H&R 999 Sportsman

Rmasters3 · April 15, 2024, 02:19 PM

I recently picked up a 999 Sportsman in excellent condition--but with the typical broken plastic yoke on the mainspring. Square butt, solid/one-piece firing pin.

I ordered a replacement all-steel mainspring rod and am still getting light strikes and failure to fire.

I ordered the complete all steel rod, retainer, and guide from Numrich and am waiting for that.

I also question the firing pin protrusion, can someone measure the firing pin striker from base to end. It doesn't look broken, nice smooth squared end.

Thanks

jdsingleshot · April 16, 2024, 05:11 PM

I was getting a lot of failure to fires with my H&R 922. I was using Winchester white box
ammo and it was very tight in the cylinder, so much that I had to mash the cylinder on a hard flat surface to get the cartridges to clear the frame.

I made a burnisher to use by hand in the chambers and was able to make enough of a change that the shells will now almost plunk in. No more misfires. It seems that sometimes a rim was not quite bottoming on the cylinder and absorbed some of the hammer's energy be moving to close the small gap. Maybe?

Before that, I had straightened the mainspring guide, which had been slightly binding the spring. That helped but I still had misfires fairly often, until I burnished the chambers.

On the other hand, there had not been any misfires with Remington or Federal ammo.

Rmasters3 · April 17, 2024, 04:29 AM

Thanks, I'll give that a look.

When you pull the trigger with the gun broken open, how far does your firing pin protrude to strike? I pull the trigger and can barely feel the strike with my finger.

jdsingleshot · April 17, 2024, 07:05 AM

My 922 is a solid frame and the hammer nose does the work--not a separate firing pin. I haven't measure the protrusion, but it is enough to make dry-firing with an empty cylinder out of the question.

Rmasters3 · April 17, 2024, 08:55 AM

I have the same 999 as you apparently, not the model with a firing pin.]

What did you use to burnish it?

jdsingleshot · April 17, 2024, 10:14 PM

we-e-e-e-e-ll, As it turned out, I found that the hex shank of a spade bit measured about .0005" larger than the cartridges I was using. (Diameter across the corners of the hex.)

I cut the shank of the spade bit and chucked it in an electric drill. I oiled the cylinders and rotated the drill shank slowly while moving the hex section in and out of each chamber a couple of times. Pretty crude tooling, but by the providence of God, the dimensions were right.

I don't expect everybody's shops would have the right size bits lying around.

April 15, 2024, 02:19 PM	#1
Rmasters3 Junior Member Join Date: September 13, 2009 Location: Northern Kentucky Posts: 9	H&R 999 Sportsman I recently picked up a 999 Sportsman in excellent condition--but with the typical broken plastic yoke on the mainspring. Square butt, solid/one-piece firing pin. I ordered a replacement all-steel mainspring rod and am still getting light strikes and failure to fire. I ordered the complete all steel rod, retainer, and guide from Numrich and am waiting for that. I also question the firing pin protrusion, can someone measure the firing pin striker from base to end. It doesn't look broken, nice smooth squared end. Thanks

April 16, 2024, 05:11 PM	#2
jdsingleshot Junior Member Join Date: April 16, 2024 Posts: 3	I was getting a lot of failure to fires with my H&R 922. I was using Winchester white box ammo and it was very tight in the cylinder, so much that I had to mash the cylinder on a hard flat surface to get the cartridges to clear the frame. I made a burnisher to use by hand in the chambers and was able to make enough of a change that the shells will now almost plunk in. No more misfires. It seems that sometimes a rim was not quite bottoming on the cylinder and absorbed some of the hammer's energy be moving to close the small gap. Maybe? Before that, I had straightened the mainspring guide, which had been slightly binding the spring. That helped but I still had misfires fairly often, until I burnished the chambers. On the other hand, there had not been any misfires with Remington or Federal ammo. Last edited by jdsingleshot; April 16, 2024 at 05:17 PM.

April 17, 2024, 04:29 AM	#3
Rmasters3 Junior Member Join Date: September 13, 2009 Location: Northern Kentucky Posts: 9	999 Thanks, I'll give that a look. When you pull the trigger with the gun broken open, how far does your firing pin protrude to strike? I pull the trigger and can barely feel the strike with my finger.

April 17, 2024, 08:55 AM	#5
Rmasters3 Junior Member Join Date: September 13, 2009 Location: Northern Kentucky Posts: 9	999 I have the same 999 as you apparently, not the model with a firing pin.] What did you use to burnish it?

April 17, 2024, 10:14 PM	#6
jdsingleshot Junior Member Join Date: April 16, 2024 Posts: 3	we-e-e-e-e-ll, As it turned out, I found that the hex shank of a spade bit measured about .0005" larger than the cartridges I was using. (Diameter across the corners of the hex.) I cut the shank of the spade bit and chucked it in an electric drill. I oiled the cylinders and rotated the drill shank slowly while moving the hex section in and out of each chamber a couple of times. Pretty crude tooling, but by the providence of God, the dimensions were right. I don't expect everybody's shops would have the right size bits lying around. Last edited by jdsingleshot; April 17, 2024 at 10:23 PM.

April 17, 2024, 07:05 AM	#4
jdsingleshot Junior Member Join Date: April 16, 2024 Posts: 3	My 922 is a solid frame and the hammer nose does the work--not a separate firing pin. I haven't measure the protrusion, but it is enough to make dry-firing with an empty cylinder out of the question.