Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns H&R Sportsman misfire

Any remedy for an H&R Sportsman .22 that sometimes fails to fire? This is the 2nd variation (made in 1933), with the firing pin mounted in the frame.

I have tried lubing with penetrating oil, which seems to help for a while, but then misfires recur. Is a weak mainspring maybe part of the problem? And would a new spring likely help much? Any other things to try?

Hard to diagnose w/o having the gun in hand, but the first thing I check is firing pin protrusion. The pin should extend between 0.050 and 0.055 above the breech face with the trigger held back and light thumb pressure on the hammer. This assumes the interacting components have been cleaned to remove any crud.

If you have that, scrub under the extractor star and try again. If you still have misfires, it's time to suspect the main spring.

Depending on gun, some have a 'plastic' part on the mainspring rod and they can and will break/crack. I had one do that on me and replaced it with a metal one. It will be easy enough to figure out if you remove the grips.

Firing pin protrusion appears more like .030

Now what? I assume pull the firing pin and check for crud. There is a pin thru the frame that appears to hold the firing pin in place. I assume I drive this pin out to remove firing pin for cleaning firing pin and frame?

And if no crud, would a replacement firing pin, like from Numrich be longer than the original?

Great, we have a figure.

Now take a flat-faced tool (punch, etc.) and press the firing pin forward until the flat faced tool stops on the frame around the firing pin.

Just make sure the pin is depressed flush with the frame- and take another measurement. If your firing pin protrusion is greater, something as simple as an adjustment to the stop surface of the hammer face might get you going.

If you can get some pics up of your firing pin, from the rear, and the side of the hammer that strikes it.

Correction: Per Brownells, "Rimfire guns usually fall into the .028” to .035” range."

If that Sportsman was mine, I'd shoot for the high side of that range, perhaps even .040", to eliminate it as a failure point. This comes with a caveat against dry-firing but I'm betting you already knew that.

I think you have found the problem. I did as suggested, and the firing pin projects about .050 when pushed from behind with a flat object. It appears that the lower part of the hammer face hits the frame first, which prevents the upper hammer face from driving the firing pin to its fullest limit. So, if I get your point, I can carefully relieve some of the lower hammer face to allow the upper face to drive the firing pin out to its full potential. Correct?

That's exactly what I would do but you must be very careful or you will negate any safety margin built into the gun. In case you missed what I posted above-



I must also follow with the disclaimer I accept no responsibility for any modifications you make to the gun.

Sweet Jesus, did you pull the grips off and check what I mentioned before going through these 47 trick moves?

It's exactly the problem I had and it was with the little part that connects to the hammer.

I had the gun almost fully apart a year or two ago. It has the metal mainspring yoke, not the nylon one. I understand to proceed incrementally and not remove too much metal. As is, even the cases that do fire have noticeably light dents in the rim.

Back to the drawing board. The hammer is not hitting on the back of the frame and limiting hammer fall at the firing pin. I determined this as such... With the hammer pushed forward until it stops, I can pass a loop of thin wire between frame and hammer, from beneath the firing pin all the way down into the frame itself without hitting any tight spot.

So, I assume there is a stop somewhere internally that is limiting hammer fall. I may disassemble and try to figure it out, but I'm no gunsmith, and I thought someone might already know what the problem is.

Likely the firing pin is supposed to be driven forward via inertia instead of the hammer bottoming it out directly. Crud in the firing pin hole coupled with a weakened hammer spring makes for misfires. I bet if you were to swap the hammer spring out for a slightly stiffer one it would go back to being reliable.

Swapping the spring out is a cheap fix if Numrich has the part. If you can figure out how to pull the firing pin and clean that area up it'd be worth doing as well. Do you know anyone with an ultrasonic cleaner?

Not necessarily. A stronger spring can cause even more misfires..

Numrich shows the mainspring as sold out. Looks like I'd have to drive out a small retainer pin to remove the firing pin, which I'm inclined to avoid as the pin moves freely and can be manually pushed out to about .050".

But I would still consider removing just enough metal to allow the hammer to push the firing pin out to about .040". (Only slightly more than the .030" or so that is too light now.) So, since the hammer isn't hitting the frame below the firing pin, even when pushed forward, what acts as the internal firing pin stop surface? I'm not a gunsmith, but I worked a number of years as a dental crown and bridge tech, and am quite capable at hand fitting metal.

Is it misfiring with all brands of ammunition?

It's a problem with any I tried. Like I said earlier, shallow dents in the cartridge rim.

Is the hammer hitting on the sides causing drag? Maybe the pin that it pivots on or the hole for that pin or both is worn and your hammer is dragging on the side, losing momentum giving you light strikes. Just a thought.

Spitballing now:
Do you have any end shake in the cylinder?

In the OP, you said that lubing with penetrating oil seems to make things better for awhile? That sort of sounds like a friction problem to me. Penetrating oil doesn't stick around very long. Maybe something like Remoil or another quality firearms lubricant would help.