firing pin smear

[10mmjunkie]

Have a problem with my 10mm Elite Match. Firing pin mark on the primer has a smear mark indicating that the pistol is unlocking the breach before the firing pin has retracted. My pistol shoots into one ragged hole with no signs of vertical stringing which would indicate that the bullet was still in the barrel when this happens. Have replaced the recoil spring with a 20 lb Wolf and the firing pin spring after cleaning the firing pin channel. No luck.

Sent the pistol back to the factory and they replaced the barrel with a new match barrel (THANKS EAA!!!) It shoots much better but did not fix my problem.

As this pistol has two roles, one just for Steel Matches the other walking in bear country here in he great NW. Can not afford to have the firing pin break. Loosing a match is no big deal (not that there is much danger of me ever winning one, but I like to hope. Like buying lottery tickets!) Bear and people attacks up here are real and frequently lethal. The gun has to work every time.

Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

Respectfully,

JW

[tanfogliocoe]

Something you may want to consider is lightening the slide a little bit. I had a similar problem on my limited custom and lightening the slide took care of the problem for the most part. I used to be able to outrun the pistol and I haven't been able to do that since I lightened the slide.

[10mmjunkie]

tanfogliocoe

Will contact Henning to see if he thinks this might resolve the problem. Will consider anything to get the weapon to work properly. Other than having to fix one bad magazine this pistol has been 100% reliable. Just need to make sure it stays that way.

Respectfully,

JW

[GrumpyOne]

First, I don't know if you have been formally welcomed to the forums, but with only 15 posts, I would assume not, so Welcome to the most knowledgable place about shooting that you will ever find!

Second, I'm not a moderator, but I see that you posted this in 2 different forums here on the Benosphere, usually one will do..... I sent a response via the other thread.... ahve fun and be safe....

By the way, I think you are ok with what you are doing, shouldn't be an issue.

[CAB33]

I have had the firing pins bend which could cause it to drag and not retract quickly.

You might try Henning's firing pin.

[CHA-LEE]

This can be caused by two main things. First, if a light slide spring is used which allows the barrel to unlock and drop down pretty easily/quickly then you will get primer swipe. Secondly, if the firing pin is moving slowly due to either a weak firing pin spring or the firing pin channel is dirty this will allow the firing pin to still be extended out towards the primer as the barrel unlocks and starts to drop down. Since you already tried a heavier slide spring, I don't think that its a speed of the barrel unlocking issue. I think you have a speed of the firing pins ability to retract issue. Have you tried replacing the firing pin spring? Have you tried a weaker hammer spring? Are you sure that firing pin channel is clean and not causing the firing pin to bind as it moves? If I was in your shoes I would clean the top end thoroughly making sure that the firing pin, firing pin block and firing pin channel were very clean and properly lubricated. Then I would put a new firing pin spring in it and then put a hammer spring that was 2 - 3 lbs weaker than the stock one is. You will need to play with the hammer springs to see which one will reliably light off the primers with the stock firing pin, but once you have that tuned up you will know that the firing pin is only being stuck with enough force to do its job and nothing extra. I think the lowest hammer spring you can use with the stock firing pin is 15lbs. But every gun is different so do some testing on your own.

An alternate option would be to swap the stock firing pin with one of Hennings XL firing pin. Even though this firing pin is longer it is a lot lighter than the stock firing pin. Since it is lighter and longer you can also use a softer hammer spring as well. For example, with my Limited .40 pistol I use the XL firing pin with a 13lb hammer spring. This gets me consistent solid primer strikes with zero swipe issues, and this is when using a 10lb slide spring which promotes a fast unlocking of the barrel when it fires. The only drawback to using Henning's XL firing pin is that it does not work with the factory Firing Pin block. So you have to remove the firing pin block to use the XL firing pin.