doublegunshop.com - home Forums Thread Like Summary - OT-Stove pipe in a Remington 241.

My Dad’s old .22, now owned by my son, has developed a very inconsistent and occasional stovepipe jam. At least some of it may be attributed to operator error, a loose sleeve on my son’s coat might have rubbed on the breech block (on the bottom of the 241, mostly identical to the Browning SA .22 rifle). But, it has happened to me, as well, and I had a T-shirt on, and nothing was contacting the breech block, for sure, when it did it to me. It seems to occur more often with high velocity.22 ammunition. If it happened more often, I could likely figure it out, eventually. The gun is cleaned after each use, always has been, since my Dad bought it in 1947. There is no burr on the end of the barrel from the gun being dry fired, a new round drops right in and right back out again. It has been very well cared for.
I’m stumped. Any suggestions?

Best,
Ted

Ted,
I'm sorry your son lost his Grandpa and your Dad didn't have a chance to see his grandson grow up. My dad said one grandbaby was worth three of his own children.
Mike

First thing comes to mind is a weak or broken extractor spring, or possibly a broken or bent extractor. Either might let the spent round leave the bolt face before it hits the ejector. High velocity rounds might push the bolt back faster causing the higher likelihood of separation. The empty has enough momentum to clear the chamber but isn’t ejected out of the receiver when the bolt comes back forward.

A repair could be as simple as removing the bolt and soak in lacquer thinner to free up the spring. It seems to dissolve hidden gunk better than anything else I use. While it’s out give the extractor a visual inspection. Slide a cartridge in and out of the extractor to get a feel for whether it’s grabbing the rim well enough. If confident enough to disassemble the extractor you can just replace the spring. Can’t hurt to freshen an old spring like that.

It's usually the Extractor.
But it can also be the Cartridge Guide alone or along with the Extractor.

The Cartridge Guide has 2 legs at the front of it that you can see when you open the bolt all the way and look down into the action.
Those legs are the Ejector. They are what the upper rim of the case strikes as the bolt is pushed to the rear upon firing or manually.

If those legs get worn or damaged, the spent round won't always pivot off of the bolt face in the direction and speed needed to clear the ejection port.
Add to that a worn Extractor that may be interfering as it's supposed to be the lower pivot for the case to kick off of the bolt face and you can get stove pipe jams.
Sometimes cases that don't clear can get crushed end to end along with a new round partially chambered as well.

Some aftermarket parts work just fine as drop in's. Some need some ( very little) touch up to smooth mfg'ring edges.

Most of the guns could use a good cleaning as well.
The guns are made for HS ammo but usually work just fine w/ Std Vel too.

Try standard velocity ammo if you can find it. Some of these older guns work much better without the 'zing' factor.

I couldn’t find anything amiss:





I got my toothbrush out, cleaned the extractor spring and the area the extractor sits in out, examined the extractor ends, which, had visible serrations on either side of the legs, cleaned the pocket the extractor spring rides in, lubed everything with a few drops of Breakfree, scratched my head, put it together, and put it away. Son watched me in the garage, hopeful that his gun will be a runner at the range next time.

It is a handsome little gun.

Best,
Ted

Well, good points. My range is heated, so, cold weather isn’t a factor. The last batch of ammunition through the old girl was indeed CCI mini mag solid points, I have a few thousand rounds of that in the orange plastic boxes. The last box of CCI ammunition I bought was a fifty round pack of some stuff that was hollow point, with silver cases, that I shot a squirrel head on with, and it literally blew him up, rendering a nice, fat, boar unfit for the table. This was about 45 seasons ago, and a few years back,while digging in my stuff, I found the box, blue plastic, with 50 rounds, missing one bullet. Never shot another round.
The magazine on the 241 is tubular, and in the stock. If it is cold out, the ammunition will be cold, too. The 581 has a clip, but, is a lefty gun, bought when I still fit that profile. I’m right handed, today. Not by choice, you understand, by circumstance.
The 552 Remington semi auto is the bomb, eats anything, and is just as accurate as the 581. I have to reverse the safety back to right hand use, but, that gun with the deflector on the side was pretty left hand friendly. In my little rimfire world, it is the standard by which all others are judged. I preferred using shorts for hunting, and haunted garage sales as a kid, buying long and short ammunition that nobody wanted, to feed to the 552. My friends all owned guns that only used LR, and were perpetually short, while I was swimming in several different types. I was the first kid to get glasses in the neighborhood (3rd grade) and the first kid to buy a scope, a Weaver K4 1”, that my Dad recommended. His guns all had 1.5-4 power optics, but, that was more than tween me could afford. The K4 is still there. I remember a sunny afternoon at an outdoor range, with a few friends and their 22s, when Dad sat down with that setup and shot a ten yard group that you could cover with a dime at the 50 yard mark.I lost most of my interest in his 241, at that point.
My kid loves that 241. His only connection to Grandpa, who died when he was three, are some of his things that were left to him, and various pictures of him. My interest, at this point, is seeing it run trouble free, so the kid and I have some fun with it.
They, my Dad and my boy, would have really clicked about now.

Wasn’t to be.

Thanks.

Best,
Ted

Hey Ted, yup, way back on your first post. Worthy project, thanks for the updates.