American Arms PX

[JimmyDee]

Okay, someone brought me one of these "Design by Erma Werke" 22LRs and it doesn't go bang every time you pull the trigger.

I stripped it and everything seems like it ought to work - coil mainspring is strong, function seems correct, etc.

I got to looking at the slide and was wondering whether the striker is a bit short: it's an inertia firing pin and only .025" of the striker extends beyond the safety cross bolt. Perhaps I could relieve the sholder on the striker? I've got plenty of room; when Safe the end of the striker is .100" inside the bolt.

I thought, "Looks like it should be just like a Walther." I was expecting to push the striker in, remove the cross bolt, then remove the striker. But I was wrong.

It seems that there is another piece of steel, visible from the bottom of the slide, that's retaining the striker. Hmmm...

Am I on the right track? Any disassembly instructions? I can't find a web site or discover any contact information, so here I am.

[Actually, this looks like a nice little piece - a decent combination of steel and alloy, rather cleverly designed for manufacture and durability. Seems a wasted effort, though...]

 

[George Stringer]

JimmyDee, before doing anything to the pistol you might try some different ammo. There is a lot of cheaper ammo that has duds in the box. I use CCI only for testing rimfires because that way I know the failures to fire aren't the ammo's fault. If you find that the pistol does this with all ammo then you might relieve the notch shoulder. George

 

[JimmyDee]

George,

Thanks for the suggestion. In fact, I ran a few different 22LRs through it. They all cycled when the round ignited - even the standard velocities.

You know, I think I half figured it out while trying to describe my problem here. Sure enough, that "little piece of steel" is what the firing pin return spring pushes the striker against. I simply had to push the striker well past the safety bolt 'til it cleared that ???? piece. (Ain't like a Walther - I actually like this better once I figured it out. The slide seems to be powdered metal with a steel bolt face pressed in. The ???? part I'm talking about is immediately behind the piece providing the boltface and is captured by the striker.)

Once I got the ???? out, it looked like a bin part: cast steel with a digit stamped in it; this one happened to be Size #1. The dimension in question measured .0719; I figured I should have found .072 and decided to take .005 off. Once I squared up the new face and polished and blued it I ended up at .068. (Vise grips and file -- it's too small!) So the striker, instead of extending .025 past the bolt, is out .029.

I've got to wait 'til I get a chance to warm it up; I'll let you know how it works.

Thanks again, George.

 

[JimmyDee]

Okay, I checked it out this weekend with a few boxes I had lying about. Federal Classic: it didn't like these at all; failures to extract, failures to feed, and one misfire. Remington Subsonics: a few failures to extract, failures to feed. Remington Thunderbolts: it liked 'em! 100rds and no failures. These were the three types I had trouble with the first time out, so putzing with it seemed to help.

But, you know, I really can't think of a good use for this pistol other than dog training - and there are better alternatives for that.