# My backup gun almost worked



## Steven (Mar 2, 2012)

Two weeks ago I decided it was time to give my backup gun a chance to prove it's self. So I started testing it with a variety of ammo. It's a Ruger Mark III with a Tactical Solutions barrel and all Volquartsen internals except the Tandemkross Victory Trigger.

I started shooting CCI Blazer and went through 2 bricks without a problem. I then switched to CCI-SV for a few hundred rounds to see how it liked lower velocity ammo. All was still good. Then I shot a box of 300 rounds of the Red, White and Blue bullets from CCI. These are in between the Blazers and the SV for velocity. They all worked real well but my match ammo is Eley Practice so I even shot a few hundred of those to make sure the gun would handle them.

In practice I had no failures at all. I even ordered 4 new magazines and they functioned perfectly so off to my Steel Challenge I went with the backup gun.

It was cold Sunday. Starting out at 45 degrees. That's heavy jacket weather for those of us in the Southwest. I had cleaned the gun on Saturday and put a little EEXOX on the bolt. I guess I should have just run the gun dry. I started having jams right from the beginning, with failures to eject being the big problem. That and a few stovepipes really hurt my times. I gave the gun a good cleaning and started shooting again. Now it was warmer, in the high 50s and 60s later in the morning. The gun shot perfect and the rest of my times were the best I've shot in the 2 years I've been back to shooting.

The jams, on 3 stages really put me out of the match by about 30 seconds.

When it started running well it kept up with the best of them but the damage was done.

I don't think I'll bring it out as my primary gun again for a long time. Back to my Mark IV 22/45 with all Volquartsen parts. It shoots everything without a hassle.


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## Tangof (Jan 26, 2014)

Almost all my .22 semi-autos are ammunition sensitive to some degree, the CZ Kadet Kit on a compact frame and my Ruger MKII being the exceptions. I just use high velocity (over 1200 FPS) for the most part. Everything seems to function as long as I stick to that. I'm surprised 45 degrees cause malfunctions, I shoot in 30 degree weather using just a light coat of Rem-Oil and every gun seems to work alright. One caveat the high velocity .22 ammunition marketed under the Browning label has caused stovepipes and appears to be generating smoke.


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