[FiremanBob]

All .22LR ammo has a coating of lube. CCI uses a wax lube. It was noticeable because it turns hard and white in the cold. The hard wax does stick in chambers.

For cold weather shooting I use Norma Match or Norma Tac-22. They use a greasy lube that doesn't turn hard in the cold. When I use it I take a towel to the firing line, as the grease gets on your fingers.

 

[mac1911]

If your shooting in very cold try the "biathlon" ammo types from eley and lapua. Both are designed for cold weather and better function. Especially in the straight pull rifles.

 

[Zappa]

Back in the 80's, I remember getting cheap bulk boxes of Navy Arms branded .22's, which were slathered in some greasy/waxy lube.
The stuff was a mess, I literally had to wipe down every single round with a rag before use.
However, once it was cleaned off, the stuff proved to be really accurate, consistent, and functioned well in my guns.

 

[mac1911]

Back in the 80's, I remember getting cheap bulk boxes of Navy Arms branded .22's, which were slathered in some greasy/waxy lube.
The stuff was a mess, I literally had to wipe down every single round with a rag before use.
However, once it was cleaned off, the stuff proved to be really accurate, consistent, and functioned well in my guns.

Thats the lube. I have some Russian Junoir branded ammo thats like that and Tenex has that "oily" feel. Wolf and SK are pretty slick also.

 

[1776]

Yes, these also have a waxy coating, or I forgot that I cleaned my ears with them?

 

[MGnoob]

They just could be that way.... if you leave them in a hot car in the summer it can make it worse and in extreme cases get in the powder... causing fail to fire and hang fire....

 

[greencobra]

encountered that myself one time a couple of years ago. remingtons if I recall correctly. pain in the ass, too, a bulk box of 1200. jeez, looked like someone hand dipped each one in bees wax, lol. I think I ended up tumbling them in walnut shells to get the stuff off but had to dump the media after.

 

[-B-]

biathlon ammo is the way to go if you have too shoot in the cold it was the ammo of choice shooting in winter at the decrepit Redman gun rage in Lynn in the 80's

 

[Zappa]

Thats the lube. I have some Russian Junoir branded ammo thats like that and Tenex has that "oily" feel. Wolf and SK are pretty slick also.

I remember that stuff, I haven't seen any in ages, it was steel cased like the Russian 7.62x39
That was greasy (and cheap) too, but not nearly as much as the Navy Arms stuff.
IIRC, my semi-autos didn't seem to like it very much, and the steel cases caused sticky extraction in my revolvers.

 

[mac1911]

I remember that stuff, I haven't seen any in ages, it was steel cased like the Russian 7.62x39
That was greasy (and cheap) too, but not nearly as much as the Navy Arms stuff.
IIRC, my semi-autos didn't seem to like it very much, and the steel cases caused sticky extraction in my revolvers.

i have a few bricks of brass stuff left. Shot a ton of that stuff growing up. My dad would by 30-50k rounds every year or so when it was around. The last batch was bought by my brother in the early 90s ...
My dad generally bought it in NH at gun shows.
We shot it in everything from single shot rifles to , model 60s, 10/22, and revolvers. all went bang.