Help Please

[ccw08]

Ok I have a problem guys.

I bought a cheapo 22lr Jiminez arms and I have a bit of a problem.

While shooting it one day my rod that connects the firing pin to the rod under the slide has come off ( I think anyway )

my problem is I cant take the slide off to put it back on or to find out what the problem is because you have to dry fire it so you can push in on the firing pin indicator on the grip end of the gun to remove the slide.

so the problem is I cant fire it because the rod has slid off

any ideas how to get it to dry fire or to get the slide off of it?


here is a rought picture of what im talking about

the red is the rod and the yellow is the pin it slid off of ( think anyway ) and at the grip end of the slide the orange is where the firing pin indicator is

[warwagon]

Is there a button on the left of the frame to release the striker?, if so push it, will take the spring tension off, and you can remove the slide .

[warwagon]

if not, removing the right grip panel, should expose the sear, which you might be able to release with a small screwdriver, and I do take it that the pistol is unloaded , right?

[ccw08]

yeah the pistol is definitely unloaded

I have taken a couple pics for you guys

here is the pin i believe has slipped off as it has done it before while I was cleaning it

the rod i painted red goes over the pin up under the slide ( I painted the rough location of the pin yellow




and here are the pics of both sides

[ccw08]

and to show its unloaded

[ccw08]

I cant seem to find any button and I cant get even a knife blade up by the shear to get it to dryfire

[warwagon]

pushing on the leaver hanging down may do it

[ccw08]

I tried pushing, pulling and sliding back and forth with no success

[Lavid2002]

"any ideas on how to get it to dry fire"
Well if its a cheapo you could see if you can get the sear to slip by knocking it on something, it would take considerable force but it looks like it has little moving parts. Grab a rubber mat as not to scratch or dent your toy.... and have at it!
Last resort of course, if the pin has slipped couldmnt you pull the yellow pin out?
is there ANY play in it at all? If not, try what your doing when you pull the slide back...might reduce some tension on it so you can yank er out. No?

[warwagon]

Ok try pushing the hanging piece up towards the top of the slide, might take some doing, but hope it releases for you, other than that,I don't know

[Sevens]

I clicked here by accident, actually-- someone would have to be wayyyy out of luck to ask for MY help to fix something! But I did the best thing I could think of to help: I took apart my Jennings and snapped a couple photos.

It might not be obvious to those who don't own one of these, but yes-- that vertical bar in the Jimenez photos is off it's pivot pin and needs to be pulled (or pivoted?) downward to first fall back on the pin, then pivoted by a downward pull to release the firing pin. Beyond saying what you probably already knew, I can only hope the photos help a bit.

OKAY... this is a bit of a problem... I don't have any web photo hosting.
So, if you think the photos may help, post or PM an e-mail address and I'll be happy to send them. I can't simply upload to TFL.

In the mean time, here are some things I learned from this exercise:
-- this pistol relies on the right grip panel to operate properly, as the bar the actuates from a trigger press won't connect without the grip in place, or your finger mimicking the grip

-- my Jennings has a cool little dude with a sword in his hand in full fencing pose... that beats the huge goofy lettering of the JIMENEZ arms hands down!

-- we have exactly the same casting stamp on the pot metal frame of our pistols, but my serial number is in a different location than yours

-- I learned that I, too, black out serial numbers when sharing photos of my guns. WHY we do that, I'm still not sure. Probably because we've seen others do it, and it's easy to do, so we do it. Afterall, I wouldn't want some prank calling 911 and saying "some guy just robbed the liquor store and he was using a Jennings J-22 in a bright nickel finish with black grips and it had serial number 123456 on it!"

-- I was reaffirmed that these are cheap, cheapass little things that one shouldn't depend on for something as important as defense, but NO, I still don't regret the fifty bucks I paid for it, brand new. Yup, jams all the time with most any ammo, less often with hyper velocity stuff.

Anyhow, wish I could post the photos, but PM and I'll be happy to e-mail them.

