Colt M4 22 Not Happy!

[gunpoor]

My son recently purchased a M4 22 OPS NIB just a few weeks back. Anyway, on Monday he invited me to the range with him this morning to go shooting. I took my 6" 22LR Official Police and he took his M4 22 OPS. He loaded 10 rounds in the magazine and started firing. The first 8 went through without an issue (other than him complaining about the trigger between the 3rd & 4th round) the ninth round never made it out of the barrel. As you can see from the photos below it appears the action did not fully cycle and the breach was a 1/8" open. Even though the action was a 1/8” ajar the piece still fired causing the back of the casing (which was outside of the chamber) to bulge and blow-out. The bullet ended up lodged in the barrel 8" from the muzzle. It made for a very short day at the range for him. Once we got back to the house he called up Umarex an informed them of his problem. I guess they have received a lot of complains about Remington ammunition and the operator told my son they recommend not using Remington ammunition because it has a wax coating that causes the action to clog and jam. The operator also told him to just push the bullet out of the barrel with a cleaning rod. Either way my son informed the operator that he was uncomfortable shooting a rifle that will fire without the breach fully closed, and wanted it inspected and fixed. She was very understanding and is going to send him a UPS label to have the piece sent in to be inspected and addressed.









I know a lot of folks are raving about the quality of these M4 22’s but from the example my son got I’m not impressed. The trigger pull is unnecessarily heavy with quite a bit of creep. I have used Remington 22 L.R. ammunition for many a moon and have never had a problem. Furthermore a piece that will fire with the action a 1/8” open is just bad quality in my opinion.

[shortyone]

i would have the same opinion like you, if I'd have such issues.
on www.colt22rimfire.com you can see a video. they recommend RWS Target ammo. I use this ammo and have no problems at all.

has your son cleaned his M4 before shooting? oiled and so on?
i clean it every 200-300 rounds - very often, but therefore no issues

[guy sajer]

We've had a couple customers complain about jamming problems with their M4's . Umarex told us the same thing . We switched them over to CCI Mini-Mag and no complaints since .

[rayb]

Yet another gun that has problems with Remington .22 ammunition.

There appears to be a trend here, I've quit buying Remington bulk / special sales .22.

your experience may differ
rayb

[gunpoor]

has your son cleaned his M4 before shooting? oiled and so on?
i clean it every 200-300 rounds - very often, but therefore no issues

He did not field strip it because it was factory new. He simply ran a dry patch through the barrel (from the breach end) and lightly wiped the breach with a Q-tip of Rem-oil. Man I hope these rifles don't hate Rem-oil as well!

Anyway after he pushed the bullet out of the barrel and cleaned the heavy powder residue he started experimenting with the action and noticed there was clearly a spot in the bolt's path of travel where it would encounter some resistance. This spot was approximately a 1/4" from breach closure. He then took a Federal brass case that he pulled the bullet out of and empted the powder. The case could slide in and out of the chamber effortlessly (because it had never expanded from firing). However he could leave the case sticking out of the chamber about a 1/4" and slowly lower the bolt and the breach would hang open approximately a 3/16" AND FIRE EVERY TIME! I've never encountered a rifle that would do this and that just doesn't seem right.





As a side note my son deer hunts with an old Remington 740 308 win. Woodsmaster. Every morning you hear a loud "clunk" from him dropping the bolt on the first round. That's because if the bolt is even a fraction of a CH ajar the rifle won't fire.

[shortyone]

the space on your pic above is defenitely not normal....

disambled the rifle so far? if not, call Umarex i would say

[gunpoor]

the space on your pic above is defenitely not normal....

disambled the rifle so far? if not, call Umarex i would say

The rifle has never been dissembled. He purposely didn't field-strip the rifle after the bullet lodged in the barrel so the factory can see what defects/issues the piece has. He has already called Umarex, they sent him a paid UPS postage tag to ship the piece back in for service. So far he has been very pleased with the service Umarex has provided. Hopefully they fix the issue.

[DESERTFOX]

It fires out of battery there is somthing wrong with it.

[Colt M4 .22 Ops]

I checked my rifle to see if it will fire with the bolt open the same amount. Indeed it does although i didn't try it with live ammunition........i used the safer method of snap caps. I would have to assume that all of these rifles work the same way, so if your rifle happens to hang with the bolt slightly open on a live round then it will probably fire when you pull the trigger and blow the back end out of the case! I think that Colt will most likely address this situation and i hope they will send parts to correct the issue or have a recall to remedy the problem. I can't imagine that these rifles being able to fire with the bolt open will be an acceptable situation to Colt or the shooting public once it becomes a known issue. Let's wait and see how they handle it?

[gunpoor]

I checked my rifle to see if it will fire with the bolt open the same amount. Indeed it does although i didn't try it with live ammunition........i used the safer method of snap caps. I would have to assume that all of these rifles work the same way, so if your rifle happens to hang with the bolt slightly open on a live round then it will probably fire when you pull the trigger and blow the back end out of the case! I think that Colt will most likely address this situation and i hope they will send parts to correct the issue or have a recall to remedy the problem. I can't imagine that these rifles being able to fire with the bolt open will be an acceptable situation to Colt or the shooting public once it becomes a known issue. Let's wait and see how they handle it?

Thanks for checking your rifle as well, sounds like this could very well be grounds for a recall. Since it does seem like this is a common defect in the product-line it would be up to Umarex (not Colt) to address the issue. The rifles are made by Walther, for Umarex who bought the rights to the “Colt M4” trademark branding from Colt. Colt has no responsibility in regard to the performance/safety of these weapons, that’s on Umarex. Unfortunately, since these rifles are known as "Colt M4 22's" and not Umarex 22's or Walther 22's the negative effects that follow a recall will most likely tarnish Colt's image. We'll see what happens, my son put his rifle in the mail this morning to return to Umarex for inspection and servicing, I'll keep you posted on what transpires.