S&W Victory won’t fire, HELP!

[Nico9283]

I’m at my wit’s end with trying to figure out why my victory stopped working. I’m completely stumped. I replaced the firing pin and firing pin spring, the whole thing has been COMPLETELY stripped and cleaned, lubed up, and reassembled numerous times. It’s spotless. The safety switches on and off, the trigger pulls and resets correctly, the hammer falls when the trigger is pulled, but I keep getting VERY light hits. I’ve tried shooting Federal blue box, CCI SV and Velocitor, no dice on any.
The firing pin is leaving a tiny dent on the primer but nowhere near enough to set the round off. Both a new s&w firing pin and a tandemkross pin, which is quite sharp, along with new firing pin springs.

What else could be going on? I’ve sunk a decent amount of money into it upgrading it and it worked great for probably 5-600 rounds and then randomly stopped and I haven’t been able to troubleshoot the issue since

 

[cams]

Have you tried replacing the new firing pin and spring that you put in, with the old one that you took out, to see if it returns to 100%? A bad spec on aftermarket parts can cause a lot of headaches.

 

[Nico9283]

Have you tried replacing the new firing pin and spring that you put in, with the old one that you took out, to see if it returns to 100%? A bad spec on aftermarket parts can cause a lot of headaches.

I no longer have the old one, but I figured putting a new s&w striker would be the same thing.. I did wonder if the tandemkross was out of spec but that doesn’t seem to be the case. It also fired with the tandemkross for a while before it stopped so I don’t imagine that’s the issue

 

[peterk123]

I no longer have the old one, but I figured putting a new s&w striker would be the same thing.. I did wonder if the tandemkross was out of spec but that doesn’t seem to be the case. It also fired with the tandemkross for a while before it stopped so I don’t imagine that’s the issue

Longshot but..... there may be a slot where the extractor goes into when in battery. It may be gummed up.

I had a similar problem with my ruger mark iii. I thought i had everything clean in there. I replaced the firing pin, nothing. Then I went at everything near the chamber with a dental pick and pulled out every bit of carbon buildup in every little crevasse. Mine was where the extractor sat when in battery.
Problem solved. 22 ammo is just dirty.

 

[enbloc]

weak firing pin spring?

 

[greencobra]

I replaced the firing pin and firing pin spring,....

hello!

....the whole thing has been COMPLETELY stripped and cleaned, lubed up, and reassembled numerous times.

what is your definition of "COMPLETELY" in this case?

 

[enbloc]

This won't help (this time) but whenever I replace a part, I put the original part in a small zip baggy that also fits a business card. I write the S/N of the firearm, the
Part No. and the date it was replaced. I can always reverse an upgrade if needed...

I also test fire as soon as possible.

 

[gerrycaruso]

I'm not familiar with that model. Does it have a firing pin block? Sometimes they drag and don't allow the firing pin to hit the primer hard enough.

 

[Rick O'Shea]

Strip your parts off and send it back to the mothership

 

[paul73]

Start with inspection of firing pin well. If it does not protrude out enough anymore and it happened out of the blue sky - most likely there is an obstruction there. You need a thin brush to get into and clean the insides of it.

Or like others say - send it to S&w, I’ve heard they are good with support

 

[whacko]

Longshot but..... there may be a slot where the extractor goes into when in battery. It may be gummed up.

I had a similar problem with my ruger mark iii. I thought i had everything clean in there. I replaced the firing pin, nothing. Then I went at everything near the chamber with a dental pick and pulled out every bit of carbon buildup in every little crevasse. Mine was where the extractor sat when in battery.
Problem solved. 22 ammo is just dirty.

Same thing happened with my mark iii. I couldn't believe how much carbon chunks I pulled out of that notch with a pick. It was keeping it from going into battery. Fired perfect after that.

 

[Fixxah]

Pin too fat or not long enough? Spring backwards?

 

[Dennis in MA]

Snatching defeat out the jaws of your Victory?

 

[ThePreBanMan]

It's a Smith and Wesson..... So.....


IMHO, they're all junk. I've had several and they all had problems. My M&P 45 was the biggest POS I ever owned and had to go back to the factory 3x (was brand new) before ot would function properly.

