S & W 76 won’t fire semi

[DGinGA]

Guess there arent enough 76 owners to have its own forum. Oh well...

At the range on Monday, I was shooting Wolf steel case 115 gr ammo. Ran fine on full. Switched to semi, the gun fired 2 or 3 rounds per trigger pull. One time in 3 it fired only one round. Ive fired semi before with no problems, so ago be the ammo. My theory is the bolt isnt going back quite far enough. Has anyone else experienced this? I have sparerecoil springs, so my thought is to cut off a few turns and see what happens.

[brucea4]

Guess there arent enough 76 owners to have its own forum. Oh well...

At the range on Monday, I was shooting Wolf steel case 115 gr ammo. Ran fine on full. Switched to semi, the gun fired 2 or 3 rounds per trigger pull. One time in 3 it fired only one round. Ive fired semi before with no problems, so ago be the ammo. My theory is the bolt isnt going back quite far enough. Has anyone else experienced this? I have sparerecoil springs, so my thought is to cut off a few turns and see what happens.

IMO, your problem is that " crap " Wolf steel ammo! Why would one fire that garbage out of a 12K plus SMG? I like to save money too pal but don't shoot that junk out of your Smith please!

 

Go to Uzitalk.com and join. They have a S & W M76 specific forum...

[mattnh]

Yep - good recoil spring + low power ammo...

[Petroleum 1]

Good 9mm is so cheap now too

[huggytree]

S&b is $165 shipped and a new spring is $15

 

Clean your gun well and swap springs/ammo

 

Maybe short cycling

[brucea4]

Switch to some good ammo first before you waste 30 bucks on a recoil spring you may or may not need!

[StrangeRanger]

And do not be tempted to burn up the remainder of your Wolf govno in your 76. The weakest point of the 76 design is the extractor which, due to being at right angles to the ejector, takes a beating every time a case is ejected. With brass cases, it's a wear part. With steel cases it's probably an order of magnitude worse. Add to that the increased wear on the chamber, feed ramp and bolt face and it's just not worth it to save 3 cents a round.

Edited July 5, 2019 by StrangeRanger

[DGinGA]

I figured with an aftermarket barrel, one could shoot all the steel case ammo and simply replace the barrel. Didn’t consider bolt face mag lips, or extractors. With I’d thought this through before buying 3K rounds of Wolf. I’ve recently bought a new Stemple 9mm/45 ACP subgun.(built on a pre-1986 registered receiver, made here in GA an hour away). It is designed for steel case in both calibers, so I’ll sit on the ammo while waiting10months for paper.

Thanks for heads-up on the other wear considerations.

[huggytree]

3,000 wont hurt

 

30,000 probably would though

 

Buy more guns. With 6 subguns your only shooting 500 rounds out of each gun

 

Many owners shoot that junk to save $15 per 1000 rounds.

 

I use s&b or fiocchi only

[RogerD]

If you can't figure out the problem check SAMACHINE.COM. They have parts and repair service.

[Frank Iannamico]

If you have the S&W 76 book, there is a trouble-shooting guide, I would suspect the laminated steel arm that pivots the sear, its a common problem. There is a drawing in the book that shows how it functions in each mode.

The normal problem is the gun won't fire full-auto because the worn arm keeps releasing the sear. The edge on the arm that contacts the sear is critical. It can cause other problems like the one you are having.

Kind of a bad design a pin and link would have been better.

 

The fix is to weld up the end of the bar where it contacts the sear and machine it to spec, the angle is critical.

 

I'm pretty sure that Scott from SA Machine is no longer in business. I have not been able to contact him in quite a while.

 

[StrangeRanger]

SAMachine's web site is still up so maybe, maybe not but BWE Parts also supports the 76 and its clones with parts and service

[MG08]

Not to beat a dead horse, but I have never used the russian 9mm, 45, or 223. To many issues and the guns were not designed for "not brass" . With the inexpensive factory ammo, it does not make sense to shoot the underpowered steel stuff. I have had several shooting buddies run into issues with the steel cased ammo sticking empties in chambers. It does not take much. the two materials ( steel & brass ) behave differently under pressures in the chamber and it can affect how a SMG or even belt fed works.

