Colt Woodsman Dilemma

[theoldgringo]

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Gents,
Any suggestions are welcome.

I recently, happily received a 3rd generation Colt Woodsman from my father who kept it handy for SHTF situations. I know, under-powered, but that's not the point.

When I took it to the range for the first time, I was disappointed to find the firing pin was not hitting the 22lr rim hard enough to consistently fire them (approx. 1/3 misfires). Aha, says me, it needs a new set of springs. I thought this because I had fired this pistol many times in the distant past (last time, 1981) without so much as a hint of this problem.

So, I took it to my favorite smith, told him the situation and left it in his hands. When I hadn't heard from him in a couple of weeks, I called and after a brief discourse on what he had done to it, he said (paraphrasing) "I haven't figured out whats wrong with it".

Here's what's been done; New main spring....New recoil spring (probably not related)....New firing pin....When those things didn't work, the firing pin was ground to allow more forward travel....The (new) firing pin spring was shortened (weakened )to allow less restricted firing pin travel.

Bottom line is, it hasn't changed a thing. The firing pin won't penetrate the rim any farther than when this was all started.

Has anyone had a similar problem and, if so, would you mind sharing the solution?.......................tog

 

[CraigJS]

Could there be a build up of carbon/rust in the area that houses the FP? This not allowing enough forward travel to pop the primer..
Or perhaps not going far enough into battery for the FP to do it's job.

 

[robmkivseries70]

I have a Colt Woodsman but can't tell you a story about it. I did have a Ruger MK 1 that did about the same thing. The cross pin in the bolt had become bowed from firing pin strikes but also rotated in place. Whenever the bow was towards the rear of the pistol the firing pin throw was short and I got a misfire. Being poor, I made a pin from a nail, heated it red hot and quenched it in water. Problem solved.
Best,
Rob

P.S. One other idea occurred to me, if the chamber has a lot of carbon inside, the slide may not be seating the cartridge fully and the hammer fall looses energy whilst driving the slide home; thus, light primer strikes.

 

[The Bushmaster]

I have an older second generation Woodsman (720XX-S) that had the same problem. Make sure that the firing pin hole in the bolt is absolutely clean and do not use grease to lube it. It's a close fit, at least on mine it is...