Question about misfiring .22's

E

Ezeckial

New member
I picked up a very nice S&W Model 17 a few weeks ago.
I noticed, right from the start, that the bullets were a bit snug going into the cylinder.
When I fire the gun, it will misfire on one or two rounds per cylinder load, but will fire those bullets the second time I cycle them through (that is, keep pulling the trigger until the cylinder has rotated twice).
It appears the bullets may not be seating in the cylinders (I have to push them in place) and that the firing pin is just seating them the first time it strikes the rim (of the .22 case).

I've never had this problem, but this is my first .22 revolver (have an old Woodsman too).
Any thoughts on this? The cylinder is clean, and I feel no burrs.
 
I had the same problem with a used .22 revolver. A good cleaning of the cylinders sovled the problem. When I got it clean the rounds would drop in the easily and the problem was gone.
 
While you are scrubbin it out. (might have been fired a lot with shorts). Check the hammer spring tension screw. It goes through the grip frame fairly low on the front strap. If you have wrap around grips you have to take them off to see it. The screw should be snugly bottemed out. It is a designed length, has a shoulder on the head and is intended to be screwed all the way in.

Some folks ease the spring tension screw out to lighten the trigger pull, if the screw is not tight it can back out even more. Result; light primer strikes.

Enjoy your new 17, once it gets to know you it will be a great shooter. Accurate and reliable.

Sam
 
If you look into the cylinder under a good light...

you will probably see some crud in the chambers. When it is clean you will see the chamber has a step in it towards the front. The rear part of the chamber is the length of a 22 long rifle cartridge. Somebody has probably been shooting 22 shorts in the long rifle chamber and crudded up the front half so the longer LR cartridge has difficulty chambering. When clean they should drop right in. I'd be surprised if you had the misfires then. HTH
 
BigG - no, 22 LR cylinders DON'T have a step in them. The old 22 rimfire's still use what is known as a "heeled" bullet, with a reduced shank that fits into the brass case, and a forward section that is the same diameter as the OUTSIDE of the brass case. The 22 Magnum rimfire will have a step in it's cylinder, but not the 22 short/long/long rifle.
 
I thank you all for your responses and advice.

By the way...

Definately needs a good cleaning.
After cleaning it should be fine.
Maybe that is why it was sold.

I bought the gun from a friend whose father had died (several years ago) and was selling off some handguns he'd owned.
 
To understand what's going wrong, the firing pin is simply pushing the rounds home in the cylinder. The 'crud' is cushining the blow. It's also possible that the Model 17 has tight chambers. If so, you might want to chose another brand of ammo. Chose a match grade round.
 
Greetings all,
I would stay away from match grade ammo in a revolver

I own 3, ruger single six, taurus 94, and s&w 43, all of them experience a problem reliably firing match grade ammo. Federal, tenex, cci standard velocity, green tag, PMC match. None of these fire reliably in any of my revolvers. I think it is because of the slow burning powder and different priming compound used in low velocity match grade ammo. All of these types of ammo fire reliably in my semi autos. In my revolvers it is typical to have two misfires per cylinder full, pull the trigger a second time and they all fire usually.

All my guns are factory stock no trigger jobs or reduced springs.

Remington subsonic hollowpoints fire reliably in all of my revolvers as does any type of high velocity ammo.

I think it has to do with the smaller firing pin size in my revolvers. You need to use ammo which employs a faster burning powder for relaible firing in a .22 revolver.
 
things i've done...

start with a good scrubbing of the cylinders, brass brush time, it should be bored stright through. check for crud buildup on the ejector star, clean underneath as well as in the recesses where the rims are seating. then check that the strain screw on the frame is tight.

if that doesn't cure your problem, you might try polishing your chambers. when you load, the rounds should be dropping most of the way in and only require a push with your thumb to seat them.

the only other thing that i can think of might we QC with the priming compound distribution in the rims when they spun them.
 
This is rare....

This is very rare, but I had an S&W K22 that had the cylinder recesses of the counterbore for the cartridge rim bored to deeply. Those cartridges all sat a little low in the cylinder compared to my other 2 K22s. That gun's firing pin never imdented the cases very deeply and would misfire once or twice every hundred rounds or so. I doubt this is your problem, but it happened to me.
 
.22 rimfire rounds are actually harder to set off than center fire ammo. The case is thinner than a CF primer, but is made of hard brass. In the rimfire, the part that is crushed by the primer also has to contain the full pressure within the case. Worse, the flat firing pins make a dent that stretches and weakens the brass. So that brass, even in a .22 Long Rifle, has to be tough, and even more so in a .22 Magnum.

In center fire ammo, the primer material can be quite soft, as it doesn't have to contain the full pressure and there is less weakening at the firing pin indentation because of the round nose firing pin.

Jim
 
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