Hammer pin walking out

[RGBellCSI]

The hammer pin on my 15-22 began walking out of the right side of the lower yesterday at the range. I pushed it back in and it did it again after about 50 rounds. The pin has never been removed. During cleaning, I removed the pin and inspected the J spring within the hammer. It appears that it is broken off. I contacted S&W online yesterday afternoon and I got an email this morning with an order number for a replacement hammer at no charge. I am pleased with the prompt response.
I have seen other threads discussing the same issue. Are they using really cheap parts or is this just the luck of the draw for some of us?

 

[TheBum]

Excuse my ignorance because I've barely handled the 15-22 I just bought, but is this the same as the trigger pin walk issue?

 

[cjt50]

Who ever is staking the J-pin in place is using too much force. It weakens the pin and the 1st time you punch the hammer pin thru it snaps.

Something that has plagued the 15-22 on and off ever since the switch to the MIM FGC (fire control group)

 

[RGBellCSI]

I had not punched the pin through. It has had less than 500 rounds through it and I have cleaned the trigger group with compressed air and Quick Scrub III, followed by a small drop of oil at pivot points. There should have been no reason for any significant force to cause it to snap.
I remember finding what I though was a piece of a staple on the floor near where I clean my guns and I was glad I didn't step on it with a bare foot. It was probably the bottom half of the J spring.

 

[TheBum]

There is an aftermarket fix for walking pins, but if the spring is broken, you’d still need to replace the spring.

CMC Smith & Wesson M&P Anti-Walk Pin Kit 15-22 22LR

 

[cjt50]

I had not punched the pin through.............edit for brevity...............

What I meant to say was when the hammer pin is installed at the factory (1st time punched) the J-pin fails. Then over time the hammer pin will walk out.

Your only option is to replace hammer with a good J-pin. Since you have one on the way from S&W, your good to go when it arrives.

Sorry for confusion

 

[RGBellCSI]

Update

The good news is I received the replacement hammer today. The bad news it does NOT have a J spring installed, so it is useless. I called S&W and they said that the hammer they have available does not include the J spring and they don't have the spring available separately. She said that the hammer and spring should be a single unit but couldn't explain why they don't have that unit. They want me to send the gun in for repair. I asked them how they are going to repair it if they don't have a hammer that includes the spring. She had no real answer. I really don't want to send the gun in for a part that I can easily replace. I am going to try to find a hammer either locally or online. I will send the gun in if I can't find a hammer that includes the spring for a reasonable price. There is a gun show this weekend. Maybe somebody there will have one.

 

[TheBum]

Is the only purpose of the J spring to retain a pin? If so, I'd recommend getting anti-walk pins, which are retained by screws on the ends and should eliminate the need for the spring.

 

[RGBellCSI]

I ordered a new hammer with J spring from Brownell's. It should be here next week. I should send an invoice to S&W. There is a gun show in town this weekend. I may buy and extra hammer if somebody has one.

 

[Eric300]

Get some anti-walk/rotating pins and your problem is solved....forever.

 

[RGBellCSI]

I replaced the hammer with a standard AR hammer that I got at the gun show. I am now having too many light strikes. I had six light strikes out of about 125 rounds. This occurred with 3 magazines. Before the hammer change, I had very infrequent light strikes. I can see a very small dent in the rim of the failed rounds. The failed rounds did fire after being reloaded into a magazine. I removed the hammer to inspect all of the parts and reinstalled it. One thing I noticed is that if I push the hammer back until it clicks and then push it a little more, it will bind momentarily and then move forward and stop. Is this normal? Does the bolt only push the hammer back far enough for it to engage or could it be pushing it back a little more and be causing it to drag and produce the occasional light strikes?
I also removed and cleaned the firing pin. I had not removed it before since the gun only has around 500 rounds through it. The gun has been cleaned after every shooting session using a brass brush, followed by 3 passes with a bore snake.
I will be going back to the range for further testing tomorrow.

 

[RGBellCSI]

I did further testing today and it still had 5 light strikes out of 50 rounds. The gunsmith at the range offered to help me troubleshoot. He replaced the hammer spring and I saw a little improvement but it still failed. He then replaced the hammer and it failed for the first two rounds. We called it a day and put my parts back in the gun. I sent it back to S&W this afternoon. About an hour later, I got an email from S&W saying that they were sending a hammer that included the J spring. Too late! I doubt that it would fix it, unless there really is a special hammer for the 15-22.
I suspect that it will be quite a while until I get the gun back because of the holidays.

 

[RGBellCSI]

Update

I received a second hammer from S&W that DOES NOT included the J spring! This was in response to an email that I sent when I received the first useless hammer and was shipped after I sent the gun back to them for repair. Are they now farming their customer service out to BFE?

 

[03hemi]

If your getting light primer strikes that sounds more like the buffer spring needs to be bumped up to the next level. Pull your buffer, look at the back of it. If there is no number, you need a #1, if it has a number 1, you need a #2. Get the anti-walk kit as mentioned above.

 

[RGBellCSI]

If your getting light primer strikes that sounds more like the buffer spring needs to be bumped up to the next level. Pull your buffer, look at the back of it. If there is no number, you need a #1, if it has a number 1, you need a #2. Get the anti-walk kit as mentioned above.

It is a 15-22 rimfire. There is no buffer spring.

 

[Eric300]

If your getting light primer strikes that sounds more like the buffer spring needs to be bumped up to the next level. Pull your buffer, look at the back of it. If there is no number, you need a #1, if it has a number 1, you need a #2. Get the anti-walk kit as mentioned above.

I don't believe the 15-22 has a buffer/buffer spring.

 

[03hemi]

I don't believe the 15-22 has a buffer/buffer spring.

Didn't know, I only have real AR's, but that's usually the first thing to suspect.

 

[RGBellCSI]

I got a notice that the gun will be shipped on 1/13/2020 with an expected delivery date of 1/20/2020. I am curious about what they did. When I sent another gun to them for repair, (a 380 EZ with the dreaded last round stovepipe issue) the repair invoice was extremely vague and the testing that they did was insufficient to capture if the problem was actually resolved (it wasn't).

 

[Meangene]

After getting my 15-22 back from S&W it works better than it did when I bought it, hopefully yours will be the same.

 

[RGBellCSI]

Update

I got the 15-22 back today. The work order says "Replaced hammer". I had two failure to fire out of 150 rounds. I looked at the rim of each of those cartridges and there was a very small mark. I was trying to pay close attention with each shot to see if I could identify anything unusual. With these two shots, the trigger was dead. It appeared that the previous rounds were ejected, the next rounds were chambered, but the hammer was not locked back. The bolt appeared to be fully forward and the failed rounds were ejected properly when I pulled the charging handle back. I put the failed rounds back into a magazine and they fired.

Is is possible for the bolt to cycle far enough to eject a spent casing, load the next round, but not cock the hammer? What are your thoughts?

I had to remove my iron sights and red dot prior to sending it in because I added those after I purchased the gun. I spent quite a while getting everything sighted in and in sync for co-witness. It sure is a fun gun. I hope I can resolve this failure to cock issue quickly. I will probably call S&W and discuss it.