Pardini SP Bullseye Edition ammo choice

[Zipp0]

SK - never had a problem

[oldcaster]

I know it might seem far fetched or that this is just cheap plinking ammo but Armscor standard velocity available at Outdoor limited and Alamo Armory at a decent price of around $300 for a case shoots in everything I own. I was hesitant to try it but my friend that recommended it was into European pistols a lot and loved it. Since everything was difficult to get at the time I tried it and now shoot it only.

[xeye]

I recently tried out CCI standard on my Pardini SP Bullseye but it fails to cycle. My Pardini is the convversion type (with .32 and also red-dot as an option). I find it hard to believe because CCI is one of the most popular .22lr ammo in the USA. I thought maybe it has something to do with US vs EU made ammo, but I tried both Federal Gold and Winchester and they both are fine. Other ammo I have used have been fine: Eley Match, Eley Tenex, Aguilla, Lapua OSP, RWS Rifle Match. I have not tried Remington yet.

Anyone has the same experience? Also what kind of ammo also does not work?

Funny. My Pardini SP new will shoot CCI standard, plastic box with complete reliability if I clean it once in a while. Sk std, Sk PM, Wolf MT it has started to malfunction, clean or dirty. I mean *consistently* malfunction. It was never perfect with those but if the gun was warm I could get through a match. Now it jams about 3 rounds out of 5 with those.

In fact I was going to call a gunsmith today until I realized I was missing the grip screw . I figure he will need to shoot it so he will need to attach the grip somehow :)

I swagged the chamber and it helped but the problem is still there: doesn't cock the gun doesn't eject the shell, then it jams the shell back into the chamber and somehow malforms it so that it is difficult to remove.

[ghillieman]

Xeye,
Remove and inspect your shock buffer for cracks or chips missing. The shock buff material can break off and fall into the trigger group potentially causing malfunctions like you describe.

[UtahDave]

I shoot Eley Club with only the occasional problem when I don't clean the bolt face and chamber (Q-Tip with Hoppes. I do put a drop of gun oil on the top round in the loaded clip.

I also found that leaving my pistol and ammo in the unheated garage overnight was a no-no. I hope we are past the cold weather but I had snow yesterday.

Eley Club is about twice the cost of CCI SV and I will probably try that again. I recall a lot of failures to eject but maybe it wasn't the ammo.

Dave

[xeye]

Xeye,
Remove and inspect your shock buffer for cracks or chips missing. The shock buff material can break off and fall into the trigger group potentially causing malfunctions like you describe.

I replaced the shock buffer, recoil spring, extractor, extractor spring used different mags and different lots of the failing ammo.....all to no effect.

This I believe is chamber related because swagging it *helped* but did not eliminate the problem.

By the way, do you know of anyone making custom barrels for the Pardini?

But since you mention it, I'll blow out the frame with compressed air, just incase

[-TT-]

But since you mention it, I'll blow out the frame with compressed air, just incase

Be careful! compressed air can drive grit deeply into places you may not want it, like the trigger mechanism. I suggest if you do, to blow only in directions that exit the frame.

[ghillieman]

By the way, do you know of anyone making custom barrels for the Pardini?

Contact Dave Wilson (fp60). He can rebarrel the .32 Pardini with his custom .32 barrel. The .22 Pardini is probably not much different.

[pistol champ]

Dave Wilson is (fc60)

[xeye]

Dave Wilson is (fc60)

and the rest of the address?

[pistol champ]

Dave is on this forum send him a PM.

[sparky]

CCI SV works in my gun, but tends to recoil more than most. Eley Target seems long and tends to get hung up in my magazines. Wolf Match Extra has been the lightest recoiling, while remaining extremely reliable...the gun just doesn't move...the first time I shot it, I thought I was getting squibs and was checking the target to make sure there were holes in it...but, it's pricey. I'll have to try the cheaper Wolf Match Target to see if it's same/similar. SK Pistol Match seems to be the happy medium that's working for me now; it's very reliable, it kicks less than CCI SV, and it's relatively cheap, especially when on sale.

