Actually it wasn't as hard to find as I thought. The only downside was the price and going through the hassle and wait of buying online. They should arrive next week.
Soooo disappointed in 41 today.
- Thread starter Beeser
- Start date
Jeff423
US Veteran
You could start here: Wolff Gunsprings - Firearm Springs for Semi-Auto Pistols, Revolvers, Rifles, & Shotguns you could also try Smith and Wesson.
Jeff
Backlighting
Member
I sold my 41 several yrs ago...feeding was an issue.
At the time it was introduced it was the gold standard of 22 autos. Now Ruger, Browning & Colt are producing reasonably priced 22 autos that are top shelf. My 22 plinker of choice now is the Browning Buckmark Camper. Cost was just $350 & it's a tack driver.
At the time it was introduced it was the gold standard of 22 autos. Now Ruger, Browning & Colt are producing reasonably priced 22 autos that are top shelf. My 22 plinker of choice now is the Browning Buckmark Camper. Cost was just $350 & it's a tack driver.
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andyo5
Member
Wolff has three versions of the recoil spring available. You can get them all in a 'calibration kit'. I don't know of a source for the other springs, except for the mother ship itself. If you call customer service and just explain what you are trying to achieve, you might even get a break on a set of springs. Stranger things have happened.
I think a new spring set will help this gun out quite a bit. Over the years these springs do a lot of work for us and lose their strength. Really soak the firing pin area with No. 9 and oil lightly after cleaning. It should be good after that.
I tried the 41 out this morning again (after another thorough cleaning) using some Federal AutoMatch and it performed worse than before. I couldn't get two shots out of the gun before a misfire or a cartridge sticking in the chamber. I still plan to try out the CCi Standard Velocity when it arrives later this week but I don't have much confidence that things will improve. I'm about as convinced as can be that there is a problem with the gun whether it's springs or otherwise. I don't want to take it to a local gunsmith as they are few and far between around here and those that exist I don't believe are experienced with this type of gun. So, I will be contacting S&W to see if I can send it them for servicing. Any other suggestions would be appreciated. Hopefully I can get this corrected because it's such a beautiful gun.
MarTay6
Member
I may be way off base here, but I know that sometimes, a loose grip with the shooting hand has contributed to jams in semi-auto's..... just a thought- since nothing else seems to be working to fix...
Wes
Wes
Thanks Wes! By coincidence I just learned about the "limp wrist" effect this morning after doing some reading online. I don't think this is happening here because the problem persists holding the gun 2 handed. Besides, I don't think it has anything to do with the misfires, at least that's what I've read. I think what others have mentioned before about weak springs is probably the culprit or at least a major portion of it.
CGM
Member
Beeser..... What you describe seems to be a fairly common occurrence at the Club I belong to. We specialize in NRA conventional pistol matches and, there are a lot of finicky 41's. While some work with anything, most (including mine) are a bit of a pain when it comes to ammo. What we have established by trial and error is that CCI standard velocity seems to be the magic bullet for 41's. Mine will work flawlessly with it and any other of the high priced ammo (Eley, etc). However, anything less and you run into problems exactly as you are having.
The solution to using other ammo and have it function reasonably is to put a small drop of oil on your top round in the magazine. This should eliminate many of your jams. Not perfect but, some of us can live with this system. However.... I regret I sold my Ruger!!!
The solution to using other ammo and have it function reasonably is to put a small drop of oil on your top round in the magazine. This should eliminate many of your jams. Not perfect but, some of us can live with this system. However.... I regret I sold my Ruger!!!
Thanks for providing a ray of hope to the situation without having to go through more drastic measures. As mentioned before I have some CCI, Standard Velocity arriving in a few days. Hopefully that will take care of the problem. I emailed S&W today as a backup to see if the gun can be returned to them for repair. They're supposed to respond within 5 days. I really like the looks of the Model 41 and would like to find a way to make this work.
andyo5
Member
I agree that the arrival of CCI Standard ammo is unlikely to solve your problem. I think that sending the gun in to S&W is probably the best plan at this point.
My 41 is the same vintage as yours; a 94xxx. It has been quite temperamental at times. I tried all sorts of "fixes" but the most effective was a thorough cleaning. Cleaning the chamber and slide didn't do a lot, but cleaning the frame's guts helped immensely. I drenched the frame area with Kroil, brushed it with a soft toothbrush and repeated several times. It doesn't like to be dirty, but doesn't like to be spotless either. Just after a cleaning, it's cranky until I get a few rounds down the tube and it gets it's sea legs. Doesn't like thick lube or grease either; especially in cold weather. Once I figured out its quirks, I began to really enjoy it.
A couple more thoughts: Make sure your thumb isn't, even lightly, touching the slide stop. I found myself doing this and it caused all sorts of troubles. Also, your grips aren't the same vintage as the gun's serial number implies. Make sure they are properly reliieved and aren't interfering with anything underneath of them.
A couple more thoughts: Make sure your thumb isn't, even lightly, touching the slide stop. I found myself doing this and it caused all sorts of troubles. Also, your grips aren't the same vintage as the gun's serial number implies. Make sure they are properly reliieved and aren't interfering with anything underneath of them.
mauiblue
Member
New springs is a cheap possible solution. I do on occasion have some FTE issues but its because of the ammo (American Eagle ammo gave the worst results). I don't have much access to SV ammo and notice CCI Mini Mag ammo gives me best results. I do have an extra power Wolff recoil spring and recoil buffer installed. Good luck.
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk
andyo5
Member
What Krogen said. I assumed that your technique wasn't suspect, but if you are touching the slide when firing the gun then it will malfunction for sure. I also noticed that your grips are much newer than your gun.
