these things happen. I've not come across this exact issue with .22lr ammo but have seen similar in centerline ammo.

 

I've shot quite a bit of TAC-22, and never came across anything like that. But one damaged round in the hundreds of rounds you've shot doesn't concern me. If you start finding a bunch more, then I might start to worry.

 

Agreed... but still...

 

Not sure that would concern me much...
It happens.

 

Anything man-made is subject to mistakes or failure.

 

I've seen the Space Shuttle, whose engineering was probably more than .22 LR ammo, turn into a bottle rocket....TWICE.

 

Does anyone know how many tens of millions of .22 are produced in this country every year? Even with a .05% "fail rate"....that's a metric crap ton of bad ammo. Just reality.

 

Not enough.

 

If the cartridge still chambers it may still fire as the powder shouldn't be affected unless there is a hole (I probably wouldn't shoot it though in case it got stuck in the chamber). There is always going to be a defect when ammo is mass-produced, especially 22 cal. ammo. I have some Aquila 30 grn ammo I have had for some time in a sealed 50 cal steel ammo box. The lead bullets in one box show signs of oxidation and have some "fuzz." Weird, maybe from the oil from my hands as it was the only box I opened when I first bought them. Plink-on!

 

I purchased a brick of Norma Match-22 recently (within the last two weeks and I have only shot about 4 boxes out the brick).

The only reason I found it today is because a friend of mine offered me his rim thickness gauge and I thought I would just try measuring rim thickness for the first time. I know... I know... there are lots of opinions about bothering to measure rim thickness and if it's really worth the effort or not... Just thought I'd try it myself.

And no..... I would not normally bother to measure rim thickness on lower grade ammo... I was just going to practice with the gauge and this is what was closest and within reach at the moment.

Anyway, I found this...

This obviously happened at the factory because there is no damage whatsoever to the brick packaging and no damage to the 50rd box I just pulled it from.

Has anyone else experienced this type of issue? I like Norma Match as far as a higher quality lower grade practice ammo. I like Tac-22 as well. (at least my CZ 457 MTR likes it enough to satisfy me)

Now I need to be more diligent about checking every round from this brick.

Anyway, Norma Match or Tac-22 buyer's beware...

I purchased some Norma-USA Subsonic-22 some years back and found a similarly damaged and unusable round inside an intact box. But that is only one of ~4,000 RWS/Norma rounds I have bought.
SO: I'll keep buying RWS products and I'll keep inspecting them.

 

Had a brick of Power Points back in the early 90's that had some dents in them. Nothing that severe and I shot them, because I was a dumb, poor teenager.

 

We should have been friends back then... I would probably have encouraged you to do that because, I too, was a poor dumb young guy then

 

Yeah, I'm not stressing over it... I'm just thinking I should just scrutinize this "lot/brick" a little closer in case whatever machine at the factory was out of sync on the assembly/production line or packaging line... and did this to this round on that particular run of ammo.... There could be others scattered throughout...

 

I thought this may have been a practical joke by a bored factory worker bee....or?

 

In

In the event that a ground hog is wearing an armor plated vest, ya never know, best to be prepared!

 

Now I need to be more diligent about checking every round from this brick.

Anyway, Norma Match or Tac-22 buyer's beware...

So, how did the rims measure up?

 

I was only able to "fiddle with it" for about 2 mins before "family life" took precedence at that moment . Of the dozen or so I checked, they ran from .0405 to .042 inches.

 

Those all are the special X bullets! They mark them at the factory as the most accurate. If you dump those into a practice bull they will always hit dead center. It’s the perfect rounds you have to see zinging into the no score zone.

 

I do realize that this could also have been a brick of Eley, Lapua, Sk, etc... that this could happen with on occasion.

 

As long as you remember ammunition manufacturer's are primarily in the business of making money
it explains so many of the quirks and annoyances that show up in the products they sell.

 

I think that applies to all manufacturers, in the business of making money.

 

Seems to me from all the 22lr I have gone thru in the last year that quality for all brands has gone down.
Not sure about the higher level brands but medium to lower levels seem to have fallen.

 

Is there a discussion with the distance between the inside rim to Ogive?

 

IMO, it's just another 'ghost hunter' endeavor...but, to each his own!

 

I have not had the same experience as many here seem to have had. I have "thousands" of rounds of .22lr, from CCI, Aguila, Remington, Norma ,Federal etc. They have all been fine. Every now and then I get a round that requires a second strike or does not fire. But, that is very very few. My fail rate is no worse than it has ever been over 50 yrs,with .22lr ammo.

 

When something is mass produced in gigantic quantities, there will be the occasional hiccup. There was a discussion - last week, I think - about buckets of Remington Golden Bullets and how many of them were defective. The number was far greater than a single round in a brick. In general, the higher the cost of .22LR cartridges, the better the quality... but still no guarantees that it will perform to your liking in your gun. The last brick of Midas+ that I purchased had far too many fliers. I've had lots of SK Pistol Match Special that shot better.

I know something about "cheap" .22LR ammo as I shoot a match every week where the cost of cartridges cannot exceed $10 per box of 50. After extensive testing of many, many cartridges, including Norma Match 22, by myself and the others I shoot against, we have settled for mostly two cartridges: SK Rifle Match and SK Pistol Match Special. They have proven to be the most consistent performers. We shoot two IBS targets - 50 scoring shots total for a possible 500 - at 50 yards outdoors with some truly fickle winds. The 10 ring is 1/2 inch and with a total of 104 scores posted so far this year, we have had 7 scores of 500 and 10 scores of 499, all shot with "cheap" cartridges. There have been many more scores of 498 & 497.

I wouldn't be overly concerned about one defective cartridge in a brick of .22LR ammo. It happens.

