Thompson Contender questions

R

Reloader2

New member
I received this 22 LR Match barrel and scope yesterday and went up to shoot it. I set this target up at 25 yards to site it in.
The three shots at the bottom are where I walked it up and then shot the group on the right before moving the scope to the left for the group in the middle.
This is the first rimfire ammo I have put through this gun and I haven't shot a Contender in several years.
While shooting, I had several misfires where the case had a light firing pin mark. Some of these would fire when I reset them in the barrel and some wouldn't. This was CCI Mini Mag ammo.
Initially when putting them into the chamber they were somewhat tight. With the misfires after taking them out, they were noticeably looser going in the second time.
Does anybody know what I should look for as the cause of the misfires? With this site in at 25 yards, where should I expect it to hit at 50 yards, higher or lower?
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if you have the trigger set to light the closing of the action could disconnect the safety block. especially of the barrel closes hard
 
You need to give the chamber a good cleaning. You have wax build-up in there. This is common with a lot of rim fire guns if they have a tight chamber.
 
I think T/C had, at one point, recommended against hammer extensions because it slowed the hammer enough to cause misfires. Try removing the extension and see if it goes away. If it does go away, you might need an extra power or just a new hammer spring.
 
I suspect you answered your own question when you mentioned:

"Initially when putting them into the chamber they were somewhat tight."
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Then you got this excellent advice:

You need to give the chamber a good cleaning. You have wax build-up in there. This is common with a lot of rim fire guns if they have a tight chamber.
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Pretty sure what is effectively happening is that you are seating the cartridge with the firing pin...
 
First off I would like to thank you for weighing in on this topic.
To fill you in on where I am at with this:
I ordered a new hammer spring from Mike Bellm just in case.
I cleaned out the chamber this afternoon and also cleaned up around the safety bar.
Curious as to what this accomplished, I had just enough time to take it out and try a round through it. The round chambered noticeably easier after the cleaning.
I just fired one shot but it went bang like it is supposed to.
One thing I didn't do was remove the hammer extension, but that can be done if I continue to have problems.
I'll try to do more shooting this weekend.
 
Reloader2, I have fired hundreds of thousands of rounds of rimfire ammo out of numerous target guns over the last 30 years. When they have a match chamber they will always become difficult to chamber a round after as few as fifty rounds. Some ammo is way worse than others. The more wax on the bullet, the worse it gets and it gets there much quicker. A true match chamber is tight. In fact, some of them will not even accept some brands of ammo. I always carried a chamber brush with me to shoots and as soon as a problem started I'd give the chamber a good cleaning and the problem would go away. Semi automatics are worse than the TC. Many of the other suggestions given are possibilities but they run a distant second to just keeping the chamber clean. If you're not shooting matches and just want to "plink" with the gun, you can get the chamber opened up a little and the problem will just about completely go away. If you want a very accurate gun, you need to learn to live with it and put the extra effort in keeping the chamber very clean. FWIW, some ammo like Ely or RWS have a very thin lube and will run a long time before causing the problem you're experiencing. Some, like Remington, will do it very quickly. Good luck with it.
 
thompson .22

I also have a contender with a .22 barrel, at some point in time I also had trouble with the CCI ammo, however I don't have a hammer extension. After several miss fires I just switched ammo. I don't think I've had the same problem since. You may just try switching ammo and see what that does for you.
 
I have a .22 LR Barrel (not a match barrel) and a hammer extension. Never any issues.

I think it most likely your ignition issue is due to the match barrel and the ammo you are using.

.22s seem to be picky. A friend's S&W M41 (widely regarded as an absolutely top shelf .22) has misfires with CCI Blazer ammo. Same ammo (including the misfired rounds) fed and fired flawlessly in my Ruger Mk I.

I have had other friends complain, after they got one of the stock & "match" barrel kits put on their 10/22 that they no longer fed right, or wouldn't feed from the 25/50rnd mags, etc. Of course, this was back when .22 ammo was plentiful, and they still shot the absolute cheapest stuff they could get...
 
No problems with mine ???

I have a .22 LR Barrel (not a match barrel) and a hammer extension. Never any issues.
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I have three .22 LR Barrels (match grade barrels) and hammer extensions. Never any issues. ..... :confused:

Be Safe !!!
 
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