Hello all, this is my first time posting on this forum and I would appreciate your help/advice on some issues I am having with my brand new SU-22 I received my new keltec on Friday, and naturally, I brought it to the range on Saturday! My first round chambered experienced both a failure to fire and a failure to eject upon pulling the bolt back. The next ten rounds all failed to fire, even though I could hear the audible 'click' of the hammer hitting the round. I loaded the magazine back up and to my delight I had about 7 successes in a row. However the 8th (live) round both failed to fire and became stuck in the chamber. I had to force the bolt forward to get the extractor to fully grasp the round and then with more effort than usual, was able to to pull the bolt back and eject the shell. Upon further investigation, I looked at the spent brass and noticed the hammer was hardly hitting the round. I apologize for the poor quality, but it is rather difficult to take a picture of something so tiny.. The best example is clearly the 3rd round from the left: And here is the box of Remington thunderbolts that I was using: My question is, is it natural for the bolt to be hitting such a small amount of the round? this is my first semi-automatic .22lr and I have read it is really important to find what kind of ammo your rifle prefers, but the ammo wouldn't affect where the bolt is hitting? I appreciate any responses, as I would prefer to not simply call the rifle defective and attempt to exchange it with Kel Tec.
Try a better grade of ammo. Remington thunderbolts are low end. Fine if they work in your gun, but I wouldn't use them if they were giving then away. Try Winchester 333/555 or American Eagle 38gr. HP.
make sure the bolt is closing completely when it chambers the round. If the bolt is a little open, the hammer will not hit the firing-pin squarely. Also check to make sure there is not dirt in the firing pin channel. it should move freely by hand. If this ammo has feeding or chambering problems, they could look like fail to fire issues. at least to diagnose this problem, push the bolt closed by hand on each round before pulling the trigger. Trying other ammo would also be a good choice.
The types of impacts you're looking at on your spent brass looks to be fairly normal, but as you said it's hard to tell from the picture. ktwm pretty much covered the mechanical issues. Which is good since he works for Kel-Tec. B^) I've had trouble getting most Remington rimfire brands to cycle in at least one type of semi-auto. Some combinations work, some don't. Generally speaking, if you can spin the bullet relative to the brass with very little effort, I don't expect it to do well in a semi-auto. Remington Golden Bullets in particular will get hung up on feed ramps and actually bend at the joint between case and bullet creating what one member refers to as a "banana jam". Federal Bulk pack (the maroon box) feeds and fires with near 100% reliability in my SU-22. I keep meaning to try different types, but I've been so happy with the Federal Bulk that I've had little motivation to. There are some other ammo suggestions if you dig around a little bit; I beleive that CCI MiniMags are also popular. Good luck.
Figured I owed you guys an update! Went back to the range this Friday, this time with boxes of Winchester, Federal, and CCI ammo. The Federal and Winchester worked like champs. Only issue I encountered was when I'd get a dud round, pulling back on the bolt wouldn't eject the (semi-live) round. I'd have to re-engage the bolt and then lightly press on the extractor clamp (no idea what the piece is technically called) with a screw driver. That way when I pulled back on the bolt, the round would come out. This happened maybe.. every 50 rounds or so. Despite this, I had a blast. Almost all of my firearm experience has been with bolt actions so it was great fun being able to send 20+ rounds down range in less than 30 seconds! Ended up going through over 700 rounds this weekend alone. I found the removal/cleaning of the bolt assembly/recoil spring tube to be simple enough to figure out, certainly a tad more complicated than a bolt action though..! Do you guys recommend using any sort of lubricant on the bolt? My biggest complaint was easily the down time between myself and my friend having to take turns loading the single magazine. Almost all of my research for an extra magazine has led me to 'Black Dog Machine.' The have a staggering amount of different magazines and sizes, is this the correct one?: http://blackdogmachinellc.net/ar15-.22-conversion-25rd-mag.aspx Thanks for the help you guys have been, this little rifle is a blast!
I use Break Free CLP for lube and cleaning. So far so good. After I clean, I leave a coat to dry on. Here is a link to a better price for mags at the moment. Jump on it. http://www.botachtactical.com/bldog272ma.html . Comrades do not let other comrades over pay when possible . Welcome aboard and enjoy the rifle. I love shooting mine . FYI, BlackDog stands behind their product. They replaced 4 defective 27rd. mags that I had, no questions ask. I called, they said send them in, and they sent me 4 more at no charge. I didn't even buy the mags directly from them either.
Black Dog also makes a 50-round drum that I think is easier to load than the straight mags. Both have been very reliable for me. http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=793914 About your extractor issue. It is possible that the extractor spring is hung up somehow in your bolt. It is also possible that the screws that hold the two pieces of the bolt together are getting loose. Mine did this the first time I shot it. See the following thread that has a picture of a disassembled bolt (PLR-22 and SU-22 have the same bolt): http://www.ktog.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1287432729. If it is coming loose, disassembling, followed by a thorough degreasing of the bolt parts and screws, followed by some blue LocTite on the threads during reassembly should take care of it. buzzsaw
Hey folks, first post! I have a similar experience...thought I'd share. In regards to Optimus... can you explain what you mean by "missing the bullets"? I picked up my SU-22CA earlier this week and got to fire it for the first time today. This is my first rifle ever, and only my second gun. Between bulk Remington Gold something and bulk Federal, I was having about 70% failure rate. Mostly misfires, and a few jams. I consulted a buddy about this, and he recommended a few drops of lube. So, I tried that, particularly a drop that would get down onto the rails for the bolt to ride on, and a drop around the barrel feed area. This fixed the problem right up! Shooting about 98% now. I expect a few lazy bullets in a bulk pack so that's fine. Now, onward to investigate upgrades LOL
I think good lube is the answer to many of the light strike and FTE issues on the SU22. I lubed mine up the day I got it and before going to the range. I've had very few issues and most of them were related to what I considered to be crappy ammo. I ordered a few Black Dog 26rd mags from Joe Bob Outfitters. They had the best price I could find and they have worked with no problems. I also ordered the 50rd drum from them and it worked perfect. I got the mag pouch for the drum or to hold six 26rd mags. Anybody that likes shooting the SU22 I would suggest the 50rd drum. Lots of fun. JoeBobs did me right. When I ordered the mags that they had on sale I forgot to enter the sale code. They did it for me and adjusted the charge to reflect the savings. They've been mentioned on KTOG before and everything I've seen has been good. http://www.joeboboutfitters.com/
Joe Bob Outfitters is great. I ordered another Black Dog drum and some pmags back in January. Lowest prices on both, and very fast shipping, which is free on orders over $90. There was some excellent beef jerky included in the package. I just ordered some 3rd generation Black Dog magazines (metal feed lips and a thumb pull down on the follower) and other stuff from them, including more of the jerky... buzzsaw
