My 10/22 takedown is stove pipe city

grimreefer

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Vancouver Island
Bought this gun new a few months ago. The first 200 rounds that went through it were flawless. Then suddenly, about every 5-10 rounds yields a stove pipe failure.

-I've polished the hammer and bolt where they move across each other
-The action is smooth, no grittiness
-I've cleaned and lubed it well several times, especially the bolt face, extractor channel, breech face, etc.
-Worked the action by hand a bunch to smooth it out further
-Installed a Volquartsen extractor with stock spring
-Installed Volquartsen extractor with Volquartsen spring
-Shot without the magazine

Nothing seems to help. The extractor grabs the case well, lines up with the channel in the barrel, and is free moving. Operating the bolt slowly and inspecting looks like everything is lining up and working as it should. I've always used CCI mini-mags, and since the failures began I've tried Blazer and Federal with no better luck.

Thought it might be the magazines, but today I tested by removing the magazine before each shot, and it still happened just as frequently.

From 100 rounds today:

20160603_132743_resized_zpsbqeqiear.jpg


Any ideas?
 
Try polishing the guide rod. Make sure your scope rail screws aren't protruding. I doubt it is the buffer, but put the original pin back in and try it.
 
Buffer won't cause that, remove the bolt and clean and lube reciever and bolt top extra attention to the guild rod sounds like something is binding a bit.
 
Make sure there are no burrs in the extractor channel (maybe you did already when replacing the extractor and cleaning?) and if you have an optic installed, that the ejection port is not obstructed in any way, causing the brass to deflect back in.

Try it without lube too, or dry lube only. Oil + 10/22's = problems.
 
Removed the buffer and ran 40 rounds....no improvement. Chamber is clean, extractor channel is free and clear, ejection port is clear. I will try the other suggestions this evening.
 
I used to experience a stovepipe every 10 rounds with my 2nd edition collector's 10/22 and the ruger mags.

After doing some research I decided to try the following. Now it ejects PERFECTLY every time WITHOUT FAIL. While I can't take responsibility if it doesn't work for you, I felt the risk of having to replace the ejector pin was worth the reward... and it worked for me (don't ask me how... I have no idea).

Pull the ejector pin out of the trigger group and bent the tip of it towards the centre noticeably. See image below. That's it... put it all back together and try.

Ejector_Pin_MOD.jpg
 
In my experience, 10/22s come in two flavours: lemon and lemonade!
I've put about 200rds through mine and it worked for 196 of them. I've seen ones that can never work, ones that work after breaking in and ones that never fail. Weird beast, the 10/22!
 
I used to experience a stovepipe every 10 rounds with my 2nd edition collector's 10/22 and the ruger mags.

After doing some research I decided to try the following. Now it ejects PERFECTLY every time WITHOUT FAIL. While I can't take responsibility if it doesn't work for you, I felt the risk of having to replace the ejector pin was worth the reward... and it worked for me (don't ask me how... I have no idea).

Pull the ejector pin out of the trigger group and bent the tip of it towards the centre noticeably. See image below. That's it... put it all back together and try.

Ejector_Pin_MOD.jpg

That's interesting. Any theory on why it works? I am under the impression that the ejector doesn't even come into play with a Ruger mag inserted because the mag has it's own ejector?
 
That's interesting. Any theory on why it works? I am under the impression that the ejector doesn't even come into play with a Ruger mag inserted because the mag has it's own ejector?

Not sure. With the mod the ejector pin does engage the ejecting casing more directly when no mag is inserted. I figure the ejector pin must play some role even with a ruger mag inserted... this design pre-dates aftermarket mags so the ejector pin can't be just for the butler creeks... either way while the reasoning eludes me the results were very clear.
 
Any particular brand of ammo? Mine stovepiped on Remington golden crap. Failed to feed sometimes too. I will not buy another box of that stuff. Bullets were, to a one, all loose in in their cases. Every single one of them wiggled.
 
I have an early 1990s vintage 10-22 that developed a stove pipe problem. I used to get the odd stovepipe
with it right from new. Maybe 1 every 100 rounds not a big deal. Then one day it started stove piping 3 or 4
times per 10 round mag. I stripped it down cleaned and inspected it and could not find a problem.
I put it back together and tried again but the problem persisted.
I contacted Barry at Bits Of Pieces to see if he could supply a new extractor.
Barry told to save my money, take the extractor out and sharpen the point that engages the rim of the cartridge.
He said it was very important that it had a sharp point to grab the brass.
I removed the extractor and I could see that there was a small chip out of the point. I carefully stoned the edge
of the extractor that faces the barrel until it had a sharp point and reinstalled it.
I have put hundreds of rounds through it since without a problem.

Terry
 
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