Guys,
I have had three Stevens rifles and have been most happy with them all and the excellent service I have received from CPA at all times. Currently I'm experiencing a small problem that sometimes the hammer fails to detonate the primer. To cure this I increase the hammer spring tension slightly and it works. Unfortunately if the tension is increased just a little too much the trigger fails to function. So the whole thing becomes a juggling act. Has anyone out there experienced the same problem and come up with a cure ?.
Regards.
Mike.

Quote:


I would suggest that you proceed with a telephone conference with either Paul Shuttleworth, and / or Gail, whomever is available at the time you place your call.

During your conversation with them, they will ask you to explain your particular experience and how it manifests.

There most likely will not be a need to return your Action to CPA.  But should they wish to have it "in hand", let them decide that and then you can respond accordingly.

Your situation could be attributable to a series of things, all of which are not difficult to correct.

Dr.Maynard

I had the same problem with my 22RF CPA and tried talking to Paul by phone but had no success.  Gail said send the action back and she fixed it and put it in the mail the next day.  Good way to do it.
Rich

Guys I think Mick is a long way away. Be good if he could get it worked out without sending it back to CPA. Couple of things come to mind. 

One large pistol primers are a bit shorter than large rifle. I use LP most of the time and if not seated to the bottom of the pocket they can move just a bit on strike and can get misfires. That's happened to me, most of the time when the primer pocket is dirty.

Another is the pin striking about center.  CPA blocks can ride at different height in the receiver depending on the link. If the link is not just right the pin can strike bottom or top of the primer. That was a issue with my first Rim fire block over 20 years ago, Paul fixed the problem with a new link. 

Last possible is the hammer itself.  Original 44 1/2 hammers and early CPA hammers are heavier with a higher nose.  Hammer furnished with most CPA's now is the "Speed Lock" design which was used by gunsmiths that re-worked the actions after Stevens stopped producing them. I have had both and the Speed locks at times have trouble with hard primers like Magnums. One of my actions back when we thought Large Rifle mag primers were needed for BP loads I used to use the old style hammer. When I switched to LP primers switched the hammer to a "Speed Lock"

Having said all that the 44 1/2 design is not a hard primer  hitter. Compared to other single shot actions like Sharp's etc with larger heavier hammers and bigger springs. Part of the very good CPA trigger pull is it's not holding back a strong spring.  

Because I often switch between Rim and CF blocks, using Pistol Primers in the CF block, I run my hammer spring tension loose to keep from having to re-set it each time, and get some misfires.

Some say the misfires are bad, I use them as a check against flinching, Miss-fire I just re-cock and pull again noting if my sights moved off target when the hammer fell.  My opinion, not shared with everyone, hitting the primer hard is not needed for good results on target

Boats

Thank you all for the comments, Boats is right about sending it to Gail as I'm in Australia. I have tried s/p primers and they worked better, probably owing to their softer cup, however as they seat deeper because they are shorter the occasional misfire still happened. also with the sp primers accuracy was bad.
Currently I mainly use CCI 200 LR primers or CCI BR2, quite often re setting the hammer and giving the primer a second hit will work. I thought that probably the firing pin had shortened owing to heavy use so I asked Gail to send me a spare. When I measured the spare it was the same as my original so that wasn't the problem either. Currently I have the 38/56 barrel in the rifle rather than the 45/90 but the problem exists with both so it's not that the primer pockets in the 38/56 cases are deeper than those in the 45/90 although I havn't measured them. You certainly notice how bad your flinch is when the 45/90 fails to go off though.
I have another CPA coming in a month or so in 40/60 Maynard, once I have that up and running I will completely strip this one for a thorough clean to see if that makes any difference. If for some reason I can't put it back together I can send it to CPA for a look see.
Thanks again.
Mike.

If you tighten the hammer spring which is normal you may need more tension on the sear knock off spring also normal. It is sort of a balancing act at times but not really difficult just simply put more bend in the sear spring and you should be good to go. If need be you can make a heaver spring out of the appropriate size piano wire from your local hobby shop and replace the flat spring. In my case I had an extra flat spring and simply doubled them up.

I hope this is helpfull.
JLouis

John's spring advice sounds good to me. I ought to try it rather than accept the occasional FTF

Boats

Boats I also had a CPA that used the piano wire in fact when I first bought the rifle that is the way it was setup. The only issue I had with it was it would slide off the top of the block over time and a very shallow slot cut with the Dremal to keep it centered and problem solved.

JLouis