Went shooting yesterday morning. Cold as hell, low 30’s and some wind. I am using my bad ammo first. That means Aguila which I’m pretty sure is Spanish for “problematic”.

Literally turned my Kadet into a single shot. Between the cold and the waxy nasty Aguila ammo I could literally see the magazine thinking about advancing next round. Awful.

My buddy says that when he has bad ammo like that he wipes it all down with RemOil. Never heard of doing that but I have a couple thousand rounds of this stuff and I need something to help.

So, feeling like a jackass, I get a rag and some oil and proceed to wipe down to shiny 100 rounds of this stuff. This afternoon I get to range. It’s warmer, like 40 and sunny. It (or something) worked. I still get occasional light strikes but it’s Aguila so that part is normal.

I never thought of this because I always heard how oil could get into primers or cases and deaden priming compounds. I certainly didn’t leave them wet to touch or anything. Just shiny and slick.

Ever heard of this? Any downside or things to watch for? I’m not looking forward to hand washing two thousand rounds of 22. Ugh.

The only downside so far as I know is that a slick case may extract early when there is still significant pressure in the chamber. Assuming the Kadet is blowback, there could potentially be an issue with that.

I think you are over thinking it. First and foremost, clean the gun. I know that sounds like heresy because no one cleans their 22 these days, but just try it, it works. The first thing you do when you start to get misfires or function failures, just clean the damn gun. Better still.. clean it after every use. OK, maybe I'm shilling for the cleaning products company, or not. Still, given the choice between a clean gun or a dirty one, I'd prefer a clean one.

On to ammo: OK, mexican ammo approaches junk, just like their beer. If its all you can get, maybe you're shooting too much. Shoot less and aim more. Sell your junk ammo at gun shows and buy genuine American made ammo. But less because it might cost you more.

I adopted the practice of wiping down ammo long ago. I was poor and all the rich kids would just leave any rounds they dropped on the ground. Think sand and grit. It didn't really matter what overpriced crap you used on the cloth. Just the last drops from an oil can were fine.

I've been very happy with Aguila rimfire ammo.

Save some back from each lot and try it in warmer weather.

Maybe it's just the cold temp on the notoriously gooey/waxy/sticky exterior lubrication of rimfire ammo?

After all Aquila is hecho en México!

quote:

Originally posted by RichardC:
I've been very happy with Aguila rimfire ammo.

Yeah, while I haven't shot tons of it, I don't recall having any issues.

Oh I’ve shot it in clean guns and I’ve shot it in warm weather. This 5k round case sucks. Maybe I got a bad lot. Maybe. It approaches Remington Golden Bullet bad. It also is problematic in my two Rugers which are usually pretty reliable.

Clean or dirty this stuff sucks. Rifle Match Competition I believe it's called. I didn’t tell the tale about yesterday because yesterday was different in terms of reliability. I told the tale because that’s when my buddy suggested the wipe down regimen.

As much as I don’t want to, I’m going to have to go early one of these days to simulate the same conditions and see if this regimen actually helps.

It's standard velocity ammunition. So between that and the cold weather, and wax, it probably doesn't have enough zip to cycle a semi auto fast enough.

I had been using aguila in multiple guns without issue for years ( prefer it to anything made in the states except cci) but a recent new batch is also giving me problems. When mags are loaded the rounds advance up in the magazine very sluggishly so I think the slide move faster than the magazine spring can advance the next round up. Only seems to happen when it is cold, but this is the first time I have ever had issue with aguila ( in my case the copper plated hv solids)
Tried another brand and mags did the job as expected.

Keep your rimfire ammo at room temperature and the wax will be more pliable. I use a small cooler and wrap a hand warmer in a washcloth underneath the ammo covering it with a towel.

I remember the oil trick from the Mosquito's teething days.

quote:

The first thing you do when you start to get misfires or function failures, just clean the damn gun

this is most excellent point; it has worked EVERY time I've had....."issues".....with my 22 ammo, except this one time.....

And Aguila has worked so well for several years for me I rely on it for match ammo.

Regarding outdoor temperature: A couple years ago I was all primed for the 22 Steel Challenge with my then-new SW22 Victory. I had practiced considerably and had everything all buffed & ready for the match. AND my back up Old Reliable, Roooger MkII which NEVER had...."issues".

Everything locked & loaded ready for morning. That night it was below freezing. At the range it was barely not freezing for a couple hours.

Neither pistol would fire 2 shots in a row.
Eliminated everything else, but the time for match passed. The sun came out. Temp went up 15 degrees. Pistol laid in sun while I fiddled.
Eventually they all worked well, problem seemed to be ammo too cold, wax slowing down slide just enough.

