Bought S/W 41

[doddg]

Try Numrich for SW parts.

A new firing pin and spring can't hurt....

1. Thanks for the heads-up!
2. If you can recommend someone to take care of checking this gun out, pm me.
3. I would feel better if someone who knows these guns went through it and cleaned and checked everything out to know whether I have a solid gun or whether I bought one that was "ran hard and put away wet."

 

[jinks]

If you use heavily coated bullets the excess lube can build up in the chamber. I practiced with Hanson 22s that were so heavily coated that I would wipe them down before shooting. At the Fifth Army Matches, I was having misfires with my issued Model 41 while using good ammunition. I gave the pistol to the AMU armorer and he checked out the pistol and reamed a small pile of lead and lube out of the chamber. The misfires stopped. I usually would only run a dry patch down the barrel and lube the pistol after firing and only thoroughly clean the pistol after a 1,000 or so rounds.

 

[Clay Pigeon]

Like Jinks says above, I would start with a extensive cleaning, if this pistol sat for a few decades it probably deserves a tear down a clean.

I run mine clean clean clean and wet when possible.. Is the pistol cocking from the round before? and the firing pin dropping on the round when you have a failure to fire?

Years ago I would get a failure to fire with the second and sometimes third round after dropping the first round in the magazine into the chamber and firing it.
Does it do this with HV 36 or 40 grain ammo?
.
.I talked to a well know gunsmith and he suggested that I order new magazine springs along with a new recoil spring. Not much to improved with the recoil spring and when I replaced the mag springs if nothing changed to shorten one of them and see what happens. After about a coil and a half cut off my failure to fires about stopped.
I'm not advocating that you do that but it worked for me with the pistol I was having a problem with.
If I was to call a gunsmith I would call Mark Penrod up in Walbash and see if he will look at it.
I'm sure other will chime in on others that can tackle your problem.

 

[Jim5528]

Here is a site for maintenance on a model 41 Smith.
Model 41 maintenance

 

[Hohn]

Congrats on the 41. Every 22 aficionado has to own one at least once!

It’s a bit of a Ferrari so it’ll be interesting to see what ammo it runs best on.

Enjoy!

I can answer that for you-- almost certainly it's CCI standard. Do not feed your nice SW41 any kind of Remington or winchester rimfire. Blazer, CCI, Fed and Aguila should all be GTG.

I've got a good bit of stick time on a performance center SW41 and it is a very tight chamber that doesn't eat just anything. But not only is CCI std gtg for feeding, but it will shoot groups just as tiny as it will with Tenex or other top ammo.

 

[Hohn]

Also-- stay away from HV and hyper ammo like , Stinger, Velocitor, etc etc. Stick with standard and subsonic and you'll be glad you did.

 

[indianamoon]

Had one with a comp'ed barrel and sold it to help pay for building a new house. Miss it, and an apartment is looking pretty good right about now.

 

[doddg]

Thanks guys! I sincerely treasure all the input.
Buying this Smith 41 was a stretch for me, and I want to get it right, and give it a chance to perform better than what it is doing now.
Or, you know what will happen.
It must perform to the .22LR like my CZ Shadow 2 does to my 9mm: stellar!
With retirement coming, I don't need the best shooters that money can buy, just the best shooter for the money!
Some say, "Life is short: so spend, it's just money."
They don't have our medical bills!
I have truly enjoyed my time in the past year with wanton spending on this and that, but I knew that it was for a limited time with the big "R" (retirement calling).
That's why I bought both the Shadow 2 and the Smith 41: time is running out so I am enjoying the "big" money of a school teacher while I'm working.
It's called money management. Being boring helps: it saves money!

 

[doddg]

I'm having someone look at the Smith 41.
After looking at the firing pin and not being disturbed, and looking at the shells I saved, and how they are so light in striking (as to be indiscernible), that he said it is probably just a simple spring issue.
Since I had a brand new Smith magazine, that took it off the table.
I told him to replace the firing pin or any other normally wearable parts/springs that it would need in the future so as not to have to deal with them.
He will order parts and deal with it, which it great with me.

 

[700 LTR 223]

Sounds like the light strikes will be taken care of once he installs the new parts. I was out shooting my 41 today and it has performed well over the years with the highly recommended CCI std. vel.

 

[doddg]

Sounds like the light strikes will be taken care of once he installs the new parts. I was out shooting my 41 today and it has performed well over the years with the highly recommended CCI std. vel.

1. Good to know the validation.

 

[Doublehelix]

I am pretty handy and can fix most things that need fixing in my guns, and to be honest I enjoy the minimal armoror's work that I do. BUT... the older I get, the more I just prefer having someone that really knows what they are doing to take care of things, especially the bigger issues.

If I know exactly what the problem is, I might tackle it, but in your situation, you are not exactly sure what is wrong, so I think you are doing the right thing by letting an expert take care it. You pays your money, and it comes back fixed! I like that!!!

Good luck, and hopefully they can figure things out for you.

