Posted: 8/13/2009 2:09:43 PM EDT
| I bought a used S&W 22a awhile ago and it has given me issues here and there since day one. The problem that I have is with light strikes and FTF. I replaced the firing pin and the firing pin spring. That only helped slightly. I then extended the slot on the firing pin in the rear to allow it more forward movement before it stopped, still not solved. I have not replaced the hammer or the hammer spring which is next on my list, but in the meantime any ideas? |
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yea sell it. get a ruger MKI , MKII, or MKIII.
I had a 22A long time ago, bought mine new. had the same exact issues you did. Sold it. wasnt worth the hassles. Never had a single light strike or malfunction with my MK II. Id take a P22 over that 22A. If you MUST try to get it working, do this. I had a similar issue with a 10/22 one time. what you do is take the barrel, not sure how the 22A comes apart. find a box of ammo and see if the round will hand fit into the chamber (dont cycle rounds or allow the bolt to seat the round, ) just simple see if you can put a round in there by hand, if they dont, then you may need to micro polish the chamber where the shells goes. I did this with the ruger barrel and it worked great. I just used Flitz polish and just used a cotton polish ball and put it on a dremel and micro polished this area. The point is, if the rounds arent seating completely, than the hammer cant go thru its full range of motion to ignite the primer. and you may not be able to feed rounds in a tight chamber either. |
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OK, First off, I have a Ruger Mk2, a Beretta Neos, a CZ Kadet, had a Walthers P22, and I also have a S&W 22A that I LOVE. Fact is, its very high on my list of favorite plinking .22's. No issue with light strikes on it, but I have had that on some other guns ovcer the past 40+ years of shooting.
A few common things. starting simple, don't overlook the basics: Clean the gun....really clean. Lube it properly. Don't drown it in oil and grease, but do give it what it needs to be smooth. Check the fit of a round in the chamber. A new unfired round should just slide in and out easily. Remove the firing pin and spring. Clean them spotlessly. Clean the passageway for the firing pin. Clean it really well, you can not get this too clean. Polish the surface of the firing pin. Make certain it is slick. Use a nice light lube on the firing pin, Rem Oil works very good, and oil it up. Again, don't drown it. Polish every moving part. Make this a slick gun. Slick guns are happy guns and everything just works better on them. Once you have all of this done, look at the hammer. Make sure it has good tension on the spring. I believe you said you got this gun used so you don' know its history. Assume the previous owner may have had an issue and traded it off. Look the gun over very closely. Polish everything you can touch. Its amazing how much better that can make a gun work. Good luck with this. I love my new S &W 22A. It works perfectly. Maybe I was just lucky!' |
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Are you sure that you have light strikes and not a bad batch of .22 bulk ammo? I had some Golden Bullets that left over hundred unfired ones in two 550 packs. They did not fire in my regular plinker, a S&W 22A with over 80,000 rounds through it, and also faired eqaully poor in my other .22s. Try some other ammo, Federal bulk works 98% out of my rimfires.
Is the firing pin indent shallow, does the round fire if you turn it 180 degrees or strike it again? Some 22As need the hammer axis pin lubed for the hammer to gain enough momentum. I recommend not to oil the firing pin, even lightly, as this will just make adhesion of powder residue worse. If you continue shooting the gun, it will start working better after 1,500 rounds, or so. The hammer spring is not very easy to change and mine lasted well over 60,000 rounds before it lead to light strikes - but the trigger pull had been much lighter, too. |