Thread: Anschutz 22lr problems - PLEASE HELP

Hi Team,

Have a great anschutz 22lr - 60's ish.

been working flawlessly for decades.

now for some reason every so often the pin is not hitting the round strong enough to make it fire.

opened bolt and thought it maybe the "return spring" not keeping the firing pin tensioned ie sloping forward but not sure.

anyone had similar experiences? is there a spring or bolt refresh kit available?

thanks

M

I have one the same vintage. Blued bolt model.

Have you taken the bolt end off? If you haven't just twist the bolt face end and it will come off. No springs will assault you but as always you should wear safety glasses. There is a small detent arrangement so watch for that. You will then see how to remove the firing pin. Check condition of tip and cleanliness of the firing pin hole thru the bolt face. Check how well the firing pin engages with the slotted shaft from the main spring. Check for any excess wear (unlikely they should last forever). Check cleanliness overall.

I always uncock my bolt between uses (maybe a couple of years apart). It takes quite a bit of handforce to recock. Decock yours and recock. If it is real easy to recock by hand the main spring may be getting weak.

Check that the recesses in the barrel where the two extractor claws go into are clean although this shouldn't give you the issue.

As Zimmer says, but the fault is probably due to a gradual weakening of the mainspring. If the rifle had been left cocked for a period of time this could bring the problem up. Any half decent gunsmith should be able to fit a new mainspring. Ampro should have parts.

Graham Champion has spares including entire bolts

I'd be very careful changing the shape of the firing pin. Unless you know what you are doing you could end up with a little mess. If you really really know what you are doing you can dress the tip so it strikes more just inside the rim (where most of the priming compound is) and less on the outer rim. Right now though I wouldn't recommend the OP does this.

Cheers team

Leaving springs in compression does them no harm, even for 30 years. Working them does slowly weaken them, but mainly if you compress them beyond their limit where they won't spring back to their usual length. Should really not happen in a well designed gun, but manufacturers don't themselves make the steel for their springs, likely buy standard springs ready made, you'd need to measure the spring to see if it's become shorter than it should be, but who has that information? I'd maybe try and get more detailed model information on the rifle and go to this site - will show you pictures of a new spring and you can do an eyeball comparison if yours has become too squat. https://www.midwestgunworks.com/page/mgwi/prod/009231

Apart from the above, take the bolt apart and mirror polish EVERYTHING with 2000 grit before doing big irreversible/regrettable things.

Also I'd ask about if the ammunition I use may be the problem.

1. Start by giving the bolt a really good clean break cleaner works well
Give it a light oil just enough to stop corrosion and slight lubricant but don’t over do it
It could just be a build up of crap slowing things ive had a couple of rifles this was the case

2. As others have said main spring week

3 Worn fireing pin from years of use and possibly dry fire damage
Has made it just a touch shorter than it should be