Legionnaire
Contributing Member
I have a very "nice" (fit and finish ... read on) Savage 24 E-DL .22 mag/20 gauge combo that I bought used some time ago. The .22 mag shoots fine: reliable and accurate enough for a .22 mag. The 20 gauge, however, only fires sporadically. I'm guessing that the gun fired 30% of the time using Remington #8 Game Loads. But the gun would NEVER fire if pointed up at anything more than a 30 degree angle.
The primers were showing signs of light strikes. More, the indentations looked a bit like they were made by a sharp point rather than a typical shotgun firing pin. I completely disassembled the gun, cleaned the firing pin channel, and examined the firing pin closely. Sure enough, it looked like it had a tiny projection right on the tip. My guess was that this tended to puncture rather than crush the primer. So I ordered and installed a new firing pin from Numrich.
Well, things are better. Now I'm getting ignition 60% of the time, but that is still unacceptable. I'm thinking about ordering a new mainspring, but the original was tough enough to get in and out (anybody who knows how a 24 is assembled knows what I'm talking about).
So. I'm open to ideas. Maybe the simplest solution is to purchase some different ammo, with softer primers? If so, are there particular brands or loads that are known to have softer primers? Suggestions welcome.
The primers were showing signs of light strikes. More, the indentations looked a bit like they were made by a sharp point rather than a typical shotgun firing pin. I completely disassembled the gun, cleaned the firing pin channel, and examined the firing pin closely. Sure enough, it looked like it had a tiny projection right on the tip. My guess was that this tended to puncture rather than crush the primer. So I ordered and installed a new firing pin from Numrich.
Well, things are better. Now I'm getting ignition 60% of the time, but that is still unacceptable. I'm thinking about ordering a new mainspring, but the original was tough enough to get in and out (anybody who knows how a 24 is assembled knows what I'm talking about).
So. I'm open to ideas. Maybe the simplest solution is to purchase some different ammo, with softer primers? If so, are there particular brands or loads that are known to have softer primers? Suggestions welcome.