.22 blow by?

**alaskabushman** · 03-04-2017, 06:22 PM

So, my sisters boyfriend took apart his friend Ruger Mark I .22 pistol. Guess what? He couldn't get it back together. Multiple attempts and several youtube videos later he contacted me.

"Hey man, you know how to put a standard Ruger pistol back together?"

"Yeeeah, but I generally avoid taking them apart if I can..."

"I've realized that's probably smart..."

"let me take it home and I'll see what I can do."

He had the sear apart and everything. Thankfully he left the trigger group alone.

Long story short, I compared it to my own Mark II and was able to get it put back together in about 10 minutes.

My question is this:

While I was test firing the pistol for function (using Winchester hollowpoint bulk ammo) I was almost through the magazine when I felt a primer pop, but didnt see any new hole in the target. I stopped and checked, case was not ejected but the bullet was not in the case. I had two rounds left but I pulled out the mag and put the gun away. I had my MkII along, and since it was loaded I finished it off. Taking a look down the barrel of the MkI (double checking to see it was in fact unloaded)...sure enough, there was a bullet stuck in the bore. After popping it out with a cleaning rod, this is what I was greeted with...

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So what the heck happened? Some kind of gas blow-by or something? Like I said it just sounded like a primer pop, not a full report.

Ideas?

**hunter63** · 03-04-2017, 11:45 PM

Can't say if I ever had that happen...nor found any bullets that matched that.
How does the bore look...?
Maybe no powder?

**kyratshooter** · 03-05-2017, 12:01 AM

Probably a badly swadged slug that did not seal the case when it was loaded. Powder got contaminated and when the primer popped there was not enough charge to clear the muzzle.

That or a bullet worm ate its way inside the case and peed on the powder.

**hunter63** · 03-05-2017, 12:34 AM

Hummmm,.... Bullet worms.....Bad.

**natertot** · 03-05-2017, 08:59 AM

What has already been said. Contaminated or no powder and primer wasn't enough to get the bullet down the pipe. Sounds like gun is okay, just a bad bullet.

**kyratshooter** · 03-05-2017, 10:06 AM

Things like this are why I do not like to use .22 cartridges with bullets that spin in the cases.

Once that air tight seal is broken anything can seep in and contaminate the powder.

**Rick** · 03-05-2017, 01:12 PM

Bullet worms? Great. Something else I have to plan for.

**madmax** · 03-05-2017, 02:43 PM

At the range.
Spotter, "Whoa, that was you, not the ammo."
Shooter, " Nope, darn bullet worms must've gotten into that box."

**alaskabushman** · 03-05-2017, 02:46 PM

Bullet worms? I thought that was a muzzleloader problem only...

Yeah I figured it must have been a squib load. Not the first time I've run into one of those, probably not the last.

This particular gun/ammo combo does not feed very well, and I thought that maybe when the round fed from the mag it may have hit the top of the chamber harder than it should have, breaking the seal. I was more curious how the groove burned into the bullet, I've never seen that before and a google search turned up nothing similar.

I thought maybe a harsh feed into the chamber broke the seal and maybe cambering the bullet off-center, and when fired allowed gas either from the primer or maybe even powder to rush by the bullet yet still giving enough pressure to get the bullet out of the case.

Just one of those weird things I thought you guys might find interesting.

**hunter63** · 03-05-2017, 03:17 PM

Have you tried it again?.....
Turning your head of course.

**alaskabushman** · 03-05-2017, 09:19 PM

Yeah I put another mag through it. Other than another jam, everything fired as it should.

It jams a lot, but I'll let the owner of the gun troubleshoot a gun/ammo combo that will work.

I googled trying to find something similar to what happened to that one bullet. Nothing came up, so I thought it might interest you guys.

**hunter63** · 03-05-2017, 09:29 PM

Gotta say that was interesting....Thanks for posting....
Bullet worms...that's a new one

Bullet worm...
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**Wildthang** · 03-06-2017, 01:20 PM

Can you fish with them there bullet worms?

**canid** · 03-06-2017, 11:41 PM

Maybe it's just me but it looks like that defect in the bullet was there from the factory and that's the reason for the lack of gas seal and failure to expel the bullet? I've done my share of casting for non projectile stuff and that looks like what I would expect in a cold pour or less likely a gassy melt. Sometimes really defective stuff gets by quality control.

Whatever the case, I'm just glad you stopped shooting til you could check the bore. I don't know how .22lr particularly does with squib loads but that can be dangerous.