Copper in a .22 rimfire barrel

[Rhudson89]

Following on from a recent thread of mine regarding the barrel life of a .22 rimfire and the excellent feedback received I have another question to put to the wealth of knowledge found on SD

Can the copper wash found on certain brands of ammunition be enough to cause problems in a .22 rimfire

As a rule I never ever clean the barrel on my bolt action .22 and its a brilliantly accurate rifle. However its only ever had subsonic rounds down the tube. My semi auto m&p 15-22 used to run 36gr cci mini mags until I swapped over to subsonics as I fancied abit of rabbiting with it. Not before a the barrel was thourghtly cleaned.
Having now rediscovered my love of plinking I'm thinking of swapping back. Simply due to the fact that every now and again there will be a round just short of enough powder to cycle the bolt. Is the copper wash on cci mini mags something that's likely to build up in the bore after a few hundred rounds down the line?

Many thanks Rich

 

[Pete1774]

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" Henry Ford

 

[Hook'N'Bullet]

Following on from a recent thread of mine regarding the barrel life of a .22 rimfire and the excellent feedback received I have another question to put to the wealth of knowledge found on SD

Can the copper wash found on certain brands of ammunition be enough to cause problems in a .22 rimfire

As a rule I never ever clean the barrel on my bolt action .22 and its a brilliantly accurate rifle. However its only ever had subsonic rounds down the tube. My semi auto m&p 15-22 used to run 36gr cci mini mags until I swapped over to subsonics as I fancied abit of rabbiting with it. Not before a the barrel was thourghtly cleaned.
Having now rediscovered my love of plinking I'm thinking of swapping back. Simply due to the fact that every now and again there will be a round just short of enough powder to cycle the bolt. Is the copper wash on cci mini mags something that's likely to build up in the bore after a few hundred rounds down the line?

Many thanks Rich

I'm pretty sure that's just the general inconsistencies in rimfire ammo as opposed to fouling issues.

The bulk stuff can be hit or miss. I too, never clean my .22 and have only really used subs for bunny bashing and plinking. Even at that, out of 100 CCI subs, at least 30 to 35% will be super sonic. Mass production at its finest

 

[Rhodesianjess]

I've used CCI subs for years now, copper washed jobs. Never had a problem, that's over 3 different rifles too.

 

[Smellydog]

Most copper washed 22 rimfire bullets are lubed just the same as the non copper washed bullets.

 

[Hook'N'Bullet]

I've used CCI subs for years now, copper washed jobs. Never had a problem, that's over 3 different rifles too.

What copper washed subsonics are they? All of my CCI Subsonics are just lead

 

[Smellydog]

What copper washed subsonics are they? All of my CCI Subsonics are just lead

CCI subbies use to be copper washed and lubed. I used thousands of them and they were good. Some time around 2000 they went to non copper washed.

 

[Hook'N'Bullet]

CCI subbies use to be copper washed and lubed. I used thousands of them and they were good. Some time around 2000 they went to non copper washed.

Oh thats interesting! That's before I picked up a rifle anyway. Wonder why they changed?

Although, I never really understood the point of copper washed .22 ammo. You can scrape it off with your nail

 

[Smellydog]

Oh thats interesting! That's before I picked up a rifle anyway. Wonder why they changed?

Although, I never really understood the point of copper washed .22 ammo. You can scrape it off with your nail

Probably stopped due to cost.
I think some manufacturers used it to differentiate a different product. Some would also crimp the case a little to differentiate a product.

 

[Rhodesianjess]

Bought some CCI copper subsonic this year, harvest time,so still available. Not segmented ones just hollow point.
Mind you £75 for the brick
I've used them because they don't seem to leave shavings in the action in a semi auto,lead nosed seem to leave "bits" after use.

 

[Rhodesianjess]

Boxes of 50, not the plastic 100 round box

 

[Muir]

Following on from a recent thread of mine regarding the barrel life of a .22 rimfire and the excellent feedback received I have another question to put to the wealth of knowledge found on SD

Can the copper wash found on certain brands of ammunition be enough to cause problems in a .22 rimfire

As a rule I never ever clean the barrel on my bolt action .22 and its a brilliantly accurate rifle. However its only ever had subsonic rounds down the tube. My semi auto m&p 15-22 used to run 36gr cci mini mags until I swapped over to subsonics as I fancied abit of rabbiting with it. Not before a the barrel was thourghtly cleaned.
Having now rediscovered my love of plinking I'm thinking of swapping back. Simply due to the fact that every now and again there will be a round just short of enough powder to cycle the bolt. Is the copper wash on cci mini mags something that's likely to build up in the bore after a few hundred rounds down the line?

Many thanks Rich

What kind of 'problems' are you expecting??
I have more 22's than I can recall and the only time accuracy ever goes south is when I have the misfortune of needing to clean the bore. Action? Clean it. Lightly lubricate it. Bore? Never. ~Muir

 

[bluesako]

as muir said action yes barrel no. bs

 

[Rhudson89]

It was just one of those thoughts where you think "I wonder..." given the accuracy problem's that can occur with the build up of copper fouling in a centrefire bore does the same logic apply to a rimfire with copper washed bullets?

 

[Rutland lad]

During the first COVID lockdown I was so bored I walked two miles to a friends house and borrowed his .22 cleaning kit and cleaned my CZ. God it was filthy. If any of my CF rifles had ever been like that I’d have had to give up stalking !
Thankfully after 20 or so rds it was bang on target again.
Hopefully I’ll never be that bored again.