Buckmark Firing pin indent/misfires?

I read that Browning made the barrels this way, with an indent where the firing pin hits. I do know that dry-firing causes a dinged chamber breech.
I never dry-fire, but of course, sometimes their is a FTFeed and it happens. Have read that the ding can cause feeding and extraction problems, but can this cause a misfire too? Even with a new firing pin assembly, everything cleaned and lubed, ammo that works perfect in other guns, and good strikes/dents on the brass= no bang.(1-5 out of 100)

Does chamber ding cause misfires?
If if fill in dent, will round be "better supported" and solve misfires?

If there's a ding, it can cause the round to not seat fully, which can lead to a misfire. There used to be a "chamber ironing tool" but Brownell's shows it as discontinued. A small taper punch is supposed to work as well. Proceed slowly.

A dirty chamber will give the same symptoms, so I'd try a good cleaning first.

DutchV said:

If there's a ding, it can cause the round to not seat fully, which can lead to a misfire. There used to be a "chamber ironing tool" but Brownell's shows it as discontinued. A small taper punch is supposed to work as well. Proceed slowly.

A dirty chamber will give the same symptoms, so I'd try a good cleaning first.

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I had looked up that tool too.
I can rule out cleaning. I've been good at taking apart (the firing pin assembly)
to clean out housing and pin. Also, I use a dental pick and brush to remove all crud.
Was thinking of filling the dent with some locktite (temp fix) to see what happens. At this point I'm getting desperate
I can rule out a new mainspring because I see good marks on the brass.
I even tried filing the notch in the firing pin so it would come out farther to make a deeper hit.

Chamber dents can cause misfires if the rim of the cartridge is being driven forward into a dirty chamber while absorbing energy of the bolt and Fp at the same time. The dent in the chamber will also not allow the cartridge to seat completely and need to be driven even further. You get a dent in the rim, but if the particular cartridge has been weekly primed it can worsen the problem.

Some pistols are chambered short to enhance accuracy but if you your shooting different types of ammunition the bullet profile can be getting softened by having to clear its way through wax and crud build up ahead of it in the chamber.

Usually dents cause feeding extraction problems in 22 rf firearms but with mass produced ammo of different types some weakly primed ammo may make it hard to distinguish what the exact problem is. Detail cleaning it thoroughly should be the first step. Every once in a while you may get a dud plinking ammo its almost a sure thing.

You can get an ironing tool to solve the chamber problem. Some 22's have a longer firing pin that will always ding the chamber mouth, others do not. Also, the shape of the end of the firing pin is important too, i tneeds to hit the rim not too far to the outside of the rim where the case is formed which could be an area with none to very little priming compound and then not to far to the interior of the case which can deflect slightly inwards absorbing energy as well and creating inconsistency.

If you ever notice when a dirty 22 is cold its sticky for feeding correctly but smooths out once it warms up its because of waxy build up being able to flow in the breech, face of the bolt, extractor and in near or around the FP.

Some folks pride themselves on not cleaning 22 rifles because the claim is more damage is done than good, learning how to clean a rifle correctly is a better strategy than not having one that feeds and fires when it should.

I bet the highest percentage of problems with 22 rf guns is that they're dirty or some form of fouling has been missed during maintenance for a specific period of time.

I put a little Loctite in the dent. Was thinking, what do I got to lose? I can always remove it with a dental pick, or it will break apart and fall out on it's own.
Went to the Range today. 200 rounds and 1 misfire in the last 5 shots. I'll apply some more Loctite and try again. If it works next time, a more permanent fix might be the chamber tool, or some metal epoxy.
If all else fails, a new barrel may be the answer.

Just how big IS this "dent " ?

I will speculate that the problem isn"t the depth of the dent, but a raised burr on the edges of said divot .

Biggfoot44 said:

Just how big IS this "dent " ?

I will speculate that the problem isn"t the depth of the dent, but a raised burr on the edges of said divot .

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I checked for that too. Did plop test. Looked for gaps. Things were smooth except for peen and dent.
When I do metal epoxy, I'll make sure it's sanded smooth so round seats perfect. I'm still in disbelief...will do Loctite again first.

