Mods to improve reliability on a Buckmark for Steel Challenge

[dbarrym]

After getting my wife to attend an SSA (Norco, CA) new shooter's steel match last weekend, she's shown enough interest that I'm going to modify my Buckmark into a dedicated steel gun for her. I've got a Tactical Solutions 5.5" barrel, compensator, and rail on order now, and will be picking up a C-More or Millet red dot shortly (anyone have one for sale at a decent price, let me know!).

She handles the Buckmark well, but it does choke (FTF's and FTE's) occasionally. A pro shooter that was coaching the event suggested a few mods to the firing pin block, but I lost my notes.

Any suggestions would be appreciated...this is a new (early '09 production) gun with the plastic block. It's a fun shooter and I'm not going to buy a conversion (yet) for one of my own 1911 types or Glocks, and I'd hate for her (and me) to get discouraged by reliability issues.

All input welcome!

Thanks -

Barry

Edited March 23, 2010 by dbarrym

[DougCarden]

Barry, get a boresnake and a small brush for the breechface. Buy some CCI minimags, and try them. If the gun won't run reliably with minimags and boresnaking it every couple hundred rounds and cleaning off the breechface then it is the gun. With .22 ammo being spotty, get some good stuff and see if it is the ammo or the gun.....

Good luck,

DougC

[Vlad]

I've struggled to get my older buckmark running well for years, it even went home to Browning. It would still randomly FTE and FTF. Finally I figured it out. the top strap just wouldn't stay tight. If I tighten then screws down every 100 rounds or so it runs. If I don't it starts having problems. I could probably use some form of locktite but I need to find some of the light purple stuff because I don't want to use blue.

[dbarrym]

Thanks...I do keep it clean, and have played a bit with ammo but no serious testing as yet. It seems to choke on the Remington Golden Bullet the most (sad as I have 5K on hand!), then CCI Blazer occasionally. It seems to eat my mucho hard to get (and expensive) Eley and Lapua Match Target ammo OK, but I don't want to use it unless necessary (I save that for rimfire rifle matches)...

Thanks for the input!

[Aircooled6racer]

Hello: I took my 7 year old last Wednesday to shoot 22 for the first time. I found that the Ruger 10/22 ran everything well. The Browning Buckmark did not like Remington as well. The cheap Federal ran almost 100%. After 300 rounds it choked a couple of times. I have used the mini mags and they ran as well. Make sure you keep it well oiled and shoot the crap out of it. It will loosen up some then. The other trick I was told by Jamie Foote was to store the ammo bullet down to let the wax melt to the point. He also told me to put a drop of oil on the first round in the mags. I have not done this yet but will try it soon. My Browning is all stock if that helps. Thanks, Eric

[dbarrym]

Hello: I took my 7 year old last Wednesday to shoot 22 for the first time. I found that the Ruger 10/22 ran everything well. The Browning Buckmark did not like Remington as well. The cheap Federal ran almost 100%. After 300 rounds it choked a couple of times. I have used the mini mags and they ran as well. Make sure you keep it well oiled and shoot the crap out of it. It will loosen up some then. The other trick I was told by Jamie Foote was to store the ammo bullet down to let the wax melt to the point. He also told me to put a drop of oil on the first round in the mags. I have not done this yet but will try it soon. My Browning is all stock if that helps. Thanks, Eric

On the pro's suggestion, I tried the 'drop of oil on top bullet in the mag' trick and that seems to help with FTE's.

Just remembered the reason for the firing block/hammer tweaks - even if I can't remember the specifics of the mod. If I remember correctly, the firing pin of the later model Buckmarks has lower mass and the geometry of the hammer/block changed as well, resulting in light primer strikes and FTF's. I did have quite a few of those (maybe 4-5 times in 300 rounds)...

Barry

[BayouSlide]

My Buckmark has never failed with Federal Automatch .22 (available at Walmart in 325 rd. boxes, IIRC), even before it was totally broken in. Oil the slide bearing surfaces well. I bent a .223 bore brush to an L shape and twist it in the chamber every couple of hundred rounds. The screw at the shooter's end of the top rail on my Contour URX does loosen easily and needs attention every 200 rounds or it affects operation.

