After Seven Years, Problems with My P22

[CommoMan]

After seven years, my heretofore trusty P22 has started giving me trouble.

At the range today, about 60% of times that I fired, the fired round would be ejected but the next round in the magazine would not get fed at all. The slide would close on an empty chamber. About 30% of the time I would get what would be a stovepipe jam except that the fired case remained parallel to the barrel, mouth forward, held above the breech face against the rear surface of the barrel. Apart from a classic stovepipe and failure to feed, the remaining rounds worked fine.

Thinking that I was limp wristing because of some medical conditions, I let another shooter try the pistol and it performed the same for him.

I was shooting Winchester Super-X 40 grain roundnose. This round has worked well in the gun before as have CCI Minimags. I think the round count is about 3,000. The date on the fired case envelope is 19 Sep 2004 and it has the long slot A magazines.

What could have worn or changed to cause these problems?

[1917-1911M]

Originally Posted by CommoMan

Greetings CommoMan After seven years, my heretofore trusty P22 has started giving me trouble.

At the range today, about 60% of times that I fired, the fired round would be ejected but the next round in the magazine would not get fed at all. The slide would close on an empty chamber. This is typically caused by one or two things. The round is not powerful enough to blow the slide back far enough for the face of the breech block to pick up the next round or a magazine problem where the magazine is not positioning the next round properly and quick enough. A dirty pistol including the magazine could also account for this. The answer there is to clean and lube the pistol including disassembling the magazine and cleaning it...internally as well as the outside. Make sure the follower is moving freely. Stretch the mag spring a bit too while you are at it. About 30% of the time I would get what would be a stovepipe jam except that the fired case remained parallel to the barrel, mouth forward, held above the breech face against the rear surface of the barrel. This fits with the same problems listed above. Dirty pistol, mag and weak ammunition. Apart from a classic stovepipe and failure to feed, These are magazine problems. the remaining rounds worked fine.

Thinking that I was limp wristing because of some medical conditions, I let another shooter try the pistol and it performed the same for him.

I was shooting Winchester Super-X 40 grain roundnose. This round has worked well in the gun before as have CCI Minimags. I think the round count is about 3,000. The date on the fired case envelope is 19 Sep 2004 and it has the long slot A magazines.

What could have worn or changed to cause these problems?

Check the above, clean and lubricate the pistol, make sure a round freely falls in and out of the chamber and that the magazine is clean and lubed. Try some Mini Mags or Remington Golden Bullets and try it again. If you have big hands...make sure they aren't dragging on the slide... And do plenty more shootin.....you barely have it broken in. If that doesn't get it come back and we will explore some more options. S&W will send you a new model extractor if your spent cases are flying all around and even hitting you between the eyes. Keep us posted. M1911

[bigfatdave]

My guess is dirty magazines

[jbr01]

Originally Posted by CommoMan

After seven years, my heretofore trusty P22 has started giving me trouble.

At the range today, about 60% of times that I fired, the fired round would .....................

Can you check for us and see if you have the "A" style mags with the short slot on the side? ( approx. 1/2 " slot ) Just a guess, other than the above excellent suggestions...

[1917-1911M]

Originally Posted by CommoMan

A
The date on the fired case envelope is 19 Sep 2004 and it has the long slot A magazines.

What could have worn or changed to cause these problems?

Originally Posted by jbr01

Can you check for us and see if you have the "A" style mags with the short slot on the side? ( approx. 1/2 " slot ) Just a guess, other than the above excellent suggestions...

jbr01....you're gettin pretty good.....cept for payin attention...... M1911

[CommoMan]

Thanks for the tips, gentlemen.

I'll check everything you suggested and report back.

[jbr01]

DoooH! That's what I get for speed reading. I saw the part about 7 years without problems, and....

[Cokeman]

Remington Golden Bullets fixed this problem on mine.

[eodshawn]

iam not gunsmith but could it possibly be a worn ejector?

[CommoMan]

I inspected the weapon and saw no evidence of anything dragging on the slide. The chamber looked dirty so I sprayed it with Birchwood Casey Gun Scrubber, twisted (by hand) a stiff nylon bore brush in the chamber, then applied G96 Gun Treatment, did the brush thing again, and then pushed a patch through to the muzzle.

Today, when I finally made it to the range, the symptoms almost disappeared but came back after about 30 rounds. I take that to mean that the chamber is the problem and that I should do a more aggressive cleaning job.

How about Hoppe's No. 9 with a brush chucked up in a Dremel tool or a variable speed drill motor?