Rangeman said:

I read that Browning made the barrels this way, with an indent where the firing pin hits. I do know that dry-firing causes a dinged chamber breech.
I never dry-fire, but of course, sometimes their is a FTFeed and it happens. Have read that the ding can cause feeding and extraction problems, but can this cause a misfire too? Even with a new firing pin assembly, everything cleaned and lubed, ammo that works perfect in other guns, and good strikes/dents on the brass= no bang.(1-5 out of 100)

Does chamber ding cause misfires?
If if fill in dent, will round be "better supported" and solve misfires?

Click to expand...

Every Browning that leaves the factory is test fired. All Buckmarks made since 2001 have a firing pin block redesign that causes peening of the breech on every dry fire. This was originally to reduce light strikes when the firearm gets dirty. The older pre-2001 Buckmark firing pin design did not peen the breech and could be dry-fired all day with no issue. As of a couple of years ago there are no longer any old style firing pins so once an issue develops you have to change the firearm to the new system. That requires buying a new firing pin assembly and a new style slide.
As for the breech on new guns as far as I know that notch comes from testing not intentional design unless they decided to actually do that and I doubt it. I think its just propaganda from Browning because people complained about the notch early on after the redesign.

My older design Buckmark has approximately 5000 dry-fires because that is a major training tool for serious speed competition shooters. I still do some but not as much as I used to.

You might try slightly filing/stoning the edges of the firing pin striking surface. This slight bevel will (slightly) reduce the striking area, and concentrate pressure over a smaller area.

photoracer said:

Every Browning that leaves the factory is test fired. All Buckmarks made since 2001 have a firing pin block redesign that causes peening of the breech on every dry fire. This was originally to reduce light strikes when the firearm gets dirty. The older pre-2001 Buckmark firing pin design did not peen the breech and could be dry-fired all day with no issue. As of a couple of years ago there are no longer any old style firing pins so once an issue develops you have to change the firearm to the new system. That requires buying a new firing pin assembly and a new style slide.
As for the breech on new guns as far as I know that notch comes from testing not intentional design unless they decided to actually do that and I doubt it. I think its just propaganda from Browning because people complained about the notch early on after the redesign.

My older design Buckmark has approximately 5000 dry-fires because that is a major training tool for serious speed competition shooters. I still do some but not as much as I used to.

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Thanks for info. I recall reading in Rimfirecentral someone who was buying a new Buckmark, but the first one they brought out had that notch. Concerned about that notch they brought out others, but all had that notch.
Mine has that notch, and a ding. When I bought it 11 years ago, it had issues. Jams and FTE. I sent it back to Browning, but they said it was with-in spec.
Continued to be a problem, so I put in a new extractor, recoil spring, and tweaked the ejector. (That worked) Also, in winter time, lead-nose would not work (follower moved in slow motion and would not feed. Point is, over the years their have been plenty of unintentional dry-fires.
My guess is that with more hard support behind the rim, it's getting better hits?

KRC said:

You might try slightly filing/stoning the edges of the firing pin striking surface. This slight bevel will (slightly) reduce the striking area, and concentrate pressure over a smaller area.

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Thanks. A member/friend at the Range suggested that too. I have extra pins so I can experiment.

Just remember that the firing pin is only surface hardened so any matereial you remove will leave a softer surface on top. You can buy a titanium firing pin from TandemKross that is better than the factory one.
in winter the ammo moves slow due to the bullet lube solidifying in colder weather. Either use less oily ammo (CCI Blazer 40g or Federal AE 38g HP) or learn to keep your ammo warm by putting it in a box with activated hand warmers from WM.

photoracer said:

Just remember that the firing pin is only surface hardened so any matereial you remove will leave a softer surface on top. You can buy a titanium firing pin from TandemKross that is better than the factory one.
in winter the ammo moves slow due to the bullet lube solidifying in colder weather. Either use less oily ammo (CCI Blazer 40g or Federal AE 38g HP) or learn to keep your ammo warm by putting it in a box with activated hand warmers from WM.

Click to expand...

More good info, thanks! TandemKross should be my next pin. I suspected that slow moving rounds may have been caused by bullet lube/wax and cold. Plated works in cold weather through this gun.

CCI now has the polymer coated Clean-22 which has no lube on it and also the tricolor polymer coated Patriot ammo bulk boxes. I have both and plan to test both without heat this winter to see how they work in competition.