 

When something is mass produced in gigantic quantities, there will be the occasional hiccup. There was a discussion - last week, I think - about buckets of Remington Golden Bullets and how many of them were defective. The number was far greater than a single round in a brick. In general, the higher the cost of .22LR cartridges, the better the quality... but still no guarantees that it will perform to your liking in your gun. The last brick of Midas+ that I purchased had far too many fliers. I've had lots of SK Pistol Match Special that shot better.

I know something about "cheap" .22LR ammo as I shoot a match every week where the cost of cartridges cannot exceed $10 per box of 50. After extensive testing of many, many cartridges, including Norma Match 22, by myself and the others I shoot against, we have settled for mostly two cartridges: SK Rifle Match and SK Pistol Match Special. They have proven to be the most consistent performers. We shoot two IBS targets - 50 scoring shots total for a possible 500 - at 50 yards outdoors with some truly fickle winds. The 10 ring is 1/2 inch and with a total of 104 scores posted so far this year, we have had 7 scores of 500 and 10 scores of 499, all shot with "cheap" cartridges. There have been many more scores of 498 & 497.

I wouldn't be overly concerned about one defective cartridge in a brick of .22LR ammo. It happens.
[/QUOTEI love the idea of a match using $10 ammo. If you don't mind saying, where do you shoot in that? I'm also in Georgia (Lake Oconee area). Thanks, Kurt

 

Amazing. I found a M&M this week that wasn't fully coated. Will it digest ok?

 

Perhaps so, but I'll betcha it will 'melt in your hand, and not in your mouth'! And, if you swallow it whole, it might scratch on the way down....all unintended consequences!

 

I've got a revolver for those. The red box tac-22 is not as good as the black box. Also we are living in the Golden Age of rimfire. More people are shooting it now than ever. Demand has never been higher. RWS makes fantastic ammo. I loved the wrong girl once.

 

I purchased a brick of Norma Match-22 recently (within the last two weeks and I have only shot about 4 boxes out the brick).

The only reason I found it today is because a friend of mine offered me his rim thickness gauge and I thought I would just try measuring rim thickness for the first time. I know... I know... there are lots of opinions about bothering to measure rim thickness and if it's really worth the effort or not... Just thought I'd try it myself.

And no..... I would not normally bother to measure rim thickness on lower grade ammo... I was just going to practice with the gauge and this is what was closest and within reach at the moment.

Anyway,

I found this...

View attachment 381239

View attachment 381240

View attachment 381241

This obviously happened at the factory because there is no damage whatsoever to the brick packaging and no damage to the 50rd box I just pulled it from.

Has anyone else experienced this type of issue? I like Norma Match as far as a higher quality lower grade practice ammo. I like Tac-22 as well. (at least my CZ 457 MTR likes it enough to satisfy me)

Now I need to be more diligent about checking every round from this brick.

Anyway, Norma Match or Tac-22 buyer's beware...

OCD?

 

I purchased a brick of Norma Match-22 recently (within the last two weeks and I have only shot about 4 boxes out the brick).

The only reason I found it today is because a friend of mine offered me his rim thickness gauge and I thought I would just try measuring rim thickness for the first time. I know... I know... there are lots of opinions about bothering to measure rim thickness and if it's really worth the effort or not... Just thought I'd try it myself.

And no..... I would not normally bother to measure rim thickness on lower grade ammo... I was just going to practice with the gauge and this is what was closest and within reach at the moment.

Anyway,

I found this...

View attachment 381239

View attachment 381240

View attachment 381241

This obviously happened at the factory because there is no damage whatsoever to the brick packaging and no damage to the 50rd box I just pulled it from.

Has anyone else experienced this type of issue? I like Norma Match as far as a higher quality lower grade practice ammo. I like Tac-22 as well. (at least my CZ 457 MTR likes it enough to satisfy me)

Now I need to be more diligent about checking every round from this brick.

Anyway, Norma Match or Tac-22 buyer's beware...

My brick of Tac-22 expanded in 3 of my S&W pistols chambers so that I needed a ram rod to remove the case. shot ok in my old Ruger 10/22 rifle.

 

I hope this means nobody buys this stuff so it goes on sale for $20 a brick and I can stack it deep 😜

 

I never used to look at ammunition before shooting it, but I do remember, back in the early 90's when a local club had mini bowling pin matches made out of steel cut outs. For the close line, at 25 yards I ran Blazer in my pistol and I could hear the difference in some of the shots. For the 50 and 75 yard pins I used the now obsolete Eley Standard and never had issues with them.
But, since the Obama administration, when they really started cranking out rimfire ammunition, I not only visually inspect every round, but I also use a Marvel 1 conversion barrel as a case gauge. If I can't get them to go in the Marvel barrel, they are set aside to burn off at the range. CCI standard velocity, and Mini Mags have been the worst offenders for so much wax on the bullets that some couldn't even be started in the Marvel barrel. The only rimfire ammunition that so far has checked and was 100% was a couple of bricks of different flavors of S-K

 

I didn't start visually inspecting my cartridges before chambering,
until I began looking for explanations for odd strays and unusual group spread.
I needed a reason for why some results are tight and others weren't.
Same brick of 22lr, yet different boxes produced disimilar results.
Between the chronograph out front documenting mv's
and the number/severity of defects found, correlated directly to trajectory spread.

It's very simple, no rifle can fix junk cartridges.
There is no "find the brand y'er rifle likes".
The only way to produce predictable trajectories is to obtain uniformly well made cartridges
with tight muzzle velocities, or get so close to the target
that cartridge problems have no time to mess with the trajectories.
You can purchase bulk ammo that shoots like match,
and supposed match ammo that slings fliers every few shots.
That assembly line lottery and the quality/uniformity of the cartridges determines results.
Label/brand is no guarantee.