[phideaux]

If you seen my post on "I just cant help it" you probably seen I just bought 2 little Bryco Jennings .22lr semi auto pistols.

Well after major dissasembly , major cleaning , and lube job, the black grip one cycles like a dream shoots great and pretty accurate for 2" barrel. Nice 6" groups at 20 ft.That is as lefty and one handed, not bad I think.

the one with the white grips , which is identical in every way to the other, except it will not eject the fired case ,never not once, and starts to move next round into chamber under empty case. It will hand cycle fine, ejector looks good (was removed to clean and lube) spring is good. but under fire will not remove case, same ammo, tried Blazer 40 grn lead and Federal Copper bulk 36 gr HP. Shoots good groups, but high.
Ive had it apart 3 times lookin for something , cant find anything wrong, ejector holds case ,when slipped into seat and overlaps, and holds case in place, grabs rim properly.

Is it possible that the recoil spring is too light and the slide hits back so hard that it bounces forward before the case contacts the extractor ? Just cant tell , it seems a little weaker than the other one.

HELP, anybody, any ideas, anybody own one and had this problem.

Man I love the other one. I want to at least like the white one.

Jim

 

[guru2sum]

the one with the white grips , which is identical in every way to the other, except it will not eject the fired case ,never not once, and starts to move next round into chamber under empty case. It will hand cycle fine, ejector looks good (was removed to clean and lube) spring is good. Jim

Sounds like my P3AT. The extractor is the probable culprit, not getting under the rim far enough.

But first, did you try exchanging the magazines?

G2S

 

[darkwriter77]

Are you sure you're not confusing the extractor with the ejector? The extractor is the claw on the side that pulls the empty case out of the chamber; the ejector is the little thing that kicks it up and out of the chamber while the extractor's hanging onto the empty case. If you can see that the claw is still in good shape and it's pulling it out of the chamber, then my guess is the ejector is broken.

I'm not intimately familiar with the workings of Jennings pistols. Are they by chance one of those guns that uses the firing pin as an ejector? I mean, obviously if it shoots then the firing pin isn't broken, but if there's something that it hits to make the firing pin stick out again during recoil to help kick out the empty brass, then maybe that's the issue...?

 

[Pancho_Villa]

I have had several of those over the years. I had the same problem. Some work with anything you put in them and some just won't. Work. I had two at one time like you decribe. One was a black grip that always worked and one with a wood grip. I tried switching mags and recoil springs on them. The black grip gun still worked and the other one did not. As you said, the gun will hand cycle just fine, but will not completely eject or not extract. Extractors have looked just fine on all of them. Never have been able to figure those out.

Back when I had an FFL, I ordered 3 new ones with wood grips. Long time ago and you could get them for about 36 bucks + shipping. Fired all of them to check the functioning. Two worked fine and one didn't. All the ;part switching I did would not get it working. All I can figure is that maybe there is a slight misalignment of the barrel and the slide on those that won't work. Just kinda guussing that it is off enough to cause the empties to drop loose before they hit the ejector.

Similar problem with the Davis .380s, now called the Cobra Ind. Some I had would, the slide would drag on the lock at the back of the receiver under recoil. Some would get really bad is the firing pin would get slightly bent. Firing pin acts as the ejector also on those. Hard to tell if the pin is bent cause it is so small. It can bind in the hole in the lock at the rear of the slide enough to cause jams. Desigh is much the same as Jennings. I had better luck with these in the .32 ACP cal.

Now it's cousin the Raven Arms .25s have been infalible for me. These were super cheap at 29 bucks + shipping back in the 80s. Worst thing I had with those is broken firing pins due to dry firing them too much. Just replaced them and they started working again. NEVER had one jam yet. Ammo is expensive of course.

The Raven uses the firing pin as the ejector, but the Jennings .22 did not IIRC. It's firing pin strikes the rim of the case at the top of the case. Could be the riring pin is not retracting fast enough during recoil on the Jennings and is not allowing the case to stay under the extractor. You may want to check if the firing pin hole is a bit tight also. The pin could be binding in it until it resets on the sear.

Use to move alot of these things at the gunshows back in the day. Most were used. Many were traded in broken. Had to know what to fix on them if they could be fixed.

 

[Pancho_Villa]

Almost forgot. On that firing pin hole if it is binding there. Don't enlarge it too much. If the hole gets too big, the firing pin may slide off the rim of the case. Seen that happen on those too as well as some of the old aluminum frame single action .22s like the Reck, Buffalo Scout. E15 by Excam, RG 66 etc. That can be corrected too with a pin punch on the SA guns. They will work for a while anyway.

 

[phideaux]

But first, did you try exchanging the magazines?

G2S

Are you sure you're not confusing the extractor with the ejector? If you can see that the claw is still in good shape and it's pulling it out of the chamber, then my guess is the ejector is broken.

G2S, yes I tried swaping mags, same problem. You had to see how gummed up and dirty they were. The case couldnt even fit under the extractor ,so much crud built up, they are spotless now.

Darkwriter, you are eaxactly right, after being frustrated and tired last night, I did call them wrong. extractor is fine, ejector is a little blade that sits on top of the firing pin release spring assy, that kicks the case out to the right, this is not happening, the case is being pulled back out of chamber ,just not being kicked out.Sits there loose then new round tries to chamber and cant.

Pancho, looks like I got to do some part swapping , Ill start with the recoil spring , then the extractor.May even swap the whole slide.

I like these little guns when they work.
They are easy to work on, and looks like parts are available.

Maybe I need to get some differnt ammo. what should I try?