[ccw08]

Thanks to Sevens I have a pic of what the inside of the gun looks like

Hope you dont mind me sharing the pictures seven, let me know and ill delete them if you do


the rod in the upper grip that fits over the pin is the one that I believe has fallen off as it has done it when the gun was disassembled

[Sevens]

I don't mind even a little bit. I hope you get yours back in working condition.

As I mentioned in the PM, I'm really hoping that if there's a broken part, it'll be the little black connector piece and not the little nub on the frame. If it's on the frame, you'd need a new frame (FFL) or you'd need to weld a nub on the frame. (???)

Now don't laugh, but I have actually run across a discussion forum dedicated to these little pistols and others of the same ilk. Jennings, Bryco, Davis, Jiminez, there's some small following out there where people discuss them to the Nth degree. Google it!

[James K]

Let's try to figure out the problem. First, the pointed thing sticking above the frame in the picture is the sear. It is pushed up by a small coil spring and holds the firing pin in the cocked position until the trigger is pulled.

When the trigger is pulled, the trigger bar, which is the long part extending back from the trigger, pushes back on the "L" shaped part, called the cam. That part is pivoted at the top rear, so pushing its lower front moves the top front down. A pin sticks out from the right side of the sear and fits in the hole in the cam, so that when the cam pivots down, it pulls down the sear and releases the firing pin.

When the gun fires, the slide comes back, and the top arm of the trigger bar is depressed by the slide, disengaging the trigger bar from the cam and allowing the sear to go back up and re-engage the firing pin. When the slide is in battery, the top arm of the trigger bar should fit into a slot or depression in the slide.

It looks in the one picture like the trigger bar is not fitting into its cutout in the slide. If it does not, it can't come up and pulling the trigger will have no effect.

So do I know exactly what is wrong? Not really, but I hope this will help you analyze the problem.

FWIW, it is not a bad design; those guns were of poor quality because they were poorly made, not because they were poorly designed.

Jim

[ccw08]

ok guys I know what the problem is now I just need a little advice lol

after looking at it with a bright light and the slide held back I can see the problem, the sear is broken. Ill include a picture of where it broke on the picture from Sevens gun

any ideas how to get it to dry fire with the broken sear so I can get the replacement part

[Sevens]

Okay, I took mine apart again.
Your last picture: That red vertical line you drew, it's cracked or broken right there? That shouldn't be preventing you from dry-firing it. What that blocky-looking box at the rear simply does is prevent the trigger (or sear?) from releasing the firing pin IF the slide is not in full battery. That black box rotates up when you pull the trigger, and it must arc in to a slight cut-out in the bottom of the slide or it can't move. If it can't move, it won't pull the release directly downward, which let's the firing pin fly forward with it's spring force.

So yeah, that piece is broken and you'll need to replace it, but that piece is not what is stopping you from dry-firing right now.

Back to the picture of my functional pistol-- that little nub that the black connector is riding on, that we can't see in your photo? That little nub is NOT on the frame of the gun as I imagined-- that little nub you can't see is EXACTLY what you need to get a hold of with the black connector.

Because if you can pull that little nub directly downward, you will release that firing pin.

You've got to get a hold of that black piece and try to wiggle that 'effer in hopes of grabbing that nub (unless you broke the damn nub off!) to release that firing pin. Good news is that the nub (I keep calling it) is a shaft-- it runs horizontally clear through to the other side. If you remove the left grip panel (watch out for the safety retaining spring, it falls out) you can see the other end of this shaft/nub. There's a cut in the slide so you can see it from the left side of the pistol.

I just re-assembled my pistol but without the main recoil spring, just to see if I could remove the slide WHILE it is cocked.

I did it-- I wouldn't call it easy, but it came apart (and then I shot the firing pin spring and the aluminum catch across the room!) but I was able to do it.

So, for anyone following along at home:
--pull that damn nub/shaft/horizontal pin down to release the firing pin
--if you can't see it from the right side of the pistol, remove the left grip and look for it from the left side
--if that's not possible, try and take the slide off as you usually do even though the firing pin is under spring tension and it should come apart.

