A few months back, I tried out my brand new SR22 at the range with somewhat depressing results.

http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=5&f=50&t=153062

I gave it a good cleaning and took it back to the range this weekend. Didn't do anything else to it.

I hung up a metal plate target and began shooting at 25 yards.

10 shots, 10 dings.

Loaded another mag.

10 more shots, 10 more dings.

Shot fine the entire time I was at the range.

What gives?  It didn't even look that dirty after the first session.

Anywho, I thought back to the last .22 pistol I bought, a Bersa Thunder. And I remembered that it did the exact same thing.  

And, after I cleaned it, like the SR22, it ran like a top with very good accuracy.  I would have kept it had it not needed high velocity ammo.  

Is there something about shooting .22 pistols for the first time that can cause them to go haywire?  Maybe it is related to break in?  Maybe there's fouling from whatever's in the barrel from the factory that causes horrible accuracy (I didn't clean the SR22 before shooting it for the first time...I don't remember with the Bersa).  

I guess it is no big deal now that it is working, but I'd like to understand what is going on.  Anyone ever experience this?

The feed ramp on my (well....the kid's) pistol was very rough.  I did my best to dremel it a bit, and it seems to feed better for what little post polish testing I have done.  Not sure if this would affect accuracy???  
ETA: Probably not, I'd say it just needed a cleaning prior to shooting??

The part in red.  A lot of barrels come with oil, grease, metal filings, etc. fresh from the factory.  I always run at least a bore snake through any new barrel before I shoot it.  
If it's something I'm not taking straight to the range, I'll be sure and run a couple (or three) wet patches through to remove any gunk.  Then a boresnake when I later get to the range to remove any oil.  

Glad to hear it's shooting better for you, OP.  I've really enjoyed mine.  

Crazy good gun. Literally, a 6" plate at 25 yards, I could just ding-ding-ding.  Didn't miss it once.

Love it.

I have owned a lot of .22 rimfire guns over the years. In my experience, most of them require at least a little bit of a break-in period before they reach their potential.

shoot, clean, repeat as necessary. If you can't get a gun to settle down, try using different magazines and different types/makes of ammunition.

My sr22 came with some oil in the barrel, and mags were covered in a thin layer of some cosmoline type stuff that came right off with some hoppes

Almost certain this is what it was. I probably didn't clean it well the first time.  

All I know is, it worked like a clock last weekend.  Looking forward to shooting it again.

If someone had told you what you just learned on your own, the chances of you retaining that information for the long term would be slim.  

Congrats on the lesson learned and on finding .22 pistol that (now) reliably does what it was designed to do.

Airborne!

Isn't that the truth?

Worst part is, I DID have it happen before with my Bersa Thunder, and I STILL didn't remember it!  

I've owned a lot of the little 22s over the years.  They're finicky, just the nature of the beast.  I've seen a lot of the Rugers at the indoor range I frequently.  They all seem to act up from time to time.  The Walthers are worse.  SIG Mosquitos are behind the Walthers.  

In my experience they need to be kept clean, really clean.  With the smaller nooks and crevices it doesn't take as much crud to jam them up.  And almost all 22 ammo is dirty.