Jennings J-22 Extractor and/or spring replacement ??

[iLikeOldgunsIlikeNewGuns]

Hello all, I should start by saying that I've been lucky with my Jennings. I never would have bought one, but it found me, and it's been great for thousands of rounds until my last range trip. I have a feeling this one has been around a little while, I am not its first owner. As I said I've put thousands through it myself over a few years, and it was actually pretty dang reliable, but now it's failing to extract more often than not. Now almost every shot leaves the shell still in the chamber.

So,
I've inspected the extractor and it looks fine, no chips, it isn't broken, looks the way it always has, so maybe the extractor spring has lost its oomph? My main question here is, how do I remove the extractor and spring for inspection/replacement? I've taken my 1911 all the way down, and I've dis-assembled my S&W 5906's upper assembly, but I don't want to assume anything about how the pin comes in or out, I want to know for sure. I just wasted a half hour or more trying to find a guide online, no youtube vids, no written guide that I could find, I used the search option here on THR too before posting. so I'm hoping one of you awesome THR'ers can help me out Also curious if anyone would recommend that I consider filing my extractor at all while I have it out?


Also, I have a shopping cart with Numrich for the extractor (not sure I actually need it) and the extractor spring.

I know the Jenningses are basically low-quality guns, but I have a lot of fun with mine. I wouldn't even be asking if it wasn't worth it to me

thanks in advance and happy shooting!

 

[Chawbaccer]

Being a blow back design, the empty case should extract even with out an extractor. How is the chamber mouth? Any burrs that would impede extraction?

 

[iLikeOldgunsIlikeNewGuns]

I'm sorry to say that yes, now that I've checked after reading your response, there is definitely a dent in the mouth of the chamber exactly where the striker would hit. :banghead: I just fiddled around a bit with empty casings and it would appear the extractor is working just fine, and that they are indeed getting hung up on the dent from the striker. I can clearly see that the circle of the chamber is flat at the top where the dent is... I've always done everything I can to prevent dry-firing with my .22s, but I teach a lot of first-timer friends and some of them don't 'get it' and go for that 7th shot. What you said immediately made sense to me as I also have a beretta tomcat, that doesn't even have an extractor at all.

So is there anything I can do to remedy this PITA? I really got a lotta fun outta this little pistol until this problem, it's certainly the loudest .22lr I've ever known and this one used to cycle all 6 rounds no problem, for a couple years,

I should have taken this photo before I re-assembled it, but here's a photo of the dent at 12:00 on the chamber

 

[Chawbaccer]

I wouldn't be surprised that the dent came right thru the case rim.
Brownells sells a swager for just your problem.

 

[Legion489]

I was going to say that Brownell's sells a tool for that too. but if you take the slide off (mine likes to come apart while I shoot it. After being returned to Jennings three times, it still does the same thing, so I am just waiting for a "gun by back", although if they never owned it, how can they "buy it back"?) you can use a small round file or buffing wheel in the dreaded Dremel Tool to polish the dent out.

 

[rcmodel]

Don't grind or polish away the dent.

It needs to be swaged back where it came from for there to be any metal under the case rim to support it when the firing pin hits it.
If you remove the metal, the dent will still be there under the rim and you will very likely get misfires.

Order a chamber ironing tool from Brownells.
http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=8869/Product/-22-CHAMBER-IRONING-TOOL

I have also used a tapered punch that fits the chamber to do the same thing.

rc

 

[Fryerpower]

Thanks for the thread. I have the same problem and am ordering the swage tool now.

I was going to order a stronger extraction spring, but clearly this is not the issue.

Jim

 

[Deer_Freak]

The JA-22 has a lifetime warranty and even if you buy parts just to have them they are cheap directly from Jennings.

 

[Fryerpower]

I've been to their site twice before and just now figured out that it is the actual manufacturer's site and not just a fan site!
http://bryco-jennings-jimenezarms.com/contact.html
I sent a note to them explaining the issue and asking for options.

Jim

 

[Fryerpower]

Ok, time for a field report. I LOVE the swage tool! I had to take the pistol down farther than I ever have before to clear the path for the too, but it was no big deal. It worked GREAT! I have not fired the gun yet, but visually it looks great and if you put a round in the chamber and then tilt it muzzle up, the round falls right out. I had to pull it out with a fingernail before using the tool.

Jim

 

[Fryerpower]

I happened to be near the range this morning so I stopped in and shot 6 rounds of CCI Mini Mags, copper round nose, through it. No trouble ejecting. The first 5 shots went by with no problem at all. The 6th shot failed to feed. It looked like the nose popped up too soon and was too steep to feed right. Manually loaded the last round and fired it. No problem with the ejection on the last round either. SO MUCH BETTER!!!

Thanks for the tool hint (either in this thread or the other thread that deals with this same issue.)

Jim

 

[iLikeOldgunsIlikeNewGuns]

I never got around to buying the swage tool, but I stopped using Federal Auto-Match in my Jennings when I bought some Remington Golden Bullet on a whim (I usually don't like it but it's CHEAP er I mean inexpensive) turns out that stuff works far better in my Jennings, I'd say 99.99% reliable and the .01% is when the gun gets really dirty after a couple hundred rounds. CCI is 100% reliable in my J-22.

It's funny, I never would have looked for or bought one of these Jenningses, this one found me through a friend's friend who didn't want a gun in the house (lucky me!). Turns out I LOVE this gun, I'll never sell it, it's a hoot to shoot. Also happens to be the loudest .22lr I've ever witnessed. Mine is also strangely accurate, I don't get how the tiny little 1.5"ish barrel can be that accurate...

 

[Fryerpower]

Mine was clearly from dry fire damage to the end of the chamber. The tool really did the trick.

I know what you mean about the gun. Mine was given to me by a family member. It didn't extract and had an awful reputation. It turns out it was completely missing the extractor, extractor spring, and pin. After that it worked OK. I've shaved back the magazines so that the rounds pop up a little sooner. (Hopefully not too much.)

I still don't completely trust it, but after fixing the dry fire damage and the 6 round test shoot, I am willing to shoot it some more at the range to see if I can get everything running smoothly.

Jim