 

[doddg]

I am pretty handy and can fix most things that need fixing in my guns, and to be honest I enjoy the minimal armoror's work that I do. BUT... the older I get, the more I just prefer having someone that really knows what they are doing to take care of things, especially the bigger issues.

If I know exactly what the problem is, I might tackle it, but in your situation, you are not exactly sure what is wrong, so I think you are doing the right thing by letting an expert take care it. You pays your money, and it comes back fixed! I like that!!!

Good luck, and hopefully they can figure things out for you.

1.

 

[doddg]

Just got word yesterday that my 41 is getting a new firing pin (makes sense b/c of the extremely mucho light strikes), and putting a couple of new springs in while its apart.
This is being done by someone here in INGO, so I'm very fortunate.
I would mention his name in thanks, but I've learned that some are paranoid about such things (hiding from the IRS, I suppose ).
I have had the best experiences here on INGO with the way people treat me when I've had gun-related issues; I wish I could tell you who and what they did b/c I have total trust with these people that have such character.
There is one guy that I have bought and sold guns with many times and he will let me take a gun, go to the range with it to make sure I really want it, and then pay him if I want to keep it. One time I tried to pay him on the spot with his own money he'd just given me for a gun I'd sold him, but he wouldn't take it, and it was a month before I could pay him ($225 for a little Beretta) b/c he had been out of town and busy. He wasn't the least concerned about getting his money: where do you find people that treat you so well?!
It is such a compliment to be totally trusted like you have known someone for years.

 

[Doublehelix]

Just got word yesterday that my 41 is getting a new firing pin (makes sense b/c of the extremely mucho light strikes), and putting a couple of new springs in while its apart.

Great news! Hopefully this solves some of the issues you were having. Anxious to see how it performs for you now.

INGO is indeed a great place!!!

 

[doddg]

Great news! Hopefully this solves some of the issues you were having. Anxious to see how it performs for you now.

INGO is indeed a great place!!!

1. I am a little excited about it, and can't wait till it has passed the "gunsmith's" updating when he returns it.
2. I will take it to the range and run a bunch through it, and will give a full report.
3. He knows I'm in no hurry, and he's been busy, but the parts have been ordered.
4. It's not like I don't have many guns to test and figure out what needs to be sold to pay for this Smith 41.

 

[doddg]

Well, my personal "gunsmith" (member here just helping me out), let me know that the firing pin is in and the 2 springs.
It is firing in small groups, and there is a solid strike on the rim now EXCEPT on 1 round per magazine???
He can hear it "releasing" but no strike: odd.
Then, if you can believe it, the extractor broke and fell off.
Extractor ordered.
As a speculation, perhaps the extractor not being right was causing some sort of "binding" or whatever and there is a correlation with that and a round per magazine not striking properly??? Speculating, as my wife says.
In talking to another member here who I've met at the range, and he is much older and a lover of all things Smith 41, he is puzzled about its behavior.
He used to competitively shoot with one and still keeps one for the range now.
It is an immense pleasure to talk to him b/c he knows so much of the history, like some years back in the day had bad inaccurate barrels and they have to be replaced with new ones ($400ish), and there is even a "relining" process that can be done (if done correctly) that will ameliorate the problem.
He states that he's never heard of a firing pin or extractor or a rear sight problem like I'm experiencing.
Not in his experience and circles.
I guess I just drew the short straw.
The previous owner traded it in just before things went South, but it probably was having some issues before and just put it into the safe for decades then traded it in at the gun shop, where it was bought.
Rear sight has been fixed, don't know how long the fix will last, but if it gets dependable, I intend to put a rail on in (already drilled by S/W I assume) and put my Bushnell red dot on it that was recommended to me so I bought it (around $90, I think, maybe a little less).
Since the 41 has small groups, which I will verify when it is up and running by letting my new friend here take it to the range to verify what "good groups" are; he says he can still do it.
Since the 41 will be the ultimate target gun for me, it would be logical to put a red dot on it, but another friend told me that he had a set up like that and it was not a good balance for him.
Ordered part will probably take a couple of weeks, but I'll keep you posted, and will put up pics.
I'll definitely put up pics with my older experienced friend so you will see better groups than what I'll be able to do (if he'll let me take pics of his shooting).
Maybe I'll have it all up and running by Xmas time and I'll be able to run the crap out of it!
I have 2 cases of CCI Standard Velocity in the closet ready to go.

 

[doddg]

Some pics at 20, 30 and 40 feet.
After replacing all the "consumables" inside the 41 it has much improved, but still 6/150 failures.
I had 10 mags with 0 malfunctions and 4 mags with 1 malfunction, and 1 mag with 2 malfunctions.
I mixture: failure to fire, feed, eject, stovepipe.
Needs more tweaking.

Summary:
20 feet = 47/50 in Red
30 feet = 30/50 in Red
40 feet = 27/50 in Red

 

[mcapo]

Those groups are very much surrounding dead center. Looks to be quite accurate.

 

[doddg]

And that is with me not being able to see the front sight since it has no coloring.