TargetTalk

I have a Pardini SP NEW .22 that I purchased from Don Nygord a few months before he passed away. The pistol has operated flawlessly until a few months ago when I started to get stovepipes. I shot tonight in a .22 bullseye league at the NRA range and had an alibi on timed and one on rapid. I cleaned the gun and replaced the recoil spring, firing pin, and firing pin spring last night before the match. The magazines (4) were cleaned a few weeks ago. I use RWS Target ammo. I can get a stovepipe in any of the 4 magazines I use. I don’t of anyone in the area that does work on Pardinis. ( I live in northern Virginia, a few miles from the NRA.)

HELP!!!!

Thanks.

My first try to fix this problem would be to change ammo. I have found that RWS has what I would describe as a very slightly larger and more rounded rim than other brands (in my opinion), which makes it harder to extract . I could not get it to work well in any of my club's 6-8 Pardini's. We have had pretty good luck with CCI Standard, the old Federal 711, Wolf Match Target, SK Standard Plus, Eley Pistol (light blue box) and are currently using the (really cheap) Eley Sport.

Hi Jim,
I'd take a look at the extractor. Will a cartridge stay on the bolt face held only by the extractor, or is it loose? The ejector is part of the magazine, so if all 4 are giving you trouble, I think the extractor is a prime candidate.

Steve.

It sounds like you'll probably get it solved yourself. But if you're still looking for someone to work on it, Larry's Guns in Maine sells/services Pardini.

tenex wrote:Hi Jim,
I'd take a look at the extractor. Will a cartridge stay on the bolt face held only by the extractor, or is it loose? The ejector is part of the magazine, so if all 4 are giving you trouble, I think the extractor is a prime candidate.

Steve.

Quote for Steve!

I agree that the extractor is worth a look. My SPnew was supplied with three spare extractors by the Swiss dealer that I bought it from. I didn't ask for them, but when I saw them in the box I though "does this mean there is a possible extrctor problem". So far (2 years) I haven't needed them...

SP1 test pilot (retired.) wrote:I agree that the extractor is worth a look. My SPnew was supplied with three spare extractors by the Swiss dealer that I bought it from. I didn't ask for them, but when I saw them in the box I though "does this mean there is a possible extrctor problem". So far (2 years) I haven't needed them...

When I got my pistol from Mr. Nygord, I got a spare firing pin (at first I didn't know what it was!), but no extractors. Could be a broken extractor spring, that might make it stovepipe. I'd take the bolt apart and clean the extractor slot and check the spring before I changed ammo.

Don also recommended RWS target, and I've gone through 7 or 8 thousand rounds without a hiccup.

I'll ask the local guys if they've had any problems. I think most of the shooters around here are using RWS for the SP.

Steve.

I've been having similar problems lately with my Pardini SP. It worked flawlessly this past summer (I put over 25,000 rounds of Aguila and Golden Eagle through it without any malfunctions at all).

Then, in August, after my job with a local company concluded, I started having problems: failure-to-feed and failure-to-extract. I replaced the extractor and cleaned the chamber thoroughly with a .25 cal. brush, and the failure-to-extract problem disappeared. Then I replaced the recoil spring with a new one. I started getting stove-pipes along with the failures-to-feed. Next, I shortened the recoil spring. The stove-pipes disappeared, and I got fewer failures-to-feed, but I started getting light hits with the firing pin. Larry Carter told me that it sounded like the failures-to-feed were being caused by the gun short-cycling.

I switched to CCI Std. Velocity for matches and the gun again works flawlessly with that ammo. I suspect that what happened was that the Aguila was working fine during the summer when I was working all day with the ammo cooking in the trunk of my car, but once I started bringing the ammo directly from home to the range, the powder temperature in the ammo dropped enough (at least 20 to 30 degrees) that it was no longer generating enough energy to cycle the gun properly.

By the way, I've been told that the Eley Sport is manufactured in the same factory in Mexico as the Aguila -- it's probably the same ammunition with a different name on the box, and I have the same problems with it that I have with the Aguila.

Regards,

Al B.

I found I often had to put a drop of oil on the head of the first round.

My brother and I both bought our Pardini's from Don, mine will cycle the subsonic, his will not. I believe that Don used to shoot each firearm he sold to make sure it functioned before he shipped the firearm out.

The reports that I have heard from a few shooters in our club who bought Pardini's from Larrys were not favorable.

As for this issue I would eliminate the obvious, the ammo etc. I know one shooter who wipes off the excess wax from the rounds before he shoots in a match for this reason.