GSG 1911-22 - Occasional Failure To Detonate

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  • gottabeoutdoors

    Marksman
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    Jun 23, 2017
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    Frankfort
    Hello!

    I have a GSG 1911-22 that I've done the "Grandmaster" upgrade to.

    Over the course of shooting a 10 round mag, I will have one or two failure-to-detonates.

    I'm convinced that it's in battery fully, so it feels like a light primer strike situation. If I thumb back the hammer and fire again, it will ignite 99 times out of 100 at that point.

    Ammo: I generally feed it Thunderbolts - partly because I have LOTS of them and partly because they feed perfectly in this gun. They also ignite 100% of the time in my other .22 guns.

    So while this may be a case of needing to use other ammo, I actually feel like it might be more of a case where my hammer pin's edge might need to have a change to its profile to increase my ignition rate.

    I'm throwing all of this out here to see what the experienced smiths recommend to look at in this case. Changing up ammo is somewhat of an option, but I really feel like it's the gun in this case.

    I'm inclined to put a more acute edge to the hammer pin to see if that helps penetrate slightly better.

    Oh, lastly - this occurs whether I use the lighter hammer spring from the Grandmaster kit or I use the original hammer spring.

    So, I welcome any questions or thoughts that our great gun minds here have to offer.

    Thank you in advance!
     
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    Make sure the firing pin return spring is installed correctly and the firing pin channel is clean and dry. DO NOT mess with the profile of the firing pin!!!!!
     

    gottabeoutdoors

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    I believe the return spring is installed correctly, but I will definitely pull up a diagram and verify.

    Regarding the channel being clear and dry - yes, this is what it takes to get it to run as well as I describe above. You're exactly right. As the channel gets a little carbon and/or oil in there, it definitely causes more of these failures.

    To that particular end I have spent time polishing the faces (sides) of the entire length of the firing pin so that it theoretically glides easier in the channel.

    The reason I wonder about the profile of the end of the pin is because this gun has been used at quite a few competitions where I'm required to drop the hammer on an empty chamber. And we all know how much .22s LOVE dry firing. :) I wonder if the end of the pin has dulled/misshapen slightly over time.

    I really appreciate your input and will check on that return spring ASAP.

    Thanks!
     

    Bosshoss

    Master
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    Dec 11, 2009
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    MADISON
    Check trigger overtravel set screw. These sometimes move some and cause problems.
    A check is to hold hammer with your fingers and pull trigger and hold trigger back.
    Let hammer down slowly and make sure it doesn't bump the half cock notch on the way down.
    What happens is while firing the hammer bumps the half cock notch on the way down and it slows it down enough to cause misfires.
     

    P-jibber

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    Feb 27, 2019
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    I had the same issue with mine after installing some CWA parts. My problem was the barrel cone would catch on the new barrel bushing and not go fully into battery. I could just slightly push the slide forward, recock, and fire fine. Some minor fitting of the bushing/cone took care of it
     
    Last edited:

    gottabeoutdoors

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    Frankfort
    I had the same issue with mine after installing some CWA parts. My problem was the barrel cone would catch on the new barrel bushing and not go fully into battery. I could just slightly push the slide forward, recock, and fire fine. Some minor fitting of the bushing/cone took care of it

    I will check on that as well - thank you. I feel like it's going into battery, but it'd be real easy to remove the cone/bushing from the equation here.

    Hope to get some time with it this weekend and work through all of these suggestions in this thread!

    Thanks again!
     

    engineerpower

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    This is par for the course for Remington Thunderbolts, unfortunately. I had gone through a number of Thunderbolts in my day, and they are the most common cause of failure-to-fire for me. I would suggest switching ammo, and seeing if this impacts your reliability (I think it will).
     

    gottabeoutdoors

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    Frankfort
    This is par for the course for Remington Thunderbolts, unfortunately. I had gone through a number of Thunderbolts in my day, and they are the most common cause of failure-to-fire for me. I would suggest switching ammo, and seeing if this impacts your reliability (I think it will).

    I have good luck with them in my other .22 guns that this feels more specific to the GSG than it does to the ammo. I do have a few rounds of CCI and a couple other brands that I can try again. If I remember right, none fed as well in it as the Thunderbolts.

