93-Misfires

Has anybody else had any problems with a sudden string of light primer strike misfires with their rimfire. Had shot many boxes through this rifle without one problem and all of the sudden several in one session. I took it home and cleaned everything thinking it was just dirty. The next session out same problem, maybe one a magazine. If you lift the bolt to recock it will fire on the second attempt and examining the ammo the strikes look very light on the misfires. No modifications have been made to the rifle, so what wears out on these things?

I wrote this fix that worked for my rifle at accurate reloading. It is such a common problem i thought id enter it here. On that forum another shooter had his bolt hitting the stock which when he lifter the stock it fired ok.. A good cleaning helpe some, but the firing pin type and location seems to pump the dirt and grease into the pin slot on top of the bolt..


this was my solution..
sorry it is difficult to read, a problem ive always had,..

Posted 17 June 2011 07:07
I may have found a solution to this.. First I recomend you order a new fireing pin so if it dont work for you you wont be out any shooting time... they are removed easily with removeing a black clip over the pin and the ejectors.. Taking off and putting back on can be a small challenge, do not loose any parts or switch positon with the extactors as they are different.. when i got the fireing pin out i removed a small half radius of metal right where the pin hits the very edge of the cartidge rim.. I did not have to remove much, in fact i may not have had to remove as much as i did........ at the rear of the cartridge that has brass going strait into the firing pin, it is very tough there (the rear radius of the rim).. this removal of metal leaves 85 percent of the firing pin hitting the inside of the flat 17 hmr case rear end, not the outside edge as much.. Not one dud today and i shot about 100-150 rounds, before i was having about 5- 10 percent duds.
I read somewhere that the 22 smiths would angle the fireing pin with this problem so it would hit the outside of the 22 rim lighter and the center heavier.. I tried to do that but ended up with a slight notch (on the pin) where the outside of the rim area is contacted .... the file i used was not the right shape or size.. I did not remove any metal at all that hit towards the center of the of the brass case that the bolt sets against.. This is Simular to a church key or can opener opening a can of beer in the old days.. Its easy to punch into the center of the soft top, but the outside rim of the beer can is very tough.. I feel i got better ignition and less blowback around the case, giving less fouling gumming up the firing pin. Tough to tell with no way to measure this except that the head imprint from the firing pin seems to be slightly less than it was before.. That is if i take a fired round and then shoot it empty the firing pin mark is deeper the second time,this could be from not having any primer material in there tho.
. I believe this is the solution to savages rimfire duds..If you dont like it, put in the new firng pin you have ordered.. Its a flat peice of stamped out steel, and should not cost a whole lot, but i dont know.. Brownells may have them, i havent talked to them about that tho.. good luck.... dave..

Had this problem myself on several rimfires of different makes. Common thread is a tight chamber. These chambers will foul and cause the bullet not to fully seat. When you "fire" without ignition then that seats the bullet fully and the next strike should fire. A very energetic cleaning of the chamber will probably remedy the problem. Give the cleaning approach a try before doing anything radical. I traded off several really good rifles before figuring this out. Good luck