Curl:

A question; What does the gun look like immediately after the malfunction? Meaning, is the empty case still stuck in the gun and if so how is it lying?

What you describe could indeed be merely lack of recoil in functioning the slide, or, I suspect, an extractor problem with the rim dimensions of the Federal Ammo. .22 cases vary quite a bit in dimensions. For example, not an auto pistol issue, but I had some lots of Remington ammo that would not allow the cylinder to close and rotate freely. Culprit was thick rim.

Have you miked the ammo? Your problem sounds like it could be a narrow dimension across the base of the case; little for the extractor to grab and too little rise in the top round in the magazine, working in concert to give poor/weak extraction, light strike on the ejector, and ride-over on the top round in the mag.

Correspondingly, it could be a thick rim; extractor not seated 100% on the rim, weak extraction, poor ejector strike.

I have watched a number of high speed video and pictures of auto pistol cycling and it is quite amazing what the empty case can and does inside the slide before it actually clears the slide...even on well-cycling pistols! Doesn't take much to bugger the deal.

Next:

Have you tried slow-cycling the gun? If not, try this; load a magazine with ammo the pistol likes and functions well with. Point the pistol in a safe direction, seat the mag and very slowly cycle the action. As you do, watch very carefully exactly what is happening. It may be that the gun does some weird things {hangs up, jams, etc} even with "good" ammo when slow-cycled. That is OK, as the gun doesn't function slowly when fired. The thing here tho is to watch closely what is going on, how the slide picks up a round, how the round exits the mag, how it seats in the chamber, how it is grasped by the extractor, whether it is held tightly by the extractor, what it does when it strikes the ejector, etc.

Now, duplicate the process with the Federal ammo. Pay special attention to what happens to the round as it is extracted from the chamber and is dragged back from the chamber to the ejector. Then watch the ejector strike and what happens to the round. Does the empty fall off the extractor half-way back or just in front of the ejector?

Also, remember that rimfire cases can change shape a bit when fired. You can try this with empty cases, too, that is, the extracting/ejecting process.

Troubleshooting auto pistols can be a real pain and frustrating, too, but getting one to work is pretty enjoyable, too.