Curtis

Edited: 'cause I hate typos!

Edited March 23, 2010 by BayouSlide

[CGT80]

Hi Barry, I don't go on this forum as much as the others, but I ran across your post. I wish I had some advice for you, but I seem to be in a similar boat. I am looking at possibly getting a buckmark for my mom. She had fun at the SSA match, but my Ruger Hunter is just too heavy for her. Did you receive the email with the scores? If not let me know and I will send them to you. I was surprised to see that I ended up in third place. I handled a Buckmark Lite at the 2010 Shot Show and was blown away at how light it is. My mom also happens to to be a lefty. Does the Buckmark have a left handed mag release?

Good luck with your project. I hope to see you guys at the next SSA Rimfire Match (most likely on May 9th).

Chris

SSA

[dbarrym]

Hey Chris -

Thanks for the encouragement! We did get the scores, considering that we had to leave with 2 stages remaining, no complaints (firmly mid pack).

The mag release is RH only, unfortunately. The button extends through the left side of the frame but it would be a pull release!

Re the weight - I can imagine that the Lite version is considerably, well, "lighter". My Buckmark is a steel bull barrel Camper model, upgrading with the Tacsol 5.5" fluted aluminum/steel sleeved barrel and with the compensator installed, will still be a POUND less than it sits today.

Should be a good shooter if I can get the reliability issues solved. See you again in May -

Barry

PS - Stay tuned re Calguns.net promotion of the next event.

[Duane Thomas]

I have also had excellent results in my Buck Mark with the cheap Federal in the 325 round boxes. In my experience most malfunctions in .22 auto pistols can be traced to the ammo. Granted that my Buck Mark is a very early production gun, not one of the later ones. Every .22 auto pistol is a law unto itself regarding the ammo with which it will and won't work. Before you begin whittling on the gun, try ammo that has a stellar reputation for feed reliability, like the aforementioned Federal and the CCI Mini-Mags.

[Nik Habicht]

My Buckmark bucked a little early on. After a couple of thousand rounds it got better. I boresnake it occasionally, rarely clean it, but do lube it generously -- that seems to make the biggest difference. When it gets dry, it wants to choke.....

[dbxdm9]

My Buckmark is over 15 years old. Eats anything I feed it. Only problems I ever have are if it dries out, particularly if it is cold outside. Slide gets a little sluggish.

Just keep it clean and oiled up.

[RussB]

I have three Buckmarks, and all are incredibly reliable. My first though is your choice of an aftermarket barrel with a comp.

There could be an out-of-spec, or too tight chamber in that barrel. The comp could also be bleeding off too much energy and not allowing the slide to cycle with enough force.

I clean the mags regularly, then lube them with silicone spray. CCI Mini-Mags are my go-to ammo if I don't want any malfs, but they will eat everything I feed 'em. Those Wal-Mart 550 packs of Federal 32 grs work OK...but there are a lot of duds in each box

[slidelock1]

HI,

For several years I shot a standard slab-sided, unmodified Buckmark (with an OKO sight) for Steel Challenge. I tried every ammunition brand and type I could find and would still get FTF's and FTE's with at least one round/hundred. I went to CCI mini-mags and only rarely (like once per 5,000 rounds) had an FTF or FTE. The only problem I had was the expense of around $8.00/hundred, so, a couple of years ago I switched to my stock Ruger MkII (also with an OKO sight), and it loved the Wally World's Federal Bulk Pack (remember those?) and very rarely had any FTF's or FTE's. I lubed each gun after every Steel Challenge Event, but only cleaned my guns after approximately 1500 rounds down the barrel. I was a little faster with my Buckmark (mid to high 80's) than my Ruger (low to mid 90's) and would have preferred to keep shooting it, but, money is money and I was willing to give up a few seconds for the substantial cost savings. By the way, I have read many similar stories as mine (on another forum dedicated to .22's). In conclusion, I don't think Buckmark has reliability issues, but the Buckmark is kind of fussy about the ammunition it likes and when you find the brand of ammunition that it likes, your Buckmark will be very reliable. Good luck

[dbarrym]

My first though is your choice of an aftermarket barrel with a comp.

There could be an out-of-spec, or too tight chamber in that barrel. The comp could also be bleeding off too much energy and not allowing the slide to cycle with enough force.

