342 that won't chamber

[Pete76NY]

Hi, I recently began messing with a 342 in .22 Hornet that has been in the family for years, it hasn't been shot in years, after cleaning I loaded a few and went to shoot, it chambers the first round, ejects fine but generally doesn't chamber the next round. My first thought was weak spring in the original magazine, so I got a new one from Numrich, but it does the same thing with that (actually it will occasionally chamber one from the old clip but not the new one.) The bolt seems to just glide on past the round. The only thing I have to compare it with is my Springfield 840 in .222 but that has a different style bolt altogether (more like a Remington), I cannot find a parts diagram so I am looking for ideas. Thanks, Pete

[Sawfish]

With rimmed cartridges, you almost always need to be sure the cartridges are loaded so the rim of the upper cartridge is in front of the rim of the lower cartridge.

[JCalhoun]

I agree. Check that first.

[Stormhawk]

I had a similar issue with my 322a, also in .22 hornet. The magazine uses a accordion type spring and the front bottom edge of the spring was sliding between the floor plate and the magazine body when it was fully loaded. Is caused the rounds to sit too low in the magazine and not feed correctly. A simple fix was to slide the floor plate forward on its rails and close the finite gap it left when it slid back.