The brand is garbage.

 

[Broc]

I’m at my wit’s end with trying to figure out why my victory stopped working. I’m completely stumped. I replaced the firing pin and firing pin spring, the whole thing has been COMPLETELY stripped and cleaned, lubed up, and reassembled numerous times. It’s spotless. The safety switches on and off, the trigger pulls and resets correctly, the hammer falls when the trigger is pulled, but I keep getting VERY light hits. I’ve tried shooting Federal blue box, CCI SV and Velocitor, no dice on any.
The firing pin is leaving a tiny dent on the primer but nowhere near enough to set the round off. Both a new s&w firing pin and a tandemkross pin, which is quite sharp, along with new firing pin springs.

What else could be going on? I’ve sunk a decent amount of money into it upgrading it and it worked great for probably 5-600 rounds and then randomly stopped and I haven’t been able to troubleshoot the issue since

I highlighted your problem.

 

[Broc]

This won't help (this time) but whenever I replace a part, I put the original part in a small zip baggy that also fits a business card. I write the S/N of the firearm, the
Part No. and the date it was replaced. I can always reverse an upgrade if needed...

I also test fire as soon as possible.

I do the same.

Took a Glock and made it almost all spec again when new parts turned out to be a waste of money.

Always save your old parts.

As far as firing pins and springs, there is ZERO need to ever replace the firing pin, unless you are putting an extended firing pin, and those are usually for centerfire guns when people replace the spring with a weaker one or to ensure every primer will ignite.

If you are getting light strikes, go back to factory pin and spring, or keep the after market pin and go back to factory spring.

If you threw away the factory parts (not sure why anyone would do that), buy them again, they should be cheap.

 

[Broc]

Strip your parts off and send it back to the mothership

Waste of time. Solution mentioned above.

 

[Nico9283]

hello!

what is your definition of "COMPLETELY" in this case?

Lol, how much more specific could I be than that? Literally every piece of the gun was taken apart and individually cleaned thoroughly with both solvent and copper cleaner, then properly lubed and reassembled…
I don’t believe in having my “own” definition, im using “completely” the way its defined in the dictionary

 

[Nico9283]

Waste of time. Solution mentioned above.

Pin too fat or not long enough? Spring backwards?

This won't help (this time) but whenever I replace a part, I put the original part in a small zip baggy that also fits a business card. I write the S/N of the firearm, the
Part No. and the date it was replaced. I can always reverse an upgrade if needed...

I also test fire as soon as possible.

Guys I’m not trying to be rude but did you read the original post? I had upgraded the firing pin to a tandemkross when the old one wore out and became round at the tip and was giving me a lot of light strikes.. the gun functioned fine for 500+ rounds with the upgraded parts before it stopped. I then tried replacing the firing pin with another new tandemkross firing pin, and when that didn’t fix the issue, I bought a brand new firing pin DIRECTLY from smith and Wesson and it’s STILL not working. It has nothing to do with an out of spec part or because I’m not using the original firing pin. The original NEEDED to be replaced, I bought it from someone who said he had 4000 rounds on the gun. Who keeps worn out parts???? ITS NOT THE PARTS.

 

[Nico9283]

Longshot but..... there may be a slot where the extractor goes into when in battery. It may be gummed up.

I had a similar problem with my ruger mark iii. I thought i had everything clean in there. I replaced the firing pin, nothing. Then I went at everything near the chamber with a dental pick and pulled out every bit of carbon buildup in every little crevasse. Mine was where the extractor sat when in battery.
Problem solved. 22 ammo is just dirty.

Start with inspection of firing pin well. If it does not protrude out enough anymore and it happened out of the blue sky - most likely there is an obstruction there. You need a thin brush to get into and clean the insides of it.

Or like others say - send it to S&w, I’ve heard they are good with support

These are good suggestions, I will try this and report back. The firing pin channel is so tiny that this seems like the most suspect place to me for carbon to build up and evade my cleaning brush.

 

[greencobra]

Lol, how much more specific could I be than that?

ok, "COMPLETELY" means completely. why would you take it that far down. you're obviously not a gunsmith...

