FTF / FTE Help

[kriendj]

Ok, be kind. Relative newby here. I have an old 10/22 that I recently upgraded. I think a 90’s era. Ruger trigger. ER Shaw barrel. Magpul x22 stock. Shoots pretty good after the upgrades but isn’t reliable. I know I won’t be able to answer all the questions I will need to answer for you guys to help me because I haven’t paid enough attention to the details when it happens. I do know:

- sometimes I pull the trigger and it goes click. Then I rack it and a bullet comes out that is shaved a bit.
-sometimes I get stove pipes
- I can’t get through a 10rd mag without at least one issue. It seems to happen often on 2nd bullet but then goes better. But now always.
- I Hadn’t shot it in years before my upgrades so I don’t really have a control.
I’ve only tried one mag, but it’s an OEM mag.
- I did put in a VQ extractor because it was cheap and I thought I’d get lucky. No dice.
- I cleaned bolt pretty good when I put in extractor (and spring)
- tried Cci target, hunting, Winchester bulk, golden bullet. No stingers. Golden bullet was the worst for accuracy and reliability. Cci was best.

So. How to diagnose? I think the following steps are in order:

- try more mags
- clean chamber with .243 brush even though new barrel did this right out of the box. And I think years ago when i shot it it was fine except with 25 rders.
- put cartridge in chamber and insure it slides in easily.
- look more closely at each “misfire” and see if it’s a FTE, FTF. If FTF look at firing pin mark on bullet.


What else do I need to look at or pay attention to in order to figure this out? I think it’ll really shoot well with my mods but I want it reliable. Help please!!


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[elh0102]

If I understand, the only thing new is the barrel, and all the issues you describe could be the result of an imperfect barrel fitment. That could result from machining error in the barrel shank. You might try putting the OE barrel back on and see if the problems persist.

[Toomany22s]

The magpul stock is new too! And that is the culprit. Pull out the action and barrel, cock the gun , see that little dingus popping out of the back of the trigger housing? the trigger mainspring is hitting the stock sand that area on the stock out.

Now with the action out cycle 10 rounds thru the action, put the safety on first! If they go in and out without issue it’s still the stock. Look for plastic bumps humps etc in and around magazine well, sand them out.

If they don’t run thru with out a problem then undo the v block screws and with the bolt in if it’s loose twist barrel slightly and lightly , you’ll hear the click from hitting the extractor, on bot side , center the barrel. If the barrel is to tight to twist look inside and run bolt slow and see if extractor is centered.

If it’s loose you might have barrel droop, so the chamber isn’t in line with the bullet and makes feeding and extracting difficult and get a gunsmither block and install , it has a screw that pushes the barrel up, if you don’t want to grind off part of the barrel , I think required on gunsmither block, get a v block with a ascrew that pushes the barrel up. JHW makes one.

I’ve also read that while the VQ extractor claw is excellent many have chosen to stay with the oem spring because it works better.

Clean out your chamber , where do you think those lead shaving are living?

Good luck, sometimes this stuff gets frustrating , but as long as you have time and money , fixable

[DRob]

I like the barrel droop theory. Lots of guys get hung up on the idea that the barrel has to be free floated like many other rifles. Not so with a 10/22. Look at the method Ruger uses for attaching a pipe to a housing. Yep, all at one end. Particularly bad if your barrel is a .920 chunk of pipe. That's why there is a small pad at the front of the barrel channel in most, if not all, factory stocks. It's there to support the barrel. There are lots of fixes including something as simple as making a pad from pieces of rubber inner tube or similar material.

When you're chasing issues like you have, make one change at a time until you find the solution.

[DrGunner]

Originally Posted by DRob

I like the barrel droop theory. Lots of guys get hung up on the idea that the barrel has to be free floated like many other rifles. Not so with a 10/22. Look at the method Ruger uses for attaching a pipe to a housing. Yep, all at one end. Particularly bad if your barrel is a .920 chunk of pipe. That's why there is a small pad at the front of the barrel channel in most, if not all, factory stocks. It's there to support the barrel. There are lots of fixes including something as simple as making a pad from pieces of rubber inner tube or similar material.

When you're chasing issues like you have, make one change at a time until you find the solution.

THIS is the single best piece of advice to offer anyone modding 10-22s from a stock Ruger rifle.