Now during cold spells I have back up revolver ready. Aguila works very well in them too.

I guess I didn’t ask the question clearly enough. This wasn’t a dirty gun problem. It was a cold gun compounded by bad ammunition. I’m glad you all have had good experience with Aguila. I haven’t. This case has been unreliable in my two Kadets, Beretta 87, and two MkIII’s. That’s five guns. Each of which is fine just by switching to Federal or CCI ammo. I also haven’t had issues using SV ammo in these guns before. They shoot everything except hyper, because I don’t shoot that. The Kadets and the Beretta in particular are sewing machines. Most reliable 22’s I’ve ever owned.

The bullets themselves are almost tacky with what I assume is wax. After wipe down they felt completely different obviously. The excess whatever is gone and they are slick. For comparison mini mags feel slick to my hand out of the box. They feel now like mini mags that are slightly slick with oil. I just don’t want to waste my time if someone has experience trying this out. My buddy swears by it with poor ammo.

My question should have been more specific. Ever heard of wiping down rimfire to improve performance? Ever heard of any issues by doing so? Is this all hogwash and the 8 degree warmer day was 100% of the improvement. I just don’t want to waste my time if it’s snake oil. I appreciate sage advice but telling me to clean a gun when you didn't even ask if it was dirty is just dumb. I’m not a big gun cleaner, except my rimfires. Because I understand they don’t work well dirty. Same questions but now with the understanding that the gun was clean and lubed as normal which is to say a very light, thin oil on the rails. Go.

I suspect the main problem is the wax and a cold day. I once had a batch of CCI Mini-mags where the bullets were covered in wax. They caused lots of problems in my Ruger 10/22 only on a cold day in the 40s. Once I rubbed all the wax off, the rifle shot trouble-free.

I don't get out when that cold, so I can't say about temperature effects.

But an old target shooters' .22 trick is to apply a drop of oil to the top round in the magazine.
Wiping the whole box with an oily cloth is tedious but if you have to do it for function, that may be what it takes.

Top round only? I will try that. Doing the two boxes was tedious at best.

Same day same temp same gun, I shot Federal bulk pack with no issues. Wiped down Aguila and next day no issues. I like the top round only idea, it appeals to my lazy nature.

quote:

Originally posted by Excam_Man:
I remember the oil trick from the Mosquito's teething days.

I have 2 Browning SA 22's,
both late 50's wheelsite guns,

one shoots everything, all the time,

the other works best if I place a small drop of oil on the feed lips (in the top of the receiver ,)
as in I hold the bolt open, and with an unloaded gun , flip it over and place a tiny drop right were it feeds,

then it runs fine for a few boxes,

both have been cleaned, but still the same,

The only odd thing I’ve noticed with Aguila .22 - and perhaps I’m just the odd-duck here - is that my firearm, be it a 10/22 or a S&W 422, emits a rather citrus-like smell while shooting this ammo haha...

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
I just don’t want to waste my time if it’s snake oil. I appreciate sage advice but telling me to clean a problem.
I just don’t want to waste my time

My question should have been more specific. Ever heard of wiping down rimfire to improve performance? Ever heard of any issues by doing so? gun when you didn't even ask if it was dirty is just dumb.

I just assume you don't have a military or LEO background. Those folks have it drilled into them that cleaning isn't a waste of time. I don't think it is, and I don't think its dumb. What I've found over a whole bunch of years is that clean guns tend to function better than dirty ones. OK, clean and lubed. Doesn't need oil dripping out, but properly lubed, which can vary by the time of year and outside temps.

I assume by your attitude that you're young, or young-ish. You took the first shot by calling my suggesting "dumb". Only young or lazy folks don't clean their guns and consider it dumb or a waste of time. My guess is that if we were to do a survey of posters here, and look at their guns and how reliable they are, winter, summer, rain or shine, we'd see some startling differences. The old folks will all have clean guns that function flawlessly. The young ones will have dirty guns that don't. I see a trend here, and have over the years I've been shooting. Part of it is just pride of ownership. I bet those same oldies, will also have clean cars and houses. How we were raised and how we live our lives.

Remember, you started the name calling. I just gave you some of it back.

I shot a 22 match a couple of weeks ago in 16 degree weather and had the same issues. I cleaned my mags for the first time in 15K rounds and a lot of lube and crud came out. I personally have no issues using remoil to hose down my “ultimate clip loader” so the rounds slide through it like crap through a goose. I try to only load the ammo I’m going to use immediately because I have had some misfires with lubed ammo that sat for a few days.

Basically keep your mags clean. I also started keeping my loaded mags in my inner pocket rather than leaving them in the cold and my issues went away.

I've had problems with Eley in cold weather. The paraffin coating gums things up when it's cold.