maybe a design issue with the firing pin?

cpt137 · #1 01-22-2011, 03:40 PM

Many years ago I bought 30k rounds of winchester super x. It is my favorite ammo, shoots almost as well as match and never fails. I'm down to less than 10k, almost all thru my 10/22, 77/22 and ruger mkII pistol. I have given other people ammo and sold some but still put a lot down range. I can't ever recall a ftf. Maybe I have had one or two but never an issue. I got a 15-22 a couple of month ago and have had a number of ftf. All show a heavy strike and dent but didn't go off. Ran a couple of magazines from the same box (and all the same lot #) thru my Ruger with no problem. Same ammo, same strikes but the Rugers fires and the 15-22 has some that don't.

Skunkhome · #2 01-22-2011, 04:40 PM

Well the with the mass of the hammer on the Smith I would expect the strike to be heavy enough. Is the strike closer to the rim than with your 1022? You haven't by chance been dry firing the Smith?

cpt137 · #3 01-22-2011, 06:48 PM

I DON'T DRY FIRE MY 22 WITHOUT A EMPTY IN THE CHAMBER. i ONLY BRING THIS UP BECAUSE IT SEEMS TO BE A COMMON PROBLEM.

Skunkhome · #4 01-22-2011, 11:10 PM

well, I have not shot mine yet so will have to advise after doing so.

chuck s · #5 01-23-2011, 09:05 AM

Is your rifle new? From notes here there has been a firing pin change in the past few months in what we think is an attempt to prevent out of battery (OOB) discharges when the bolt isn't completely closed.

The new firing pin is inertial meaning it's shorter than the distance from the hammer to the cartridge rim and only strikes the rim momentarily and is then retracted back inside the bolt by the firing pin spring.

See the Firing pin protrusion thread, especially the later messages where we got some information from S&W -- the earlier messages have some confusion before we were notified of the firing pin design change.

Quote:

Just received a call from S&W regarding the 15-22 I sent back. The CSR that said send it in said that the bolt he looked at had a protruding fp. The tech who just called me says that this is the "new style" bolt and uses an inertia driven fp. He said "like an 1911". He went on to say that the previous version had a fp that protrudes and could result in slam firing. I guess IF the hammer followed it could happen.

I'm shooting Winchester Super-X (in "333" packaging) almost exclusively and have never had a failure to fire with my earlier rifle with the longer firing pin.