P22 magazine falls out while firing

I recently got a lightly used p22 for Christmas. I didn't clean it as I was told it had been cleaned/oiled before he gave it to me. First time out, we kept having problems with it stove-piping or not loading the next round. Sure, I was using some cheap blazer stuff that might not have been "high velocity", but it was inconsistent about it. I'd fire 20 rounds just fine, then it'd fail on the next shot, or maybe only fire 3 then fail. I do remember that they were copper coated rounds, not just bare lead, so there shouldn't have been that much buildup on the ramp from them.

I gave the gun a good thorough cleaning and a light oiling, and it seems to be fine since. I got some federal bulk pack at walmart and have been happy with it - 200+ rounds later I still haven't had a failure, loading or ejecting.

However, it's recently started to drop the magazine WHILE i'm firing! the tabs on the mag look good, and the tabs inside the handle also look good. there's nothing between the release and the trigger guard that would hold the release down and reduce its ability to hold, and i didn't oil that part of the gun while cleaning - if anything, it got solvent on it. The weirdest part is that when my brother or dad fire it, they have no trouble - it only happens to me. This is not the first time I've fired this thing - I shot it plenty before it was given to me, and my other brother who gave it to me never had this problem either.

You guys have any suggestions on what to look for? I could probably provide pics of the mags and magazine retainer clips down in the gun, but they seem to have what i'd consider to be normal wear - basically the black anodizing has worn off the clips in the pistol, and i can't see ANY wear on the mags (i have 2). I've also tried changing my grip on the weapon to make sure i wasn't accidentally pushing the release while pulling the trigger. Also started putting my pinky below the mag to make sure i wasn't pushing the mag itself down while gripping the gun. Only one of my mags has the finger-rest on it, so it's nigh impossible to push down on the mag w/o the extender anyway, and this is happening with both magazines.

I don't have fat fingers - quite the opposite - I have bony fingers. My dad has the fat fingers, so if anyone would be hitting the mag release with finger-fat it would be him... but he's not having this problem.

I'm still fairly new to gun ownership, so I don't know all the terms for each part, and please go easy with the abbreviations... or at least spell them out for me if you use them, thanks!

The gun is under a year old. If I had to guess, it's had under 1000 rounds run through it.

 

sorry for digging up an old thread, but figured i'd post the solution (or really, a "you were right" post)

ya, turns out i was hitting the release. i had a range guy watching, and he noticed that my finger is long enough to hit it as i pull the trigger.

now when i fire it, i do two things: i make sure my pinky is under the magazine - as long as i have a firm grip, the mag can't come out enough to cause a problem. in a panic situation, as long as i remember to do this, i should be able to empty the mag. i've deliberately let it happen at the range just to see. i feel the click of the mag hit my pinky and i just grip tighter and it holds it enough that i can finish off the magazine without it jamming.

second, i make a concious effort to use my fingertip or the first "fold" in my finger to pull the trigger with. this isn't ideal of course, and yes, i have the largest backstrap installed. anything larger and my wife's short fingers wouldn't fit - in fact it fits her hand perfectly. she's almost as accurate as i am (which honestly isn't saying much besides that we can hit a 7" target from 15 yards), and she's still learning to be comfortable around firearms!

as for me, i'm saving up for a springfield xD. all the xDs we've seen are too big for my wife's small hands so we'll keep the 22 for her, though she of course can't use it to get her CHL if we ever decide to do that. i'm not sure what caliber i want, but may base it on the cost/availability of the ammo. i'll do some reading of course. both the xd9 and xd45 i've shot felt good in my hand and because of that i was WAY more accurate with both xDs than i was with the p22. not surprising really.

 

my only problems occur when i use cheap/crap ammo. even when the gun is nasty filthy, it still fires reliably as long as i use good ammo. the federal bulk packs at wal-mart haven't given me any trouble at all. and now that i've learned to put my finger through the trigger guard a little differently, the mag doesn't fall out either. of course, this gun is not for people with big hands, so...