Dry firing 22lr rifles

[kygen]

ok, give it to me straight, how badly did I mess up by dry firing my stevens 87D. And if so, could it be easily fixed by replacing the firing pin and/or other pieces?

[E Michael]

Is it no longer functioning?

[kygen]

FTF and FTE galore! it can go 5 LR rds without any problem, but then it can have a FTE every 3-4 rds after that.

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=872700

Here is my old thread on her

[1badjack68]

I used to have one of those when I was a kid . You should be able to see any damage(clear it first make sure it's empty) by unscrewing the back and sliding out the bolt. The firing pin needs to be lifted up and out before the charging bolt can pulled out of the side. The just get in some light and you should be able to see if there's any damage.

[1badjack68]

You may just need to clean the bolt spring.

[hermosabeach]

good question-

PICS?????


Every kid who has a 10/22 has dry fired at the end of every magazine....

This video might show you the common damage to the chamber or firing pin....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqUZwIf0J2k

[ojisan]

10/22s can be dry fired with no damage.

For others it depends on the design.
If the firing pin can hit the rear of the barrel when there is no case in the chamber, then that is one that should not be dry fired.

[sofbak]

With excessive dry firing, you may have peened a sharp edge at the breech face. But it takes a ton of dry fires to do it.

Take a q-tip and drag it across the chamber mouth in the area where the firing pin contacts it and see if any of the fibers on the q-tip snag on it.

If you do have a sharp edge there, you may need to invest in a tool called a chamber iron (see midway or cabelas). If you need to iron your breech/chamber lip, do so very carefully and just a tiny bit at a time, otherwise you may make an oval out of a round chamber.

You might need to just scrub your chamber really well with a brush.... I have a savage MK II that was giving me fits with failure to extract, and I polished the chamber a little bit with a new bore mop on a section of cleaning rod, chucked into a cordless (low rpm) drill and some mother's aluminum polish.....just be sure to limit the distance the mop goes into the chamber, you only want to polish it a little less than the length of a .22 lr case.

If it were me, I'd try the clean and/or polish first. Less expensive, and less chance of an irreparable "goof".

[SB1964]

Every 10/22 I've ever had, the firing pin strikes against the surface of the breech face. My best 10/22 that's re-headspaced, radiused bolt etc is extremely loud if dry fired & it's not a good thing. I'm not sure how some 10/22's are fine dry fired, but I wouldn't suggest it, not routinely anyway. Sofbak makes sense, that's how it was shown to me. As a rule of thumb, rimfires shouldn't be dryfired. I save a bunch of empties & use those for testing. YMMV.

Run a wet patch down the bore & scrub the chamber really well. Scrub the extractor edges with a brass brush & look carefully at the edges, are they worn? Is the spring weak? It should snap back in place fairly strong. Clean the bolt/boltface & the action really well. Is the firing pin fairly square? Or is it rounded off or worn? Stevens could be different than what I'm used to. Clean everything up really well, take your time & look at parts mentioned. I learned to scatter & rebuild 10/22's because mine didn't work well & I got sick of it!

[kygen]

I'll take her apart later today, clean her, and try the q tip method. I'll also post pics if I can

[kygen]

Here are some pics

[ojisan]

I'm not sure how some 10/22's are fine dry fired, but I wouldn't suggest it, not routinely anyway.

Ruger 10/22 Owner's Manual, page 22, item 8, second sentence:
The rifle can be "dry fired" for practice as long as it is empty and pointed in a safe direction.

[kygen]

in the first pic, the little metal piece on the right is not rounded and bent like its counterpart on the left. Could this be the cause of the ftf/fte?

[thenodnarb]

in the first pic, the little metal piece on the right is not rounded and bent like its counterpart on the left. Could this be the cause of the ftf/fte?

you're focusing on the wrong thing. Your bolt is probably fine. One is the extractor the other is the ejector. They can't both be the same or the case wont eject.

Look above the chamber where the firing pin would strike if the case wasn't there. Have you peened a dent into the breech face with the firing pin? If so, you aren't going to get reliable ignition of the priming compound since the rim isn't being crushed, just deformed/ pushed into the dent.

If the breech face is ok, the firing pin might be deformed causing the same problem. Basically its not long enough anymore.

If these things are ok, then the dry firing isn't the cause of your problem but something else.

[kygen]

Is this the type of dent you're talking about?