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FTF - Failure to Feed on first round

2K views 10 replies 9 participants last post by  crackedcornish 
#1 ·
TLDR: Loctite from mounting rail on receiver dripped through screw holes onto firing pin assembly and caused failure to fire.

New 10/22. Stainless Carbine with synthetic stock.
My first 10/22 and my first post. Ran into an interesting problem and thought I would post the solution for others with similar issues.

Bought it. Cleaned it. Test fired it with cheapo Thunderbolt. Shot great, no malfunctions. Put maybe 200 rounds downrange.

Mounted a picatinny rail and red dot last night. Used blue 242 Loctite for the rail and the red dot screws.

Went to the range this morning to zero the red dot and had a FAILURE TO FEED on the first round from every magazine (10 round and 25 round Ruger mags). %%%?! Magazines seemed to be seating well, no play,but round were getting fed at the wrong angle. First round was jammed partially in the chamber. I would drop the mag, pull the bolt back, and work the round into the chamber. Reinsert mag. Once I got a round in the chamber I could go through the full mag with no malfunctions. Same with all mags. Not a mag issue.

Got the red dot zeroed, came home and disassembled the rifle to see what might be causing the FTF.

At first, I couldn't figure it out. Then I looked more closely at the bolt assembly and realized that the firing pin was frozen - it was not moving at all. Realized that there were two spots that looked like glue in the "valley" that the firing pin sits in. It was frozen and would not move back and forth at all. Couldn't figure out what it was at first, then realized that the Loctite from the rail mount the night before had dripped right into the action and locked the firing pin tite!

Weird that with the firing pin frozen in place it was firing reliably and only failing to feed on the first round, but it was!

Removed the firing pin (PITA to remove that hollow pin with the firing pin locked against it), cleaned out all that %%%% Loctite, and it feeds beautifully now.

If you are having failure to feed issues and have checked your mags, stock/receiver fit, etc. make sure your firing pin is seated and moving in the block correctly!

I looked at a bunch of google results for "Ruger 10/22 failure to feed FTF" but none of them highlighted this specific problem/solution, so hopefully posting this will help someone.
 
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#5 ·
Yeah, I know, I obviously used too much on the threads.

The manual gives torque specs of 12-15 in/lbs and says, "Do not place any thread locker INTO THE SCREW HOLES in the receiver, as the thread locker can drip into the bolt or receiver and cause potentially dangerous malfunctions."

I took that literally. I used a torque driver and tightened to 15 in/lbs and used one drop of loctite on each of the screw threads. Obviously one drop was too much, as in two of the holes it dripped when the screws were inserted and tightened. In the future, I will disassemble before attaching rail screws, or not use thread locker.

It only took a very small amount (two tiny drips) to cause the malfunction and on casual inspection of the bolt, the presence of the loctite in the firing pin valley was not obvious.

Anyway, totally my fault.

I just thought it was interesting that it was causing failure to FEED issues, but not failure to FIRE issues, and wanted to document it for the benefit of others so that they might learn from my mistakes and not repeat them. :bonk:
 
#6 ·
You should absolutely use thread locker any time you mount a rail on a 10/22 regardless of what the manual says. Just a very small amount. I usually squirt a little onto a piece of newspaper and then just roll a little bit onto the ends of the screws. If your still worried you can always put a piece of masking tape on the inside of the receiver where the holes are until it dries. I just let mine dry with the rifle sitting upside down. If your going to use masking tape you might as well leave the bolt out of the rifle until it's dry also.
 
#9 ·
Glad you figured it out and congrats on the new build! Just a drop of that blue goes a long way on those screws. I usually spread one drop between all 4 of those screws and then wipe down the inside of the receiver after JIC. Enjoy your new 10/22 and thanks for sharing!


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