Just in the off-chance that you aren't familiar enough with the normal take-down procedure, you need to pull the slide back, but just a little bit, and then push the aluminum catch piece forward, toward the muzzle, and then lever the slide off from the rear.

You should be able to get this!

[Sevens]

Oops-- need to make one correction to what I said:
After looking at your pictures again, you cannot see this nub/shaft/pin from the left side of the pistol UNLESS you can pull the black safety lever down and off the pistol, out of your way. Mine came off easy... but of course, that was with the slide already off.

Still, I say you try your damnest to get the slide off just as normal. The tool I prefer for this operation? A plastic Bic pen cap. Won't mar any metal, but is strong enough to employ as a tool.

If I'm holding your pistol, I'm worried about buggering up something else... but at this point, it's either you ship the whole pistol to Jimenez and back, which will literally cost you more than $50, or you get the mother effer off there and figure out which parts you need. (I have no clue what you spent on it, but $50 is wayyyyy too much to spend on shipping for this little popper)

[ccw08]

Well I called Jimenez arms today and talked to one of the shop guys ( Greg ) and he was very polite and concerned about the problem.

He told me that you can remove the slide while the firing pin is activated, I tried and i mean tried to get it done including putting a punch on it and smacking it with a rubber mallet.

Now an hour into it and I was pissed, the guy I bought it from
( A-Bee's Pawn & Gun in st joe )


was very polite and told me he would give it a try and since I bought it from him he would even ship it to get it fixed since he can ship it alot cheaper with his ffl.

so long story short apparently Jiminez Arms stands behind they're warranty and told me to ship it to them if the man at the pawn and gun store cant fix it and they will have it back to me in a couple weeks

I would expect far worse customer service from someone who sells a 120 dollar handgun but they were excellent on the phone and I was never put on hold. The phone rang once where a nice lady picked up and after telling her my problem she connected me with Greg in the shop and he was very polite and concerned

I recommend Jiminez to anyone that wants a cheap fun pistol FOR RECREATIONAL SHOOTING

[Sevens]

I agree, that sounds like decent folks both at the shop and at the manufacturer. I apologize for continually kicking out the $50 price tag, but I bought mine circa '93 or so and fifty was my price before tax. It was on sale!

[ccw08]

O thats ok Sevens I just wish mine would have cost that lol, I am no dissatisfied at all with the 120 bucks I spent on the thing as I have put alot of shells through it and I intend to put alot more through it too.

I like to shoot the little thing and it is very accurate for its size and I suppose if you didnt have anything else it would work for concealed carry although I choose to carry one of my more reliable handguns ( must shoot 1000 rounds without issues before I carry it )

[BerettaFox]

I figure you're just starting to get your money's worth when you have spent the equivalent to the gun's value in ammo you have put through it. I really don't think my 22s really got broken in well until I put 5000 or so rounds through them.... they just seem to get more accurate.

[ccw08]

I have shot alot of ammo through most of my guns but this little guy has alot of rounds to go hopefully

I plan to stop by the pawn shop tomorrow to see if the guy was able to get it apart or if he is going to send it off to jimenez

[ccw08]

******************** UPDATE ***************************


I spoke to the guy I bought it from and he was able to get the slide off and found the broken part.

He said Jiminez called the part the " cam " and that is what it was. They are shipping him the part for free and he is fixing it for me so I should have it back tomorrow or wednesday.

I do want to thank all you guys for helping me out and hopefully the little cheapo will be good for a few more rounds

[ccw08]

Ok guys I got it back today

The guy I purchased the gun from found the part that broke which was in fact the sear or cam as they call it

They shipped him the part for free and he repaired it for free

Brought it home and put 500 more rounds through it with only a couple hiccups which can be blamed on the cheapo brick 22 shells

[Sevens]

All around good deal!

I might take an adversarial position on the idea that better ammo will make the pistol function 100%-- I've put every different brand of ammo I've ever purchased through my Jennings and I can't get any one that's 100% reliable. CCI Blazer seemed to work pretty well of all the cheap stuff, but even when I buy the CCI Stingers, I don't get full 100% reliability.