    Thanks for giving me another thing to try, though - I appreciate your experience!
     

    shibumiseeker

    Grandmaster
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    This is par for the course for Remington Thunderbolts, unfortunately. I had gone through a number of Thunderbolts in my day, and they are the most common cause of failure-to-fire for me. I would suggest switching ammo, and seeing if this impacts your reliability (I think it will).

    I open every .22 I get that will not fire from repeated hits on the rim and dump the powder (it's perfect to use in my mini bb cannon) and reuse the lead in my casting. Thunderbolts frequently will have no priming compound at all, which makes me suspect that they will also often have only a partial coating.
     

    gottabeoutdoors

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    Jun 23, 2017
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    I open every .22 I get that will not fire from repeated hits on the rim and dump the powder (it's perfect to use in my mini bb cannon) and reuse the lead in my casting. Thunderbolts frequently will have no priming compound at all, which makes me suspect that they will also often have only a partial coating.

    Wow, I guess I've just been really lucky to get ones that fire. Even in my GSG, they all go fire with a second hammer drop. Do you suppose it's a batch issue and I've just been lucky enough to get "good" batches?

    I'm guessing I've been through about 15,000 Thunderbolts in the past 3 years of competitions and practices.

    Thanks for sharing - I really appreciate knowing what experiences others have - it helps temper my own beliefs and experiences!
     

    shibumiseeker

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    near Bedford on a whole lot of land.
    Wow, I guess I've just been really lucky to get ones that fire. Even in my GSG, they all go fire with a second hammer drop. Do you suppose it's a batch issue and I've just been lucky enough to get "good" batches?

    I'm guessing I've been through about 15,000 Thunderbolts in the past 3 years of competitions and practices.

    Thanks for sharing - I really appreciate knowing what experiences others have - it helps temper my own beliefs and experiences!

    I should add, most of the time my FTFs I would do a second strike on would fire, so my experience was only with the ones that would not fire at all. Not actually keeping track, but at a guess maybe one in a couple hundred out of 5-10k, all different batches. I thought maybe it was the priming compound igniting but not igniting the powder but a borescope showed the inner rim clean.
     
    Last edited:

    gottabeoutdoors

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    Frankfort
    I should add, most of the time my FTFs I would do a second strike on would fire, so my experience was only with the ones that would not fire at all. Not actually keeping track, but at a guess maybe in in a couple hundred out of 5-10k, all different batches. I thought maybe it was the priming compound igniting but not igniting the powder but a borescope showed the inner rim clean.

    Quality control at its finest! :) Gotta love it!
     

    gottabeoutdoors

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    At 15,000 rounds you are due up for springs.

    That's across a handful of firearms. The majority of rounds were through a 15-22, though. I hadn't stopped to think how many I'd actually put through these until the post above. Springs are definitely something I need to keep in mind. I'm amazed how the 15-22 seems to absolutely LOVE Thunderbolts.

    I should do a bit of spring refresh across all of my competition firearms during this "offseason". Thanks for the idea!
     

    engineerpower

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    It's not that it's poor quality control, these are just the bottom-tier .22 offering from Remington. Bass Pro Shops has them listed at $31/500, so that's about what you can expect for 6cpr right now.

    They feed really well since they have about the perfect shape for feeding, but (apparently) get short-shifted in the priming step. I have often had to do a second strike to get them to fire, and occasionally have one that won't go off unless rotated and rechambered.
     

    Drail

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    .22 LR requires a LOT MORE energy to ignite the primer compound than you probably think. If the mainspring is lightened any or worn you will have problems. I went through this on several Ceiner units and they require very careful balancing of the mainspring driving the hammer and the firing pin return spring. It is a Yin Yang thing - equal and opposing forces in balance. Good luck. I have played with firing pin tip shapes and it doesn't seem to help at all if the required energy isn't there. The first thing I do now on these is replace the springs with new stock units. I understand competition rules but dryfiring these guns is still a bad idea and Thunderbolts REALLY suck. I have had a number of customers guns suddenly start working once they used anything other than Thunderbolts.
     
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