Light strikes

[Supermoto]

I had 2 light strikes during yesterday match, both were very light hits on the primer, similar to a AR15 hit on an unfired round. Its not hammer follow as I can feel and hear the hammer drop

I don't have any marks on the half notch, checked it with a sharpie.

The Firing pin safety was removed, but was using a stock firing pin

No marks on the side of the frame or hammer

Plenty of over travel on the trigger.

I am thinking the firing pin may not be resetting all the way and is trapped behind the firing pin stop plate.

I have ordered a XL firing pin and some hammer springs

Any other suggestions?

Thanks

[olp73]

I had 2 light strikes during yesterday match, both were very light hits on the primer, similar to a AR15 hit on an unfired round. Its not hammer follow as I can feel and hear the hammer drop

I don't have any marks on the half notch, checked it with a sharpie.

The Firing pin safety was removed, but was using a stock firing pin

No marks on the side of the frame or hammer

Plenty of over travel on the trigger.

I am thinking the firing pin may not be resetting all the way and is trapped behind the firing pin stop plate.

I have ordered a XL firing pin and some hammer springs

Any other suggestions?

Thanks

Not apart form that XL firing pin.........

[NoSteel]

XL firing pin should be all you need and since you already removed the FP safety it will be a drop in for you......

[BritinUSA]

I think the XL firing pin will fix it. You might also want to replace the firing-pin spring at the same time... just in case it has compressed a little.

[CHA-LEE]

Henning XL Firing Pin and a 13lb Hammer spring works great with standard primers. If you are using Wolff or Rifle primers you will need to use a 14 - 15lb hammer spring.

[Postal Bob]

Are you using reloads? Could also be your primers were not fully seated. Or there is a buildup of oil and crud in firing pin hole.

[Supermoto]

I ordered the 13 and 15 spring because I do use wolf pistol/rifle primers. The thing that has me concerned is that its a very light strike, the dimple is barely noticeable. And of course it never happens in practice, so that I can investigate it further when it happened

I had one that didn't light because of a high primer, good size dent in the primer, but you could feel that it was high. The real light strikes were seated correctly

All my rounds are a little tight in the chamber gauge, but check out fine it the barrel. Have a U-die coming. Some of the brass went through a redding GRX, but not all of it, but the rounds that didn't light checked out fine. Initially thought it was that the slide was slightly out of battery, but I don't think that is the case.

On a side note, is the sear spring smaller legs suppose to be this short?

Edited April 24, 2011 by Supermoto

[Postal Bob]

You're saying all the rounds are tight in the chamber gauge. That may be the problem right there. Even though they are fine in barrel according to you, you are checking the barrel cold. When doing a lot of shooting, things may heat up and expand some. The rounds that are slightlty tight may not be chambering fully and causing the slide to not completely go into battery, but enough to be able to pull trigger. A simple test would be shooting some factory rounds or someone elses reloads. Sounds like the reloads to me. Someone I knew had a similar problem. His loads were a bit tight in the chamber gauge, but worked fine in his gun. When he tried the same loads in another gun, he had numerous light strikes, ftf, and fte. The first gun obviously had a little looser chamber, while the new one was right. But it was his reloads, as factory ammo and our reloads worked fine in his gun.

[Supermoto]

I might not be running enough crimp. If I add more crimp with the FCD. The rounds drop in better. I have to check to see if the FCD is undersizing the BBI bullets

[GrumpyOne]

You're saying all the rounds are tight in the chamber gauge. That may be the problem right there. Even though they are fine in barrel according to you, you are checking the barrel cold. When doing a lot of shooting, things may heat up and expand some. The rounds that are slightlty tight may not be chambering fully and causing the slide to not completely go into battery, but enough to be able to pull trigger. A simple test would be shooting some factory rounds or someone elses reloads. Sounds like the reloads to me. Someone I knew had a similar problem. His loads were a bit tight in the chamber gauge, but worked fine in his gun. When he tried the same loads in another gun, he had numerous light strikes, ftf, and fte. The first gun obviously had a little looser chamber, while the new one was right. But it was his reloads, as factory ammo and our reloads worked fine in his gun.

Metal (steel especially) expands when heated. By that reasoning, the more he fires the gun, the easier and more fully the rounds should seat in the chamber, since it's the barrel getting hot, not the rounds. More than likely, the culprit is gunk/buildup in the firing pin channel, and/or he needs an extended FP.