[oldcaster]

The interesting thing about the CCI kick is that it is primarily because it apparently has a quite fast powder in it. CCI SV is quite a bit slower in velocity than Aguila but the recoil certainly wouldn't tell you that. I think Aguila SV has about as little recoil as any target 22 ammo but I know it is less reliable in most guns. In my Benelli 95 that I used for Standard pistol matches where recoil is very important, it worked great. Also in my Marvel and High Standard Citation it is OK. In my one of my 41's that is quite old it works but the other is one out of a few hundred and that is too much for me.

[Classicalphotog]

I have an SP new and only use RWS ammo. RWS Target Pistol is my favorite. The powder is clean and always cycles. I did have an extractor issue but I took it out, filed off the burr I found and it's been fine ever since. These guns are not perfect but better than anything else out there. I've seen total crap quality control issues with both my SP New and K12.

I looked through this thread and didn't see this trick mentioned so here goes... There is another trick I've heard of doing if you absolutely want to put less than optimum ammo through your Pardini. I havn't tried it. There is a dimple at the top of the magazine. I've heard of people taking something and pushing it back making it flatter. This gives more room for the cartridge to float up when the gun cycles. I think it would also spread out the magazine walls a bit so I would only try it on a mag that is old. New mags aren't cheap. (Old mags aren't cheap either...) It may give you enough room to cycle through very cheap, inaccurate ammo.

Good Luck.....

[JFuller]

I have an older (new to me) Pardini SP.
After shooting quite a bit of Fiocchi std vel I only had CCI std vel, paper box, around to use and expected this to be at least as good as it performs well in several other target pistols, Unique, Morini, 35M & Walthers, initially I noticed the mags a little tricky to load with CCI, even tending to jam as they were inserted.
This was followed by rounds failing to feed into the chamber reliably, ok, time to clean everything, no change.
I finally found that the Fiocchi at 0.969" is .020" shorter than the CCI (and many others) at 0.989".
Currently having the distributor measure another batch of Fiocchi for that magic shorter length.
Does anyone have the dimensions of SP mags.
Curious about the mag mod to allow "cheaper" ammo to function in the mags but don't think I'm that brave.

[Gregbenner]

I currently only use CCI SV in my SP, have never hsd any issues. I have used Ely Target, and Norma Tac in the past, no issues with those either.

[j danielsson]

I have been shooting pardini for several years. One of my elder magazines feeds cci without problems as long as dewax with my thumbnail when loading. The others makes occasional hickups.
When extraction fails it always starts with sk due to their soft brass i think. Harder brass like cci and fiocchi goes on for many hundreds more. Eley and rws in between.
My suggestions are that you make sure you have the proper recoil spring. A heavy (standard) 22 bolt will not work with the 32 spring. I have seen brand new pistol delivered with the wrong spring.
Assuming you have cleaned the chamber l suggest you borrow a barrel to try with.
Swaging the barrel may work for awhile. If that works it will get worse again.
I have worn out 2 pardini 22 barrels and l am currently using a custombarrel with tighter chamber. I have shot maybe 5000 cci, 1000 rws, 1000 sk and 500 eley without trouble. Funny thing, l have always felt uneven recoil with rws, but l don't with this barrel.

[UtahDave]

Sort of off topic but how did you determine the barrels were worn out?

Dave

[j danielsson]

When the first got eroded in the chamber so l had to ream it bigger the second time.... too big chamber is no good. The second barrel got a bulge. Yep. An inch behind the crown, clearly visible. I have heard that's impossible.

[oldcaster]

A bump inside the barrel is easy to get and it might not be visible from the outside. Right after I bought a S&W 41 with a 5 inch barrel I loaned it to someone and they shot it in matches for about 6 months. They were a beginner so their scores were only in the sharpshooter range so the inept accuracy was not caught until I got it back. Depending on ammo, it would still shoot around 2 inches at 50 yards but some was as bad as 5 inches. Either it was like that when I bought it or the newbie had a squib and didn't catch on that there was still a slug in the barrel and fired another shot behind it which I suspect. Since I bought it from a friend that was a long time shooter, I doubt that he would not have noticed the inaccuracy. He had small hands and just couldn't get a proper grip on the 41's large grip and was ready to go to a different brand. Whenever it did happened, I guarantee it was because of a barrel obstruction of some sort some time in its life.