Had a pretty pleasant day at the range - my first trip in over 6 months.

Fired my Rhodesian FAL for the first time - VERY nice and accurate.

Fired my new 9mm upper with FIRSH handguards, front grip, EOTech 511 holosight and VLTOR Clubfoot stock. VERY VERY nice, accurate - I used a 10 round modded Oly mag, and then a magblock with 30 round Sten mag - functioned flawlessly.

Now, the problem:

I have a DPMS .22LR upper that I have never fired before today. I had it mounted on an Eagle lower with 2-stage NM trigger group. So, first it wasn't really wanting to chamber rounds - seemed sort of weak. But I figured that maybe it was just the ammo. Well, it seemed that every other round it was not firing. It appeared that the firing pin was just not striking the .22 rounds hard enough to set them off.

So I switched the lowers out, and I still had the same problem.

So, I don't think it is the hammer spring. Plus, both lowers worked fine with the 9mm upper.

I bought the .22 upper used. Is it possible that the firing pin is too short? Worn down? Any other things you all can think of? When it did shoot, most of the time it ejected and loaded the next round. Now, it did have a preference for ammo - it did NOT like the SSS Aguila, and didn't load HP very well, but it seemed to like Remington and Winchester.

What make is the two stage trigger? Is it a Jewell?

Also, when you shot the rifle, were you holding it under the magazine?


It could be like you say, that the firing pin has been peened and is too short. Have you cleaned it thoroughly? I know of one other that had problems with his as well and ended up sending it back to DPMS for a refund. Do you know approximately how old it is or how many rounds it has fired?

Got the 2 stage from Pete in NH, so it was probably Armalite or RRA.  I do recall holding the mag a few times, but not much.

Have NOT cleaned it thoroughly - should I blast it with some Gunscrubber and clean thoroughly?

I think it had about 200 rounds through it when I bought it.  Not more than 8-12 months old.


BTW, Rebel - where are you located in TN?

Quoted: Got the 2 stage from Pete in NH, so it was probably Armalite or RRA.  I do recall holding the mag a few times, but not much. Have NOT cleaned it thoroughly - should I blast it with some Gunscrubber and clean thoroughly? I think it had about 200 rounds through it when I bought it.  Not more than 8-12 months old. BTW, Rebel - where are you located in TN?

Pete usually sells Rock Rivers. That trigger should work. Jewell has a lighter hammer and less heavy trigger spring and most of the .22 uppers will not reliably fire with it.

Yes, clean the heck out of it. I would also take an old toothbrush and scrub it well with it. Afterwards, lightly oil it. .22 RF ammo is notoriously dirty and will crud up faster than a centerfire.

If you can remove the firing pin, see if the tip looks nice and sharp or blunt and peened over.

I live in Knoxville.

Cool - hey, I live in Oak Ridge - we should link up and go shooting sometime soon - then maybe if I can't get this thing working you could help me out and see if we can get it working - my .22 suppressor is getting lonely

IM me and we can share phone numbers/emails.

Why didn't you call DPMS first?

(800) 578-3767

Sent them an email this AM

Be sure to use ammo with copper plated bullets only - lubed lead will quickly foul the chamber and cause return-to-battery problems and thus light strikes (or even firing out of battery... ugly). If the previous owner used lubed lead, then the first thing to do is thoroughly clean out the chamber.

One odd thing I did notice was that some of the first rounds I used (SSS Aguila) it actually split the rear of the .22 case - in one case it barely pushed the bullet down the barrel and I had to pop it out with a rod.  But the spent casing twice on the Aguila was split - but it didn't do that on any others.

Read this thread:

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=15&t=217529

Sounds like you have slightly different symptoms but the same basic disease. The cure should work for you.

And that was good advice you got about cleaning the chamber, too.