Pardini breech/chamber wear

My Pardini has about 21,000 rounds through it.  Cleaning the gun the other day I noticed some wear at the 12 o'clock position of the chamber opening. Now my first thought is probably because in the 21,000 rounds I probably dry fired on an empty chamber 50 times.  Several times simply forgetting I had shot 5 rounds, and most from magazines not feeding CCI consequently me firing on an empty chamber. Firing pin hitting the barrel?
 
Well doing a little investigating, I now think that is not the case, I have lined up bolt and barrel and I can clearly see the firing pin does not reach the face of the chamber.  In fact the firing pin does not reach past the bolt end, and of course the bolt and barrel come together.
 
Curious for those of you with Pardini's is this just normal wear?

First picture correct orientation, 2nd pic got rotated 9 o'clock is actually top of barrel, 3rd pic if you look closely you can see the firing pin, it clearly is not touching the barrel.

Not a Pardini but depending on ammo my MG2 causes a case failure/blowout in that area, could be you had the same problem and didn't catch it in those 21k rounds. I did find that Norma Tac-22 ammo greatly reduces and almost minimizes this case blowout issue.

Sc0 wrote:Not a Pardini but depending on ammo my MG2 causes a case failure/blowout in that area, could be you had the same problem and didn't catch it in those 21k rounds.  I did find that Norma Tac-22 ammo greatly reduces and almost minimizes this case blowout issue.  

I can't rule out your suggestion, I can say I certainly didn't realize it if in fact it happened.  So far the gun functions fine.

Hi Bruce:

I saw this thread yesterday and cleaned my Pardini SP New today and took a close look at mine.  It is a 2013 bullseye edition and based on my ammo purchases I figure it has close to 100,000 rounds through it.  

My firing pin does not impact the barrel either.  

Looking at your pictures it appears to me that there is some brass at the 12 oclock position. Perhaps there is/was a little burr that was catching the brass as the cartridge loaded and it has built up?  Not sure I would do anything although I would be curious and see if I could pick it out and maybe smooth it over. 

If the firearm is shooting ok I would not worry about it.  

I am curious about that small dimple at the 6 oclock position half way between the chamber and the edge of the barrel. Wonder how that got there.  

Also curious about that dimple at the 9 oclock position at the edge of the barrel.  I have no explanations for either dimple.  

Again, if it is accurate and reliable that does not look like anything to be concerned about to me.  

Regards, 
Crankster

Sc0 wrote:Not a Pardini but depending on ammo my MG2 causes a case failure/blowout in that area, could be you had the same problem and didn't catch it in those 21k rounds.  I did find that Norma Tac-22 ammo greatly reduces and almost minimizes this case blowout issue.  

This is interesting to me because my SP22BE makes such accentuated primer strikes that when I look at cases I'm amazed they weren't penetrated. I keep all my brass and haven't Seen any blowouts but I have had a couple low recoil shots (was either sk pm or eley club) where I confirmed barrel was clear afterward but maybe a blowout would cause low recoil?

CrankyThunder wrote:Hi Bruce:

I saw this thread yesterday and cleaned my Pardini SP New today and took a close look at mine.  It is a 2013 bullseye edition and based on my ammo purchases I figure it has close to 100,000 rounds through it.  

My firing pin does not impact the barrel either.  

Looking at your pictures it appears to me that there is some brass at the 12 oclock position. Perhaps there is/was a little burr that was catching the brass as the cartridge loaded and it has built up?  Not sure I would do anything although I would be curious and see if I could pick it out and maybe smooth it over. 

If the firearm is shooting ok I would not worry about it.  

I am curious about that small dimple at the 6 oclock position half way between the chamber and the edge of the barrel. Wonder how that got there.  

Also curious about that dimple at the 9 oclock position at the edge of the barrel.  I have no explanations for either dimple.  

Again, if it is accurate and reliable that does not look like anything to be concerned about to me.  

Regards, 
Crankster

I will take a closer look, it didn't look like any type of build up, it looked more like the firing pin was hitting at that spot, but the pin does not reach the barrel.

The dimple at the 6 o'clock position has been there from almost the very first time I cleaned the gun.  I thought maybe the feed ramp of the magazine was possibly hitting the bottom of the barrel, I doubt it but what else would cause it.

The other one at 9 o'clock same deal been there from the beginning. Thought it was from the recoil spring guide.

My friend has an SP, he has about 30,000 rounds through his, his barrel does not look like mine at the 12 o'clock position , but has the same markings at 6 and 9 o'clock.

As far as the gun functioning it has been functioning with no problems, well problems that are not ammunition related.  It is very accurate, way more than me.

I thought I had a problem, which I chased for longer than I should have, I was getting stovepipes almost every time I shot sustained fire.

Turned out to be bad ammunition, Eley Bullseye Pistol X.  I returned it to Pardini, they agreed the lot # of my ammunition was bad.  They pulled it from their supply and sent it back to Eley.

I'm going to keep shooting it and unless it starts to fail I'm not going to worry about.

Interesting, Mine does not have the 6 oclock or 9 oclock dimple

CrankyThunder wrote:Interesting, Mine does not have the 6 oclock or 9 oclock dimple

Does your gun have the back shock absorber?  Both mine and my friends do not have it, his gun is a 2020 and mine is a 2021. Maybe the guns that don't have it the bolt slams into the barrel harder?  And just maybe Pardini changed the hardness of the barrel, I wouldn't think they would but it's possible.

If the barrel fails before my 2 year warranty expires I will send it back to Pardini.  I bought the gun in December last year by December 2023 I will probably have close to 50,000 rounds through it.  Heck even if I had to buy a barrel, it's not the end of the world.

Mine has the buffer (as pardini calls it) or the plastic shock absorber

This is federal Auto-match ammo, top case was fired from a Xesse and bottom from a MG2 EVO Rapid. You can barely see the small crack which was at the 12'clock position and smashed by the firing pin. I didn't notice any abnormal blowback with this ammo but have with many others and the ruptures were much worse.

https://i.servimg.com/u/f22/19/59/30/06/screen12.png

Sc0 wrote:This is federal Auto-match ammo, top case was fired from a Xesse and bottom from a MG2 EVO Rapid.  You can barely see the small crack which was at the 12'clock position and smashed by the firing pin.  I didn't notice any abnormal blowback with this ammo but have with many others and the ruptures were much worse.

https://i.servimg.com/u/f22/19/59/30/06/screen12.png

I have been checking my spent cases and haven't seen this, but for sure the firing pin strikes are deep.  I think this is the cause of what looks like peening to me. I spoke with Pardini and they said it was not unusual to see this. They said I could send the barrel to them and they would smooth it out, but usually it is more cosmetic than a function issue.

So I will continue to shoot the gun and keep an eye on it.  If it gets to the point it doesn't function correctly, I will send the barrel to Pardini and see if they repair or replace it.  And if it fails at 50,000 rounds or more I don't know if I'm going to think the barrel failed prematurely.