Weak primer hits with Pre 17. Why?

depicts

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I took the side plate off and cleaned the inside of the gun. Every thing looked the way it should be.

At the range I am getting FTF about half the time with this pistol, using Remington 550 Bonus Pack HP Golden bullets.

Is the Remington a hard primer? How do I know if the firing pin is hitting hard enough, or is long enough?

Can anyone recommend a brand of ammo that might fire with softer hits?

Main spring and trigger return spring seem "normal".

I don't know what to do about the light strikes.

Thanks
 
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Maybe tighten the mainspring strain screw, or replace the mainspring
 
As mentioned above check the mainspring, but has the side plate ever come off for a cleaning of the in internals?
 
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Look for a solid deep round dent on the rim. If you see those consistently and it has always fired in the past, it's probably the ammo and I'd try a few other types of Remington or other brands. I have occasional misfires with the bulk pack in my .22s, maybe one in 50 or so.
 
I get that every time I use Remington bulk ammo. Terrible stuff. Try a few other brands before you do anything - except a good cleaning.
 
Remove the spring. Lay the spring on a table. Take a plastic mallet and tap it flat. Reinstall the spring. Should be ok now.

This is probably the solution to your problem.

However, 22LR in my experience is a pretty dirty shooting round, expecially the bulk pack stuff. I've found that this causes misfires with my 617 and it ONLY happens when the chambers get dirty enough that it takes a firm push to seat each round in the chambers. As long as the rounds drop in freely or just a light touch, I have yet to have any misfires. My conclusion is that the misfires are a result of my not getting that round fully seated in the chamber and the first strike on the round does nothing but push it home. Because of this I now take a brush to the range and run a dry brush through each chamber about every 50 rounds fired.
 
Thanks for the tips. I'll clean the cylinder and try a few varieties of ammo.

I have to pay more attention to what each cylinder is doing, and what the strikes look like on the brass. I hurried too much the first time I started getting FTF's.
 
"the first strike on the round does nothing but push it home", just a chime in, but I've had this same thing happen with my 17 once the chambers start getting dirty. While at the range, my brother had a S&W Md 22 and the little auto was misfiring every fourth or fifth round. He was ready to get rid of it. I loaded it with the ammo I was using, (Federal bulk actually) and it never missed again the rest of the afternoon... go figure.
 
Personally, I've concluded that probably 90% or more misfires with the 22LR in a handgun, revolver or semi auto, are due to crud in the chamber, not an issue with the ammo or the gun. I shoot the cheap stuff in my 617 and it takes about double the time to clean it after a range outing than any of my other revolvers. Fact is, it's a Rifle caliber and most likely using an ammunition optimized for a complete burn in a 16-20 inch barrel probably results in a large amount of unspent powder getting left in the gun. It's also make me happy my particular 617 is a 6 shooter, if it were a 10 shooter I'd have to wait for the smoke to clear so I could see the target.

BTW, even if it is a pain to clean, it's certainly a joy to shoot and pretty darned accurate to boot.
 
I have found a lot of semiauto 22's have problems with certain ammo. You've got to find what works best in your gun. Now in 22 revolvers it's usually dirty chambers now the ammo.

Jerry
 
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