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Hello, new member here. Thank you for having me on the Forum. I have joined because I am searching for possible answers to an intermittent problem that I have. One of my rifles is a .22 BSA pump action tubular magazine (yes, I know it's a bit ancient but it is a family heirloom !) The problem is that it has begun to misfire sometimes. Not every time and sometimes I can fire off quite a few rounds and it works every time. My first reaction is that it is a worn firing pin but I do understand that it can be other things. The images below show spent rounds and the make of the ammunition that I use in this firearm.I have used the same rounds in another rifle but I can't post the images here (it seems that there is some kind of limit) and so I will endeavour to post them in another part of the topic. Thanks for any help and/or advice given.


continuing on from above : I have used the same rounds in another rifle, a BRNO semi-auto and the spent cases are shown from this firearm below.
Not sure if this helps but this rifle never misfires on this ammunition. Any comments about the quality of the ammunition is probably best sent in a PM although being a new member I may not be able to receive those yet.

The impact marks from your BSA look to be very blunt, I would sharpen the end of the pin---a very little at a time. I have had one of these rifles for many years and it has never misfired.
Fred

That looks like a cracking rabbit stalking rifle........and VERY well looked after.
What year is it?

Pete

1933. It is a special edition one with lots of sights. It has a useless set of flip-up big game hunter style rear sights, a 3x German telescopic sight on claw mounts and a BSA no 8 sight on the stock. Jim Hallam has, or had one which he was thinking of selling a few months back. It also has a spare rear stock in case the no 8 sight is in the way when using the telescopic sight---it doesn't bother me, so I never change it.
It is worth mentioning that these rifles have a fragile ejector which sticks out of the bolt face when it is closed. If you push a cleaning rod down this extractor can be bent and it will then rapidly fatigue with use and break. There aren't any available and it is a nightmare to make. I have never broken mine, but I have made two over the years for other people and I don't want to make another.
Fred

That's a sweet little rifle - very jealous. I would say "insufficient strike" is your problem. The firing pin impact appears to be spread over a large area, adversely effecting penetration. So - It may have always been like this and the problem is actually a weakened FP spring or over a long period of time, hard crud has built up inside the bolt and reducing the effective travel of the pin by a few thou.

Re-shaping the FP would undoubtedly get it shooting again - however, it's easy to remove metal but not so easy to replace it. I would totally strip/clean the bolt mechanism paying particular attention to the pin and guide hole, either fit a new FP spring (or stretch the existing one a little as a "stop gap" measure) and try again - only then get busy with the stone.

To me - Looking at the indentation on the case, it's doesn't look as if the pin has worn down over time - I would go for a new spring. (I wouldn't like to guess how many cycles that spring has had in the last 70-100 years)

FredB wrote:The impact marks from your BSA look to be very blunt, I would sharpen the end of the pin---a very little at a time. I have had one of these rifles for many years and it has never misfired.
Fred

Thank you FredB but the way I posted the images has changed since I started the topic and it may be confusing now. I see they are now all in the same post and so I need to explain that the images that can be seen above the box of ammunition, i.e. just below my text, are shells that have been fired by my BSA rifle, the one with the occasional misfire. The images below the box are of the same ammunition but have been fired by my BRNO.

1066 wrote:That's a sweet little rifle - very jealous. I would say "insufficient strike" is your problem. The firing pin impact appears to be spread over a large area, adversely effecting penetration. So - It may have always been like this and the problem is actually a weakened FP spring or over a long period of time, hard crud has built up inside the bolt and reducing the effective travel of the pin by a few thou.

Re-shaping the FP would undoubtedly get it shooting again - however, it's easy to remove metal but not so easy to replace it. I would totally strip/clean the bolt mechanism paying particular attention to the pin and guide hole, either fit a new FP spring (or stretch the existing one a little as a "stop gap" measure) and try again - only then get busy with the stone.

To me - Looking at the indentation on the case, it's doesn't look as if the pin has worn down over time - I would go for a new spring. (I wouldn't like to guess how many cycles that spring has had in the last 70-100 years)

Thank you 1066 but could I ask you to refer to my post above this one please ? I originally put the images in 2 posts (because I couldn't put more than 3 in a post) but it looks like Admin have amalgamated the posts. In the post that starts this topic anything seen above the box of ammunition was fired by my BSA, the rifle that is giving me a problem, and the images below the box are of the same ammunition but has been fired by my BRNO.

Ahh right. Then I would be reluctant to take any metal off the pin - I would certainly look at the spring first.

check the chamber lip to see if it has been peened over by dry firing, if it has than you can buy a chamber ironing tool to move the metal back to where it belongs, or (engineer types close your eyes) use a suitable sized taper punch and gently tap the chamber back into shape.
I had a 22WMR with the same problem, fixed it (had already tried cleaning, lubing and reducing the striking surface, with no real improvement, a couple of judicious taps and the problem went away, almost never missfired after that.

1066 wrote:Ahh right. Then I would be reluctant to take any metal off the pin - I would certainly look at the spring first.

Thank you. So may I take this a little further please ? I have a couple of advertisements that show how to take down this rifle. But it isn't very clear in one respect. Do I turn that screw clockwise or anti-clockwise (mine is very tight and I didn't want to force it) And one of the adverts says that when you've turned the screw then turn it back half a turn and then you can remove the barrel, action, slide and bolt. I presume that I can then dismantle the bolt to get at the spring and firing pin ? Thanks very much for all the help so far,