[Postal Bob]

Btw, what caliber are you reloading? If you're not putting on enough crimp, thereby leaving the end of case still slightly flared out, that could cause the rounds to not fully chamber. Thereby leaving the slide not in full battery.

[JCB]

I had the same problem with some rounds in my 38 super.

Adjusted the seating of the primer, problem gone.

Mine is set so you you see that it starts to flaten the primer a little, not much, but a little is okay.

[Supermoto]

Btw, what caliber are you reloading? If you're not putting on enough crimp, thereby leaving the end of case still slightly flared out, that could cause the rounds to not fully chamber. Thereby leaving the slide not in full battery.

.40sw. I'll try some of the old round vs some new rounds with a stronger, see what happens

[Glk21C]

I had one that didn't light because of a high primer, good size dent in the primer, but you could feel that it was high. The real light strikes were seated correctly

Having just gone thru this same issue with my 9x21, it's either the brand of primers or seating depth of the primers. You can't really tell if the primer is seated enough on the "real light strikes" you mention above, as after the firing pin hit the primer, it most likely pushed the primer in more than it had enough contact to set it off. If you put those rounds thru the gun again, do they go off?

Good luck, hope you get it figured out.

[CHA-LEE]

Just so you know the Wolf primers are VERY hard. You will have to run a 15lb hammer spring WITH the XL firing pin to get reliable ignition.

[Supermoto]

Quick update:

I got the XL firing pin and did not get any light strikes when using wolf rifle primers

[Supermoto]

Another update.

Last match I got 3 light strikes on one stage. Stopped on the last one to diagnose the problem. Hammer is falling to half cock during recoil and when I pull the trigger, the hammer will fall and leave a tiny dimple in the primer.

Took a good look at the sear and it was rounded. Redressed the sear and it seems to be better, not falling to half cock when I drop the slide on an empty chamber. But since I'm not known for my gunsmithing skills. I ordered a Henning prepped sear, hammer and pins. Hopefully this will do the trick

Do the Henning Sear and Hammer drop in? Can I use the sear and hammer with the stock pins? I'll save the reaming and final tuning for a gunsmith. I don't need a perfect trigger, just a functional one for a upcoming match and class

Edited May 9, 2011 by Supermoto

[Glk21C]

Keep in mind you really need to have those fitted to your gun by a gunsmith, even though they are "prepped"

[Nealio]

Yeah my first EGW sear took 4+ hours of hand work to fit. I ordered another one for my Limited gun but since its such a PITA I haven't finished it yet. I got it close on my dad's mill, but I still need some hand work to finish it. For those reason's I'm still running the stock sear, and "freshening" it up every 4K rounds..

[Mo Hepworth]

this is an older posting, but just had some experimenting and trial and error with factory firing pin and factory hammer spring (roughly 16lbs). My theory is that the FPB needs serious polishing and smoothing...and needs to be checked periodically that it moves freely (more importantly that it comes down out of the way of the firing pin). The Spring in the FPB could be stronger I believe, and I also found that the FPB is easier to move when clean...clean, clean. In an OPEn or Standard/Limited gun, the easiest way is to put hennings XL pin in.

Also the notch on the FPB could use some polishing if the notch is too sharp or high. Slight variances in manufacturing and tooling could cause a problem.

Edited November 4, 2011 by Mo Hepworth

[Maksim]

Wouldnt the fact that hte OP was using Wolf Rifle primers have anything to do with it? My understanding is rifle primers are much harder cups, combined with the fact that they are WOLF!

In my tanfo, or any other gun for that matter, never had light strike issues with CCI primers, or Wolf Pistol primers. The only issue is when I started reloading, the RCBS dies I had would not get rid of the 40 cal bulge, I switched to Lee 4 die sets, with a separate FCD, and never an issue. All drop in freely.

[Supermoto]

The original issue turned out to be the hammer following to 1/2 notch and then dropping from there on the trigger pull. With a new sear, the issue was resolved. The factory sear are way to soft and don't seem to last

I have been using wolf rifle primers with a 14lbs mainspring, XL firing pin without any issues, 13lbs had a light strike every once in a while.

Edited November 6, 2011 by Supermoto