Hammerli Trailside misfire issue

Hello. I'm new here. I shoot a Trailside in a 22 Bullseye league here in MA.
I had my trigger upgraded by Larry's in Maine, but he has pass away (R.I.P.) and I found Cardinal Shooting Center in Ohio who has his parts inventory. I'm going to buy springs and a firing pin while I can.

I'm hoping to get some ideas what could be the problem.

First the gun has only been used a few years by me; I bought it from a fellow club member who never shot it so the gun is in pretty new condition.
I use CCI STD Velocity ammo.

So once every 30 rounds I get a misfire. The rim is obviously a light hit. I saved all the brass when I was on the range by myself, and all empty shells had a nice deep firing pin hit.
But the round that failed to fire had an much lighter hit. Very easy to see. And with a jewelers loop it is clear.

I clean the gun before shooting. It "seems" like the light-hit round may not be completely seated in battery. But that is only a thought. If it were a hammer spring, or bad firing pin, it wouldn't be so intermittent. And possibly the recoil spring is binding up (?) now and then? And possibly the extractor, which seems very stout, could be causing an issue? I just noticed a bit of dirt under the extractor which wasn't removed from a cue tip or brush. I used a little pick.

So before I contact a gun smith, I was wondering what you guys might think is happening. I've also used calipers on the light-hit round and its physical dimension is identical to a normal round.

Some guys said they add a drop of oil to the tip of the first round. Change to another type of ammo? Change recoil spring? Thanks in advance for any advice.

Try a new mainspring. I have worked on a few recently and that helped fix the problem.
Jon

So I had that same problem with my Trailside. I found it was fouling or lube in the chamber keeping the round from fully seating/chambering. The round would then absorb the firing pin hit, moving forward a little more.

Per Larry (I think), I took a .22 brush, bent it so I could insert it in the chamber and used the bent part as a handle for an up-and-down motion to clean the chamber, also with a little in-and-out. Did this between targets, so every 10 rounds. Never had another "light" hit.

I had some odd teething issues when I first got mine. A full strip down and good cleaning is all it took. Since then it has been problem free.

I’ve found my problems all stem from 1. dirty chamber (I use a .25 cal brush to clean it) 2. Old recoil spring 3. Magazine spring. Cardinal has both recoil and magazine springs. I recently ordered a firing pin spring that was a bit shorter than factor so haven’t installed, but might help your light strikes. I was shooting CCI SV and would have problems with extraction. A drop of oil on the first round would fix it. Then I realized you need to clean the chamber. No issues or need for oil after that. Use mostly eley in it now. Casing may be a tad smaller than CCI and might help. Mine loves eley match. Much better grouping than CCI.

I should add that you shouldn’t need to swipe the chamber every 10 rounds. Once my chamber was clean, (it took a few scrubbings as I had 10k rounds worth of gunk in it) I have no problems with CCI and regularly put 100+ rounds with no problem during practice.

Definitely install new recoil and mainspring. Clean the chamber with a 25.caliber brush and you should be good

I own two trailsides and the springs get changed every year.

Changing the mainspring requires removing the hammer. Easy enough. Putting it back in can be a challenge to compress the mainspring and line the hammer.pin up at the same time. What i found that works for me is to mount tbe hammer strut qnd spring upside down in a vice. Turn the pistol upside down and compress the mainspring using the frame after.you guide the strut and spring into place.. MUCH  easier to do gripping the frame. A tapered punch or a smaller punch can be used to hold everything in place till you drive it out with the hammer pin. I've had mine apart quite a few times and this works for me.

Pete
On the issue of a drop of oil on the first round. 
The happens because of a pistol or pistol/ammo problem . Take /send it to a competent  armorer with your ammo.
It is like the tires that you put on your Ferrari. You like to speed so you buy the best ( most expensive ) you can find . Your tires start losing  pressure .
Do you continually  pump them back up or do you take them to a competent shop and get the problem fixed ?

I just got back to my email and saw all of your replies. I really appreciate the advice. I just ordered the springs and firing pin and my gun is currently apart. I'll have to dust off my Ruger Mk1 (yes, that old) for tonight's match. I'll probably just change the recoil spring first and get a 25 cal brush. Changing the hammer spring seems more difficult that I want to do, and I'm not sure its needed because those hits that weren't light were perfect. If I still have problems I'll go to a professional. But I think this will work. We have a guy here in MA who did my 1911 trigger, Greg Derr, but he said no to the Hammerli. Larry was the Hammerli guy around here (R.I.P.).
Thanks again!

I shoot a Trailside and the trigger was done by Larry's gun also. RIP. When I got it back it wouldn't lock the slide back on the last shot. I didn't worry too much about it and haven't fooled with it. I was wondering if you had the same thing with yours?

very common issue on the Trailside and Xesse. the simple answer is to tighten up the screw holding the slide stop so that it still moves freely up and down but has little side play.. the issue is that the screw is never really tight so you must use purple locktite on the screw to hold it in place. i even put a bit of epoxy on the portion of the screw sticking out of the slide stop to further help the screw stay in place.. Access to that counter sunk screw head is a hole in the frame underneath the right grip. it's also a bit common on older Trailsides that the stop itself is worn or the slide notch is worn. Slingshotting the slide to load the first round will resolve that issue. Larry's also sold new magazine springs with more pressure than stock springs which also helps the issue. You can get those and a new slide stop kit from Jim Henderson at Red Feather Outfitters

Jim Henderson
Red Feather Outfitters
419-560-6030
hendo.cardinalcenter@yahoo.com


Email is the best way to get Jim and order the parts

Larry 2520: Nope never had that issue.
JGlenn21: Thanks for the detailed information on the slide stop screw. Agree Red Feather Outfitters was easy to work with. I suppose I should buy more gun parts while they are available.... like a slide stop kit. Maybe an extractor.
thanks again.

Problem Solved! So to close out this thread, I'd like to report what the problem is.

After a close look by a gunsmith, he said the firing pin was good, hammer spring good, all good. He noticed that the light hit samples I gave him all did not seat easily in the chamber. (CCI Std Velocity). So it was not going completely into battery on the light hits.

So it seems like either a bad batch of ammo, or maybe the chamber is tighter where the bullet slides too.

The gunsmith said he could hone the chamber but did not. He said the bullet should just drop in without any push.

So I've been checking ammo in the chamber and 50% drop in under gravity. the other half do not. So in the last three matches I've just taken some fine sand paper to the lead head - very little, just a turn or two - and all drop in fine. This is a pain labor wise but NO Alibis!

So this ends this thread. Thanks to all for your replies and ideas. I've got two bricks of ELEY coming in the mail and I'm sure they will work fine. (But I'll check!)

I bet the Eley will pass the plop test. CCI is typically about .001" longer than euro-spec .22 ammo, and can have a slightly different shape to the lead. It's not a bad batch, just simply the way it is.

A good chamber cleaning, that reaches into the forcing cone, will finish the job. You may have a bit of carbon or lead buildup there, which adds a little more resistance. If you have access to a borescope, it will make any such issue obvious.