Cant make it through a magazine without a FTE. Typical failure is...gun fires, slides comes back far enough to strip the next round, starts coming forward and moves the new round up the feed ramp, then depending on the orientation of the empty case being ejected the slide pinches the empty somewhere and obviously fails to return fully to battery. I am constantly clearing it by pulling back on the slide just a tiny bit to let loose the stuck empty case...it falls out, I let the slide go...back to step one.

I have run it through a lot of different ammo and noticed that with some brands, it fails to fully eject at least a few rounds per magazine. Interestingly, when I shoot CCI, I have very few issues...less than 5 out of 100 FTE.

I had suspected that maybe the ejector needed to be tweaked....but now I am wondering if maybe the recoil spring is too tight.
Normally I wouldn't question the design of a pistol...I'll assume the engineers who came up with the specs know more about gunsmithing than me.
Still, I cant help but wonder what a weaker recoil spring might do...it would definitely improve the likelihood that during blowback the bolt would go as far back as possible...which also could help ensure that the empty brass is fully contacted by the ejector.

On the other hand, I wonder if the ejector is sending the brass at a weird angle and its bouncing around in the breech instead of cleanly clearing the breech and sailing off into the air.

Seems like the lower velocity rounds present more problems...which is why I am curious about the ability to fully blow back.

I'm stumped and trying one last shot at figuring this out before I spend money and send it off to the gun smith.

Thoughts?

Recoil springs are the weak point of any semi. They're NOT precision made (for the most part) & they're subbed out to a spring maker. Once in a while, they're gonna turn out an out-of-spec spring. You may well have one.

CCI ammo is also known to be among the better brands of ammo, so it's encouraging it runs better with them.

How much lube is on the gun? Enough? You might also have a too rough chamber? Hard to say without seeing the gun.

A new spring runs around $8 or so. I would begin there & see what happens. Oh, yes, have you tried different mags as well?

Thanks for the reply and ideas.

I've run this gun both dry and wet, dirty and clean...doesn't seem to matter.
I spent some time polishing the chamber...and there are zero issues chambering a round, so I don't think that is it...although I'm not ruling it out just yet.

Based on your feedback I gave S&W a call...they no longer have the recoil springs in stock, and they referred me to Brownells...they did.
Spring was $4....shipping was $8 ......but for $12 I'll find out what a brand new OEM spring does. Actually curious to see if it has the same appearance and overall tension. Having a bone-stock one also means I can slightly modify the existing one if need be.

Once the new spring arrives I'll be back at the bench to test again...the fact that the higher velocity stuff works better suggests to me its definitely a spring or ejector thing. If this next test doesn't work I think its off to the gunsmith for some professional intervention.

FWIW, I have a 22A and it runs like a champ.  No failures of any kind with an assortment of ammo.  I know this doesn't really help your situation but the guns will shoot.  At least on mine I can detect no design flaws.

CCI in my opinion is the best domestic 22 ammo by far.  I had a phoenix that ran perfect with CCI but did the same thing OP gun is doing with everything else.

Thanks for the additional feedback guys.
I should know where I stand in about a week.
The pistol is ridiculously accurate, so if I can get it to cycle properly I'll be having the gun smith thread the barrel and get this gun ready to host a suppressor.

I have the 22S. If it helps, I have no issues with any ammunition. It came with the target grips but they were just to big so I switched them out to the standards, I like it much better. It also came with the 5" bull barrel but I bought a second 7 inch barrel and put a pistol scope on that one. I can switch them out in just a few seconds. Your right about the accuracy but the black on black sights aren't great so I painteed the rear part of my front with a day glow orange. Much better. With the 7" and scope, popping golf balls at 50 yards gets boreing. One feature not mentioned with 22A's/S's is how simply they break down for cleaning. The new Victory seems like its a warmed over 22A/S but they use a screw instead of the push button for take down. Too bad on that feature.

Here's mine, my most inexpensive firearm but it works great. On your parts, that small wooden box has your spring in it along with a number of other small parts like fireing pins, those plastic replacement pieces, firing pin springs and others.

You try replacing the plastic recoil shim? Smith & Wesson sent me a pack for free a while ago.

Did you pull the extractor out and clean it? Does the hammer rotate smoothly? Spit balling here. Mine is flawless except for a broken firing pin. You might as well get one if you call for the recoil shims.

Just got off the phone with S&W - they are sending me a few. Will try that as well. Can't hurt.