Broken 22A -- can you ID this piece?

[Ronbars]

Good morning all,

I picked up a 22A in October of 2011 and have put probably 5,000 rounds through it since then. Last night at the range, I got about 15 shots off and then the gun jammed. It was nearly impossible to pull the slide rearward to clear the chambered round. Once I finally got it to budge, I could not move it rearward far enough to engage the slide stop -- it was about 1/8" too far forward.

I field stripped the gun and found a piece of metal jammed into the underside of the slide (circled in red in the attached photo). It appears to be part of the gun but I cannot determine where it came from. It also left a decent gouge in the surface of the frame that the slide rides on... you can see the debris from that in the photo as well.

Does anyone have any idea what this piece might be? I've e-mailed S&W for warranty repair authorization but curiosity is getting the best of me at the moment.

 

[310Pilot]

Interesting! My 22A-1 is at thefactory (2nd time) for similar symptoms, but without the broken piece. It will fire one round, eject the case, will not load the next round, and the slide cannot be opened more than 1/4". A definite mechanical blockage. Tugging on the slide for 5-15 minutes will sometimes open it, but it will jam within the next 1-40 rounds. Congrats on getting 5,000 rounds through yours, mine has probably had only a few hundred through it, thanks to the repetitive jamming problem. Hope S&W can fix both pistols, I really want to like that gun, but it has been so unreliable it is irritating. I always take other guns with me if I take it to the range in order that I may actually get to shoot more than a few rounds.

 

[Ronbars]

Hmm that is interesting! For the month preceding this failure, mine started to experience several failures to extract... as if the extractor claw wasn't grabbing the rim of the spent round. I never had problems with slide movement, though. Funny thing is that my friend bought his 22A a few months before I did and his good experience with it is what led me to buy my own. His is still running pretty well... I put about 60 rounds through it last night, in fact.

I'm hoping S&W gets it back to me running as well as it did before it broke. The broken piece dug a decent gouge in the frame so I'm not sure how they will address that.

What S/N range is your gun in? My friend's is UCP3XXX and mine is UCP9XXX.

 

[sar4937]

Brownell's schematic:
Schematic for Smith & Wesson® 22 Series (A & S) - World's Largest Supplier of Firearm Accessories, Gun Parts and Gunsmithing Tools - BROWNELLS

 

[kutch47]

22A Fix

Interesting! My 22A-1 is at thefactory (2nd time) for similar symptoms, but without the broken piece. It will fire one round, eject the case, will not load the next round, and the slide cannot be opened more than 1/4". A definite mechanical blockage. Tugging on the slide for 5-15 minutes will sometimes open it, but it will jam within the next 1-40 rounds. Congrats on getting 5,000 rounds through yours, mine has probably had only a few hundred through it, thanks to the repetitive jamming problem. Hope S&W can fix both pistols, I really want to like that gun, but it has been so unreliable it is irritating. I always take other guns with me if I take it to the range in order that I may actually get to shoot more than a few rounds.

My 22A shut down and I experienced the same diffaculties as 310Pilot. I removed the grips and took out the mag safty, the part with the spring around a thin strip of metal on the left side of the grip, that is towards the back. I wiggled it out. Replaced the grips and fired 3 shots without a problems. Just remember that the pistol is now capable of firing without an inserted mag.

 

[kamloops67]

my 22a will fail to extract with certain ammo but with the "right" ammo it is flawless something like 1000 rounds without a malfunction. the cheap federal copper plated 36gr. hp 525 rnds all loose in a carton... 27 bucks tax in.
and its deadly accurate .sorry to hear you guys are having trouble with yours.

 

[glowe]

Is the broken part the extractor or the firing pin? I was checking the schematic on Numrich Gun Parts wabsite and can't find too many flat parts with holes. Take a look at parts number 3 and 7.

Numrich Gun Parts Corp. - The World's Largest Supplier of Firearms Parts and Accessories

 

[Ronbars]

Is the broken part the extractor or the firing pin? I was checking the schematic on Numrich Gun Parts website and can't find too many flat parts with holes. Take a look at parts number 3 and 7.

That diagram leads me to believe it may very well be the rear portion of the firing pin. I thought it best to let S&W strip the slide so they could determine the failure mode, but in trying to look for any obvious missing/damaged parts I did notice that the extractor claw was still present and at least the front portion of the firing pin was still there as well.

I'll be sure to come back and post what S&W finds. It's only been gone for a few days and I already miss the little bugger.

Thanks to you and sar4937 for the diagram links!

 

[Ronbars]

A quick update: I got the gun back from S&W on Tuesday with a note saying REPLACED BOLT, REPLACED FIRING PIN. Took it to the range last night and it's back to normal.

Kudos to S&W service. The whole process was very smooth and reasonably fast.