I have a little time before the new CCI ammo arrives so I'll try cleaning the frame's guts as you mentioned. And while shooting I'll try to remember and keep my thumb away from the slide.
The gun came with 3 sets of grips; those shown on the gun now, some competition grips with a large base and the set shown below. Are these original to the gun?
Can't say for sure that those are original to the gun, but they look to be the correct vintage. Try 'em and see how they work!
Are you "effing" kidding? I'd say your bases are covered in bullseye competition with that pistol. They don't get much better than that. If you need to unload it, I have a space for it, as much as I love my 41, that piece would do me just fine in a 2700 coming up soon. Nice Nill's on it.
I went out to get some gun cleaner this morning and this is what followed me home. If anybody can tell me anything about this special and odd looking 22lr target pistol please let me know because I'm presently clueless.
Pardini. That looks cool. It looks very Italian. The Ferrari of .22 target pistols. I know nothing useful about them. Since it's Italian it must have at least one quirk. I have one Italian pistol, a Benelli B76, and it's definitely quirky.
Please give us a range report on that bad boy and let's hope it functions flawlessly.
John
Scoundrel and Ne'er-Do-Well in Training
I owned two Model 41's and one was a 1968 model with the cocking indicator and it ate everything I fed it without a hiccup. The second one was a new in the box 5 inch without the cocking indicator and I never fired it. I sold both of them because my stainless Ruger Mark II with a Volquartsen trigger group and muzzle brake was more accurate and fed everything also.
oldRoger
US Veteran
Pardini SP
I have a newer model Pardini, called in the Italian manner SP (new).
If it has any quirks, I have not found them.
It has probably the finest iron sights I have ever seen or used. The trigger is the equal of my Anschutz match rifle and thus equal to the best in the world.
The ejector is on the magazine so it will not eject a round with the magazine out.
The safety works but is not meant to be used and is only on pistols shipped to the US.
If you do not have a dry fire plug I would suggest getting one.
The Pardini importers are good guys, both Olympic Class shooters.
I will normally have one CCI-SV failure to fire in about 200 with my M41s---I have not had one failure of any kind with the Pardini.
I have a newer model Pardini, called in the Italian manner SP (new).
If it has any quirks, I have not found them.
It has probably the finest iron sights I have ever seen or used. The trigger is the equal of my Anschutz match rifle and thus equal to the best in the world.
The ejector is on the magazine so it will not eject a round with the magazine out.
The safety works but is not meant to be used and is only on pistols shipped to the US.
If you do not have a dry fire plug I would suggest getting one.
The Pardini importers are good guys, both Olympic Class shooters.
I will normally have one CCI-SV failure to fire in about 200 with my M41s---I have not had one failure of any kind with the Pardini.
The CCI Standard Velocity came in earlier than expected so I plan to stop by the range this morning and give the 41 one more try before sending it off to S&W for repairs. I cleaned the guts as suggested earlier in preparation of this test. We'll see ...
I won't be able to try out the Pardini this morning because it's missing the magazine. Hopefully I can order one this morning. It really looks like a fine piece of hardware. I cleaned part of the gun last night and was amazed how simple it operates, at least the front part of the gun. The barrel is actually shorter than the 41. Well, more on the Pardini later.
flyimo - Nice looking Ruger! I will definitely keep my eye out for one of those to purchase. How does the action differ from the 41? Looks like it would be similar to the Pardini in that it doesn't have an external movable slide.
I won't be able to try out the Pardini this morning because it's missing the magazine. Hopefully I can order one this morning. It really looks like a fine piece of hardware. I cleaned part of the gun last night and was amazed how simple it operates, at least the front part of the gun. The barrel is actually shorter than the 41. Well, more on the Pardini later.
flyimo - Nice looking Ruger! I will definitely keep my eye out for one of those to purchase. How does the action differ from the 41? Looks like it would be similar to the Pardini in that it doesn't have an external movable slide.
Nope, the gun still doesn't work. In summary, I thoroughly cleaned the gun a number of times, used the recommended ammunition (CCI, Standard Velocity) and everything mentioned previously as a potential fix short of replacing springs and the gun doesn't work. However, I was able to achieve some consistency in the way the gun works with my last efforts. Now the gun will fire it's initial round, eject the spent round and load another but then fail to fire. I can manually eject that round and the process will repeat again Ad infinitim. I tried all of the 4 magazines that I have and it makes no difference. So, I'll definitely be returning the gun to S&W for them hopefully fix. I don't know how long it will take but the process of returning it has already taken almost a week and I'm only in Level 1 of their return process. So far I'm not too impressed with their customer service.
Comrad
Member
Disclaimer, this is not political in anyway.
Every time I read the title of this thread I think, what did George H.W. Bush do to disappoint you.
Every time I read the title of this thread I think, what did George H.W. Bush do to disappoint you.
andyo5
Member
This post has me thinking of one last thing you might try before shipping it. And that is, re-adjusting the trigger stop. This is the recessed- head screw behind the trigger. If adjusted too far out, it will preent the trigger mechanism from resetting. The symptom would be first shot fires, for second shot the trigger does not release the hammer (because the mechanism did not reset after the first shot).
Thanks andyo5 but I don't think that's it. I didn't mention it in my last range report but I do hear a click (hammer release?) when the trigger is pulled. The round just does not fire.
bbqncigars
Member
Does the second (DNF) round show any marks of the firing pin? If not, then I think andyo5 is on to something. A couple of my guns will go 'click' w/o releasing the sear.
Hmmm... with apology to andyo5 it appears I was too quick to dismiss his idea on the trigger stop setting. I'll take a look at that and give the gun another try. Thanks!!
PS I've been warned by one of the forum moderators that this thread or portions of it may have violated the Terms and Conditions of the forum. Therefore, I would like to stop the discussion here. At least, I will no longer participate in it.
