Something from 1972, the first thing to do, is replace the recoil spring and the hammer spring.
My 1968 M46, all original springs, was a malfunction junction. First thing that helped was replacing the recoil spring with a Wolff "factory"
as you can see the original recoil spring had taken a set, and that caused timing issues, such as stove piping. I replaced the recoil springs in my M46 and M41. I carried that used M41 spring in my kit, and at one indoor match, a fellow shooter with a Godawful old M41 was having failures to feed/eject. His recoil spring was shorter than my used M41 spring, when we installed my used spring, his pistol was able to function. Since then, I keep a new "factory" Wolff in the box, just in case.
Another problem, the more rounds downrange, the more unreliable both the M46 and my 1988 M41 became in feed, extraction, ignition. Called S&W they were out of OEM factory mainsprings. Numrich claimed to have new ones. Ordered a few.
The Numrich springs looked like someone cut them from coil wire with a cutter. All of different length, the ends sharp, not nice and ground, like the factory springs. However, put the longest one in the M46 and it worked for a time. Then back to stove pipes and failures to ignite.
Called S&W again, still out of mainsprings. But there were vendors on ebay claiming to have new OEM mainsprings, and I purchased two.
In comparison, the worn Numrich spring was short, and I could tell from the effort it took to cock the hammer, that the "new" OEM was considerably stronger. I also replaced the 1988 M41 mainspring, and the new one was stiffer. Which is all to the good.
Just as the recoil spring, the mainspring has an effect on the timing of the action. The slide has to push down the hammer. For proper timing, that mainspring has to be factory strong.
Function has improved. But, everyone has problems with the reliability of 22lr. Every Bullseye Pistol competitor experiences frequent alibis due to ****** 22lr. This is a cup of alibi rounds. If the competitor has an alibi, a Range Safety Officer comes on by, verifies the alibi, takes the alibi round, and gives it to the Match Director. Who places it in this cup:
It is very apparent that 22lr is over represented.
As a general rule, the expensive "Pistol match" is more function reliable than the cheap stuff. I am using the last of SK HV HP in Regionals. That ammunition has been much more reliable than CCI SV, but still have the occasional function failure with the stuff. Everyone has complaints about CCI SV, not uncommon to have a malfunction every 50 rounds.
Something else, the "bolt", part number 6508" (firing pin block) in the slide fills with oil. Maybe I over lubricate, but I found mine filled with oil, and that reduces the velocity of the firing pin impact on the rim. I removed the bolt from the M46, found it swimming in oil. I cleaned everything out, and re installed. Now I am in the habit, after a match, of blowing the firing pin channel out with compressed air. You have to push the firing pin forward, as when it is in normal rearward position, it seems to be a gas block. So I push it forward with a chop stick, and blow the channel out from the front. I hope it does something function wise. At least I am blowing the rat's nests, and spider webs out of the firing pin channel!
I asked the unit gunsmith of the All Guard shooting team what was the major source of unreliability in a M41, and he told me, the tightness of the bolt. He had more M41's come in where the bolt was loose, and shifted/tilted during ignition and extraction. A loose bolt causes the case to fall off the bolt face. His cure, was to mechanically tighten the bolt channels with a punch. Don't do this unless you know what you are doing! You may ruin the slide.
With a rimfire pistol, keep the recoil springs and mainsprings new. Don't think 20 year, 50 year old springs have the same strength as the did. They don't. No semi auto pistol has the ignition energy of a rifle. My SK STD Plus is 100% reliable in my various match rifles, and the stuff is unreliable in my autopistols. Powder combustion is hugely dependent on how much energy and flame comes out of that primer. Weak primer flame, weak powder combustion. Primer combustion is complicated, but for you, weak ignition system, weak primer combustion. Period, end of story.
Something else. Primer cake is a mix. And it is mixed by hand. And each batch of primer cake is plus or minus, and within each batch, whatever is spooned into your rim, is plus or minus. I was told that cash rewards are given to the person making the most consistent batch (for the day?). However, who get the next cash award seems to up to luck. The process is too variable to understand. So, in each cartridge box, there will be variation in primer cake sensitivity, and in primer energy. And you can't tell which one is strong and sensitive, versus weak and insensitive, by looking at the rim. Even if you had X ray vision, you would not be able to tell. Anyway, primers vary. Nothing is perfect, nothing is complete, and nothing is finished. All you can do, is keep the mechanical condition of your pistol in new condition.
And test different ammunition. If you find one lot that is reliable, buy all of that lot you can. Drain your bank account, max out your credit card, etc. Might be a long time till you find a reliable lot again.