Thanks....FYI it's a new, bone stock gun (or was at this match). Factory bull barrel Camper model.

Barry

[Griz]

I shot mini-mags and my Buckmark was 100% reliable... but after about 5000 rounds, stuff starting breaking and it's now in a death spiral where I will fix it, it will run for a match or two, then something else breaks.

I've switched to CCI standard velocity because I'm now convinced that the gun just can't take a steady diet of mini-mags.

Keeping the chamber clean so that it will pass the "plop" test is key. You should be able to drop a round into the chamber and hear it fully seat against the rim with a satisfying "plop" sound. A tight or dirty chamber will cause failure to fire and/or ejection problems.

My Bullseye Buckmark would stove-pipe with anything other than mini-mags. A round wouldn't "plop" into the chamber even when it was perfectly clean. I wrapped a piece of sandpaper around a bore brush and reamed it out until rounds would drop in and haven't had any problems with that gun since. I was worried that it would affect accuracy, but I haven't noticed any problems.

[RussB]

My first though is your choice of an aftermarket barrel with a comp.

There could be an out-of-spec, or too tight chamber in that barrel. The comp could also be bleeding off too much energy and not allowing the slide to cycle with enough force.

Thanks....FYI it's a new, bone stock gun (or was at this match). Factory bull barrel Camper model.

Barry

Oops, I misread your post and thought you had already installed these parts

as slidelock mentioned, check the chamber. Also polish the feedramp making sure it's a smooth transition into the chamber.

...but if you're swapping barrels, I rekon it's all academic

[RussB]

I shot mini-mags and my Buckmark was 100% reliable... but after about 5000 rounds, stuff starting breaking and it's now in a death spiral where I will fix it, it will run for a match or two, then something else breaks.

Have you detail stripped the gun and serviced the recoil buffer and replaced the mainspring?

[Aglifter]

I could probably use some form of locktite but I need to find some of the light purple stuff because I don't want to use blue.

Grainger usually has it in stock. I use it on all my gun screws.

Edited March 26, 2010 by Aglifter

[Griz]

Have you detail stripped the gun and serviced the recoil buffer and replaced the mainspring?

Replaced both. One of the breakdowns was when the e-clip on the mainspring rod broke in half during a match and the pieces were rattling around inside the slide causing occasional jams.

[Classic_jon]

I've struggled to get my older buckmark running well for years, it even went home to Browning. It would still randomly FTE and FTF. Finally I figured it out. the top strap just wouldn't stay tight. If I tighten then screws down every 100 rounds or so it runs. If I don't it starts having problems. I could probably use some form of locktite but I need to find some of the light purple stuff because I don't want to use blue.

I use a dot (and I do mean dot!) of blue on both bolts in the top strap. It works fine and I can take it loose with just a little effort. I also have a 2x BSA scope on the top of mine so if I don't locktite it...I find out real fast after about 100 rounds when the scope starts to wiggle.

I also use slide-glide on it and that seems to help in keeping it running smoothly without dousing it in oil.

Edited March 26, 2010 by Classic_jon

[dbarrym]

A quick update...my TacSol parts arrived today (5.5" barrel, comp, and rail) and are now installed (didn't weigh before and after but the reduction is very noticeable).

I detail stripped the gun and cleaned well - found that the front rail screw was 'grabbing' on the stock upper rail/strap and appeared tight, but allowed some movement of the barrel, which may have accounted for some of the issues I had at the last match.

Now just need to pick up a red dot and go practice!

[RussB]

Please post some pics of your Buckmark when you get a chance

[dbarrym]

Please post some pics of your Buckmark when you get a chance

Always happy to comply to gun pron requests..

Still haven't mounted an optic yet, I'm looking for an decently priced used C-More Railway, but may try an inexpensive Tru Glo or similar until I'm sure of the wife's intent (she shot a tube type Millet before, but I prefer an open holo optic, and we'll both share this gun for now).

[dbarrym]

Now ready to rock and roll....hoping the tweaks and ammo experiments result in a reliable and fun steel gun. Next SSA family rimfire steel match is in May, the wife is actually excited about the new toy. Might have to get another one...for me!

Barry