Premier/savage 29A issues

[Jimmygun87]

Customer brought in a Premier pump 22LR problem is the hammer will not fall at all only when the hammer release is lifted will it fall forward. I haver worked on many firearms and pump 22s are new to me. Thank you in advance for any and all help.

[Sav22]

Jimmy, First you have to determine exactly what model it is, Savage never made a Premier marked version of the 29A that I know of so I'm quite sure it's not a 29A. There were a couple versions of the Model 29 that had Premier as part of the name that were made for Montgomery Wards, the 'Premier Trailblazer' and the Westernfield Premier', these had the name marked on the left side of the receiver.

If just marked Premier on the barrel it's either a version of the Mossberg Model M or a version of the Savage Model 25, The Savage Model 25 and 29A do not have what I would call a hammer release (another reason I do not think it's a 29A), the Mossberg and Savage Model 29 do.

On the Mossberg & Savage 29 the hammer release is supposed to be lifted by the 'operating latch' on the lower front of the bolt as it moves up to locked position, the operating latch is same part that causes the lifter to rise. I've seen both of these guns with locking surfaces that were distorted enough to keep the bolt from rising to full lock-up, if that's the case the gun is probably not worth trying to fix. Both of these models should only be shot with standard velocity or lighter loads.