Stevens .22-.410 over under misfires

[JacobJ]

I have a stevens .410 .22 over-under and the .410 works fine but the .22 keeps misfiring. I have used Aguila and Federal gold medal rounds. I got the Aguila cheap and i thought that it might be the ammo but its misfiring with the federal rounds too and i thought they were better quality. I fired thirty rounds with six misfires, and had to retry most of the others to get them to go off.It is fairly old and it was my dads so I want to try and get it to where it is in good working condition. The rims look like they were struck fairly hard, some were even bent a little but still didn't fire. Do you think that its just a bad batch of ammo or is something wrong with the gun. Thanks In advance for any advice.

[Tatume]

My brother bought one and had the same problem. It was traced to "crud" in the mechanism. A good cleaning cured it.

[skeettx]

Hello JacobJ
Welcome on your first posting
and welcome to the site !

Many times the 22 chamber has a dent from dry firing the gun with no ammo in the
chamber to protect it and then the rim is not supported well. Might have to weld up the dent.

http://www.thefirearmsforum.com/threads/savage-24-misfires.698/

You know any Micro Welders?
http://www.microprecisionwelding.com/gun-repair

Mike

[pietro]

.

Chamber lip damage from dry-firing should NOT be either welded/built up, nor filed.

Since dry firing usually displaces the material in the chamber sidewall, it should be similarly swedged back to where it came from.

Both MidwayUSA & Brownell's sell the proper tool to do so ($23) - the chamber ironing tool.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/777754/menck-chamber-ironing-tool-22-rimfire


.

[bedbugbilly]

Start with the easiest solution first . . . a good cleaning. As you know, 22 ammo is waxy and very dirty. If your Stevens has never had a good cleaning, it might be as has already been suggested. When chambered, a 22 doesn't require much of a whack to discharge . . but if there is waxy, dirty, cruddy buildup in and around the firing pin area . . it could slow the travel down enough to give light hits.

Our neighbor had one of these combination guns many years ago . . I'd hate to admit how many decades ago it was! I can remember it got a lot of use by all of us who hunted together as it was kind of a novelty for everyone . . a shotgun/rifle combination. We would experience the same thing you are and a good cleaning with a solvent to get the cur out usually took care of it. If that doesn't work . . have a good gunsmith take a look at it.

[Reg]

The good cleaning is a good way to start, have seen several gummed up like that but the next thing to look at would be a broken firing pin.

[leadman]

The firing pin for the 22 may or may not have a return spring on it but either way the pin may have crud built up in the receiver and limiting firing pin travel. Sometimes the spring rusts and falls apart in the receiver.
Unload the gun, with the action open pull the trigger and hold the hammer forward with the selector set to the 22 and see how far the firing pin sticks out. Should be around .045" to .050".
If the pin doesn't stick out very far take the little screw out of the side of the receiver that lines up with the 22 firing pin. Then carefully pull the firing pin out of the receiver and check the condition. Some guns had a return spring on the pin that corrodes away and limits the pin travel, just crud can do the same thing.
Also make sure there is no build up of crud in the chamber end of the barrel by the rim recess and the extractor. The hammer springs get weak on these, I think I have put 3 in mine over 15 to 18 years.
Parts for most of these guns can be found at Gun Parts Corporation.

[JacobJ]

Okay thanks Ill clean it up and check the firing pin. It does have some years on it but it hasnt been dry fired a lot and its mostly been used for the .410. Thanks for the help ill let you know if the cleaning gets it working better.

[Boogieman]

If it still misfires after a good cleaning you could try putting a flat washer under the base of the coil main spring. Savage did that on the .22Mag, version to set off the harder 22Mag. amo.

[JacobJ]

I did a good cleaning and it is doing much better I have only had few misfires since cleaning and I checked the firing pin it comes out pretty far. It did have a lot of crud when I cleaned it but I got a lot of it out.

[leadman]

If your has the bent wire spring around the hammer this could also be part of the problem. Look at the firing pin tip, I just replaced mine a couple of months ago because the pin stuck out in the receiver and when the action closed it chipped the tip on the top side. This is the part that actually hit the rim of the cartridge.