Who keeps worn out parts????

so the gun wasn't firing when you bought it? you had to replace the firing pin? i don't think 4000 rounds in a .22 means it's worn out. jeezus, i have tens of thousands of rounds on my .22 target gun, it's far from worn out. just send the damn thing back to the factory.

 

[Nico9283]

ok, "COMPLETELY" means completely. why would you take it that far down. you're obviously not a gunsmith...

so the gun wasn't firing when you bought it? you had to replace the firing pin? i don't think 4000 rounds in a .22 means it's worn out. jeezus, i have tens of thousands of rounds on my .22 target gun, it's far from worn out. just send the damn thing back to the factory.

The gun was firing when I got it but I was getting more frequent fail to fires than normal so I checked the firing pin and it was worn. It looked like the original owner may have dry fired it a bunch of times.

You don’t need to be a gunsmith to disassemble a pistol lol… I’ve built numerous rifles and pistols, this stuff isn’t rocket science to assemble. That’s why I’m so confused as to what’s wrong.

 

[peterk123]

These are good suggestions, I will try this and report back. The firing pin channel is so tiny that this seems like the most suspect place to me for carbon to build up and evade my cleaning brush.

Yup, a brush won't get it. It's tiny for sure. And the stuff packs in there like concrete.

 

[Bolt-1]

Strip your parts off and send it back to the mothership

I recently tried that with a known issue with some new SW22 mags. they had no problem replacing them but the rep told me I had to send them back using an FFL.
I seriously asked him if he was joking. They now are on my you suck list

 

[92G]

Dude there is ZERO reason to use aftermarket parts on a defective pistol. Put the OEM parts back in there and send it to S&W for repair. Done.

BTW there is likely an issue with the breech face or bolt is out of spec. It’s not something you’re going to fix. unless The goal is to waste time and $$ then do as you wish.

 

[paul73]

I recently tried that with a known issue with some new SW22 mags. they had no problem replacing them but the rep told me I had to send them back using an FFL.
I seriously asked him if he was joking. They now are on my you suck list

wow. i guess i did good by getting ruger 22/45 instead of a victory.

 

[Nico9283]

Dude there is ZERO reason to use aftermarket parts on a defective pistol. Put the OEM parts back in there and send it to S&W for repair. Done.

BTW there is likely an issue with the breech face or bolt is out of spec. It’s not something you’re going to fix. unless The goal is to waste time and $$ then do as you wish.

Dudes that think a part is out of spec but can shoot 4500 rounds before it goes down

 

[Nico9283]

Mods please close this, I’ll send DM’s to thank the people that gave actual helpful advice.

 

[fencer]

JFC guys. Pig pile on a guy much?
Replacing a firing and a spring is not uncommon, and FFS he replaced it with was is considered to be an upgrade.

This was a legit question and request for advice from other gun owners that likely have experience with the same model gun.
Let's not be so quick to eat our own.
I struggled for 30 minutes with the snaps on my Milt Sparks VM2 holster the other day and I have been shooting since I was a kid 45 years ago. When I realized they were safety snaps I felt like a moron and laughed at myself...

OP - Hopefully, it's just the result of dirty ammo. I would search the SW forums because I am sure you are not the first guy to have the same problem. I love my Henry Goldenboy because it eats anything, ( and looks cool as f*** ) but did I ever find out that Golden Bullet and Thunderbolt are filthy, crappy brands.
I try to stick to better manufacturers like CCI and my favorite is Federal Auto Match, but when ammo dries up, and you don't want to dip into your "reserves", your choices are not shooting or a thorough cleaning.

 

[fencer]

It's a Smith and Wesson..... So.....


IMHO, they're all junk. I've had several and they all had problems. My M&P 45 was the biggest POS I ever owned and had to go back to the factory 3x (was brand new) before ot would function properly.

The brand is garbage.

I think you just have really bad luck. Jerry Miculek's M&P seems to run all right. All major manufacturers can put out a turd. I am not a huge fan of S&W's semi's, but I think they are generally higher quality than Ruger or Taurus and not far behind HK and Sig.
22 Semi's all suck, and so does much of the ammo.
The best 22's, hands down, are made by S&W. But you won't find one for $300 bucks