DrGunner

[BBQBandit]

A mis-aligned mag insertion also will give you the same symptoms.
Be sure its fully seated.

Found that myself... the hard way

[Lloyd S.]

For the bullet shaving problem, have a look at the bottom leading edge of your bolt. If it's sharp that might be the problem. Try stoning a smooth radius on it. I had a bolt action NS522 some years ago that shaved the top off the new bullet while feeding a round into the chamber. A little time spent with a small Arkansas stone solved the problem.

[Nick7274]

I'd say 9/10 times it's the bolt that causes this problem. But if you didn't change the bolt and it was running fine before then probably not. As mentioned above when using the VQ extractor use the Ruger OEM spring, not the one that comes with the VQ. And check your barrel alignment. Is it possible to post a picture of one of the shaved bullets?

[kriendj]

I wanted to give an update out of respect to those that took the time to reply. Thank you. First off, I ignored the advice that everyone said was the most important: Do one thing at a time. LOL. I can only get to tee range so often so it's tough. But I tried to avoide the more invasive stuff. But I did buy a bunch of parts mostly b/c I'm a sucker. Here's what I did.

1 - Took it apart and polished inside of receiver. Holes where scope base screws come in had a burr so took care of that.
2 - Bought some one shot dry lube and cleaned the inside of the receiver with gun scrubber then a light spray of the dry lube
3 - Bought a kidd guide rod and spring kit. I couldn't resist. The new bolt handle I got looks so cool. LOL. But it does feel ALOT smoother
4 - sprayed bolt with gun scrubber really good and then dry lube.
5 - polished bolt wherever I felt imperfections, but didn't "radius" it yet
6 - But in the Kidd buffer pin thing
7 - Checked stock for what Toomany22's said to see if trigger mainspring was leaving marks and it wasn't so I didn't sand this yet.
8 - Installed kidd steel magazine plunger and spring thing. Magazine feels much more stable when inserted.
9 - Installed kidd v-block and made sure barrel was centered on extractor. I think the v-block was probably a waste. The barrel was really tight so I think it was holding good.
10 - The magpul stock comes with a pressure point thing that I didn't install originally. So I installed that and screwed it in to apply some light pressure.

So, LOTS of changes. LOL. But I focused on stuff to make the bolt work more smoothly, stuff to account for barrel droop, stuff to tighten the mag. So I hit on the thems of your replies.

Now the bad news is I haven't gone to the range yet to test it out. And it might be awhile b/c of deer season but when I go I'll report back.

If anyone has any opinions on what I did please let me know! I think the guide rod is going to be the winner but I guess I'll never know. The factory guide rod was pretty sticky.

Thanks!

[Roadrat]

Great, I am glad to see that you followed the advice you were provided:

When you're chasing issues like you have, make one change at a time until you find the solution.

I sure hope something you did fixed your original problem!!

[kriendj]

Originally Posted by Roadrat

Great, I am glad to see that you followed the advice you were provided:



When you're chasing issues like you have, make one change at a time until you find the solution.



I sure hope something you did fixed your original problem!!

Hopefully there’s nothing else to fix. Lol. But the bolt handle is beautiful!

I’m guessing there’s a 50-50 chance I will regret all the changes I made when my rifle is still ridiculously unreliable. Lol.


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[stevebla]

Welcome to RFC. Have fun and enjoy your project. 10/22 has become a major focus of my shooting and tinkering. I changed parts until I put original rifle back together. My first major 10/22 part was a Kidd single stage trigger, best gun money I ever spent. One Shot is good stuff I use it as lube on all my rimfire guns. Magazines can cause issues get some spares.

[Nick7274]

After buying all that new stuff I hope you got at least one new OEM magazine to try in case that is your problem. At the very least you could rule it out if you still have problems with a different mag.

[kriendj]

Well I brought my 10/22 to the lease to see if all my parts helped or hurt. The verdict? I shot one magazine and everyone of them was FTE. Then I shot another 5 and it was a mix of FTE and stove pipes. So it got worse lol. I did look at the rim and the firing pin looks to be making consistent dents.

So where to go from here? I’ll try another magazine for sure but my fixes there have the mag staying tight in the stock.

I’ll try one thing at a time now. Lol. I’ve learned my lesson from those that are more experienced than me.


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[kriendj]

Maybe try a new mag and also go back to stock extractor spring versus the VQ one. Any other ideas? And which to try first?


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