Light primer strikes

[JulieTheCat]

Thanks for the insight. On all of my malfunctions, the primer WAS dented. Does this mean that the firing pin did fully release, i.e. NOT a Schwartz issue?

[Steve RA]

It may possibly be dragging, take it out and try without it.

[JulieTheCat]

1. I took out the Schwartz plunger (piece that sits with the sear/disco

2. I put in an old Colt firing pin that was smooth, so it held back the Schwartz safety.

3. I put the 17# mainspring back in.

It fed about 80 rounds just fine. There were 3 light primer strikes. All of the malfunctioning rounds had high primers. I'm hoping that is the whole issue. Now I will just focus on seating the primers fully and inspecting my work before using the rounds. These rounds would not fire when I rechambered and dropped the hammer on them.

Maybe a wild goose chase just to reveal that this had nothing to do with my gun.

[Bob DuBois]

Loading on either a Dillon 550 or 650 I'll get a high primer once in a while most of the time you can feel it in the press. A 45 case that was military or swagged. I bought a Lee hand held primer seating tool and when I run into one that won't seat below flush just use the hand held to push the primer in a little deeper. Ran into the same issue with 9mm range brass. Takes a few minutes to inspect after loading but high primers are easy to fix with the hand held.

Check the firing pin tunnel for trash, make sure there's nothing in the tunnel that would slow the firing pin. Placing the pin firing pin in the firing pin hole from the breech side if there's excessive side play replace the pin. Inspect the firing pin stop for cracks or wear. Ed Brown makes an over sized firing pin than can be turned down to fit with a drill and a piece of sandpaper. Replace the firing pin spring.

Lighter hammers require a heavier mainspring, take the weight out requires more spring pressure. Heavier hammers, stock you can run lighter mainsprings.