Jim

 

[phideaux]

but the Jennings .22 did not IIRC. It's firing pin strikes the rim of the case at the top of the case. Could be the firing pin is not retracting fast enough during recoil on the Jennings and is not allowing the case to stay under the extractor. You may want to check if the firing pin hole is a bit tight also. The pin could be binding in it until it resets on the sear.

Hey Pancho, Thats a good suggestion, that sounds like whats happenning, cause I know the extractor is grabbing and is pulling the case back , then it fails to eject.

Ill check that.

Thanks PV

Jim

Off to the doctor in a few minutes, later today I hope I can try again.

 

[jonnin]

I do not know a thing about the model but the extractor has a spring associated with it in most semi autos, and if that is worn out or weak, it can fail to grab the case properly. The claw can also be worn down over time and fail to get a good grip anymore. The chamber could be rough, did you check that? Is fired brass easy to remove from the chamber? That is all I can think of for the generic fixes.

 

[phideaux]

Hi guys,
got a chance to play around with the Jennings a little more today.

Checked the firing pin for hanging and could not find a problem there, the firing ping OD measures .08 and the hole measure .085, and its very free , even if I tap it into forward seat, it falls right out.

It almost seems that the slide is not retracting fully,to hit the ejector, but sometimes next round is up and trying to chamber , and sometimes the next rnd is still in the mag, as if the slide didnt full retract. Nothing consistent except the fired case is always loose and back still sittng on top of next round.

So I started swapping mags, recoil springs.The black one started jamming with the recoil spring from white one and white one still jammed every time.
Swapped back and black one is OK. I havent swapped slides yet.Checked recoil spring seat for burrs or impacted dirt hanging up potential, nothing.

Pulled the extractor , looks OK, but filed slight amout off inside edge of extractor where it sits against slide body, just to allow it to go a little deeper on to case rim, and also expanded, about .010, the spring which pushes extrator.Its like a seesaw that pivots on a pin, with the spring under one end.

After doing this I got 1 jam then got 2 mags thru ok, then rapid fired a mag OK, then next mag jammed first 2.then fired 4 rnds ok.
Thats the best i have had so far, maybe a new extractor and spring could solve the problem.
Any thoughts? Or more suggestions.


Jim

 

[guru2sum]

Maybe file more off the extractor? Or see if something in the bolt isn't allowing the extractor to engage more. If it's not working 100% you don't have much to lose.

Like my first post said, the problem sounds like some P3ATs, and the solution seems to be file the extractor.

On some Rugers the front side of the extractor hits the barrel, so the fix there is to file the front of the extractor, making it more pointy.

Good luck,

G2S

 

[darkwriter77]

Yup. Fine-tune the extractor as needed and put in some new springs, and that should probably bring it back to life. Sounds like you're getting close to getting it fixed already.

 

[dsk]

These Jennings J-22 pistols either work or they don't. I bought one back around 1991 (identical to your chrome/black one), and while it has only a few hundred rounds through it so far it has worked well for the most part. I did have to put the mags in a vise and carefully squeeze the feed lips closer together, which solved a FTF problem I was having. However other people have been unable to get theirs to run no matter what they tried. I guess that's what you have to expect in a $75 pistol. I paid only $55 for mine back in the day, and the only reason why I keep it is because it's not worth the bother to sell.

 

[phideaux]

Did everything possible, without getting too drastic on filing and cutting springs and such.
Took them back today , got my money back, nice guy, says he cant figure it out, but will try to get them running for me , and will call me when he does.

Thats pretty good deal in my book.

Jim

 

[phideaux]

The guy called me today.
He said they run now as smooth as a sewin machine.

Long story short.

After much discussion, the final fix is.

WRONG mags in the guns , both.

They had Jeminez mags in them.The only difference is, a slight tip up at very top lips of mag. The Jeminez has a slightly higher ramp and chamber than the Jennings. This was causing the empty case to hang up when extracting, and never making it to the ejector. Who'd a thunk it.

Nice to know for future trading or whatever.

Anyway, he ordered new J22 mags for them, and he says there are running smooth, no problems.

Will pick them up in the morning.
Bringing the babies home for new grips, and a loving home that will coddle them, instead of abusing them.

Saga of the twins to be continued.


Jim

 

[lklawson]

Hey, that's fantastic! Glad they're running for you now.

I find it very interesting that there is a difference between the mags. I'd always believed they were interchangeable.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[phideaux]

Picked up the twins ,last night .
Got new mags in them.
The guy said they ran smooth without failure.
Didnt get time to try them last night.

Soooo ,I did this morning.

SAME STINKIN PROBLEM.

Tried all kinds different ammo.

Thats it , this time my money comes home to stay.

These are purty, but useless, he can have them.

No more Jennings for me.


Jim

 

[lklawson]

Well, that sucks. Sorry to hear it. At least you'll get your $$$ back.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[phideaux]

I know I said no more Jennings J22 for me, BUT,,,

I took the twins back ,and he had another one that he said run really good, so he gave me back half my money and another J22.

I cant stop liking this little gun, I like the way they shoot(if they work), and I like the looks of them.
This one works just fine, I just dont like the idea that the safety must be off ,to rack the slide to load a round.Then slide the safety back on. With any safety practices ,you never should rack to load with gun pointed anywhere but safe anyway.



It shoots good, and he is still gonna try to get me another to match.

Jim

 

[dracer]

I have one that is a twin to yours , mine would not work very well when I got it , but all it took was a very good cleaning and some oil and a little grease on the slide and it works good , it did not look like it had ever been cleaned

 

[phideaux]

Hey Dracer,

How do you like it?

Does yours have the slide safety or up/dn lever type?
Do you have to turn off the safety to rack and chamber a round?
Will yours extract a round from the chamber manually, or only when fired?

Just not familiar with this little gun, but I sure enjoy shooting it.


Jim