[Moose1]

DGinGA

I noticed this from July, but thought I would chime in since I had the same issue. Sorry this is long but it covers the repair and Scott.

I have shot a lot of different ammo through my smgs and sometimes I run them pretty hard. My mentor was Glen Whittenbeger, Ewok to the Michigan crowd. If you knew Glen you knew he was a big time shooter (The Creek, Richard Davis events, and his own back yard in Solebury IN. The semi fire quit working on my SW76, but didn't care too much since it's a subgun. But once it quit working all together, then I was concern.

I read everything I could find on the web, Scott (SAmachine.com ) has a great web site to learn from. Lots of trouble shooting, pictures to show the issue at hand and what it takes to repair them. (suggest you copy all that info before its gone)

My trigger bar angle was worn down like Frank I stated above (very bad design). I called / email Scott 20 times with no reply, so I gave up on him. BWE was not around repairing SW76 yet. A C3 friend Gary M from Muskegon MI gave me his smith's number. Frank Z has a SW76 an knew the issue. He correct the angle and my SW came back to life. The problem, was the 76 quit working again. Out of nowhere I receive an email from Scott saying he found my Email in his is spam folder and wanted to know if I needed something. Hell yes!! I called the number he provided and he answered the phone. I told him the problem, he said send the trigger pack and $60 and he would fix it. turn around time 2-3 months. I'm a happy camper. Well months went by, called and said he was waiting on more trigger packs to come in before he did mine. OK, More months went by, another call, said he was tied up another project, A few more month, another reason. Finally after a year, he said he was fine turning it and should have it soon. Smile on face. It arrived a month later. I took the pack apart to check the bar and his work. WTH?? There was no weld. For those who do not know or own a 76, the bar is not a solid piece but laminated pieces of steel riveted together. I could see all laminated pieces with file marks on them. I took the 76 out, it worked, but the question is for how long ? I called Scott and left messages, no reply. Not a happy. Scott is a very knowledgeable person, but his customer service side of the house needs work,. Maybe he could put a note on his website saying; Out of Business or taking time off. Something. On the UZI forum, many people defend him which is great, but it's not their SW76 he has. I'm just happy I received my trigger pack back, because with out it, I would a $12k paperweight. I learned something, so I now buy parts from Richard at BWE. More expensive, but I get them.

I'm hoping a machinist can make a new solid heat treated trigger bar or a smith can come up with a better design. Thanks and good luck. Marty PS: I have Frank's Thompson and SW76 books,

[StrangeRanger]

My Burgess 76 clone went into semi-only mode. I sent it to John Andrewski. He replaced the trigger bar with a new one and repaired the worn one so I'd have a ready spare when the new one inevitably failed. And he did it in record time. You may want to check with him.

[Chief762]

I've owned a S&W76 for several years now and it has always run well. I tried to do business with Scott Andrey but it never came to pass even after a few conversations with him. BWE Firearms is the place to go for parts that are available. I only run my brass reloads in it and have never had a problem although every 6-700 rounds or so I'll carefully clean out the trash that accumulates in the trigger mechanism. Another issue arising is that the holes in the rear of the receiver that accept the end cap and retaining pin are beginning to elongate due to recoil battering. I try to load my ammo so as to run the gun well but not beat up the receiver, still, it'll probably need to be repaired in the future.

[Moose1]

Strangerange

Thanks for the tip, I will have to contact him. I believe his father is Stan and knew him from the Creek. He's a good guy. I will have to ask John.

 

Chief

Roger that on the receiver pin hole; My friend Matt P (C3 up here in Michigan) told me to put rubber hose washer on the recoil guide. One to soften the recoil hit and two to keep the bolt from smashing the recoil guide tip and ruining it.

It seemed to work. But when Richard from BWE started making the solid recoil guides, I purchased one of them. Real happy. The next two things I would like to make better is the stock and indexing the barrel, so it does not rotate.

Taking off the suppressor can be a challenge sometimes.

 

I'm looking at a Erb tube MP40 up here, so I better educate myself; Frank's book is on the way.

 

Thanks Marty