Stuck in C Posted August 15, 2005 Share Posted August 15, 2005 I've had a few problems with my Dan Wesson Pointman Major .45 single stack (a pretty cheap gun). It came from the factory with a great trigger and turned out to be very accurate, more accurate than my Kimber or my old gunsmith accurized Colt. I finally solved a feeding and mag-dropping problem by putting in a new Wilson tactical mag catch and spring. What bothers me now is the appearance of the primers on fired rounds. The fired primer has a raised chunk of metal sticking out from one side, almost as if the firing pin is carving out a piece of the primer. Its done this from when I bought it. It doesn't seem to affect functioning at all. Bad firing pin hole and/or channel allowing (or forcing) the pin to move sideways as it strikes? Barrel unlocking with the pin still protruding? I have replaced the firing pin, recoil spring (18 lbs) and firing pin spring (XP) with no difference. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhgtyre Posted August 15, 2005 Share Posted August 15, 2005 Are you shooting factory loads or your own homebrew? I ask because it sounds like the primer is flowing and then being sheared off by the firing pin hole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry White Posted August 15, 2005 Share Posted August 15, 2005 Your pistol is unlocking early, not giveing the fireing pin time to retract before the barrel starts to drop. If you dont get it fixed it will round off the top lugs.-----Larry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuildSF4 Posted August 15, 2005 Share Posted August 15, 2005 It does sound like early unlocking, however it should not unlock early with an 18#recoil spring. Could also be burr by the firing pin hole, ?firing pin small for the firing pin hole in the beach face? (when we set up a gun we would get a firing pin that was "exact size" for the firing pin hole), burr in firing pin hole causing firing pin to stick a little in hole, dirt in the firing pin hole, mainspring a little on the light side, too much radius on the firing pin stop (less radius delays unlocking). Can't think of any more right this minute, these at least are a start. Also jhgtyre has a point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Jones Posted August 15, 2005 Share Posted August 15, 2005 Replacing the stock firing pin stop with a EGW oversize firing pin stop would be a good investment on any Dan Wesson. Also, what firing pin did you use when you replaced the old one? I'm not sure about the Pointman Major, but all the Patriots use a 38 Super firing pin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcoliver Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 My 1911 used to do something like that and none of the recoil springs I've tried (11#-22#) really worked. I had a bit of luck changing mainsprings but I feared getting an hernia using a 22#'er. The EGW square FP stop finally did the trick (had to radius it a teeny bit). And I get to use a 14# recoil and 15# mainpsring combo. Btw, if you have a known good, spare FP spring, try that first. HTH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuck in C Posted August 16, 2005 Author Share Posted August 16, 2005 This is with full power factory ammo (several different brands). The original firing pin is a 38 Super, i.e. small diameter pin. The firing pin hole in the breechface, however is very large, so I replaced it with a standard .45 firing pin which seems to fit much better. In fact, the hole seems overly large even for a .45 firing pin. If the firing pin hole is just too big allowing primer flow into it I'm not sure what I can do about it. The primer carving is about the same with either one. I replaced the FP spring with a new Wolf XP spring-I don't know why it shouldn't be good. I also have a spare mainspring-maybe I should try that? Anybody have a source or part # for the recommended EGW firing pin stop? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuck in C Posted August 16, 2005 Author Share Posted August 16, 2005 I see that Brownell's has two different EGW oversize firing pin stops-not sure which one I should get to try. One says specifically that it is square to slow down unlocking-maybe that one? It also sounds like it requires more fitting and tweaking than the other one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcoliver Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 The square FP stop from EGW will require fitting. And while you're shopping you might as well get an XL firing pin as well. The XL FP helped lessen the build up of gunk in my gun's FP channel and allowed me to use a lighter mainspring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidwiz Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 You can order EGW stuff direct from EGW. They'll help you out. http://www.egw-guns.com Phone: 215-538-1012 Fax: 215-538-1016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuck in C Posted August 16, 2005 Author Share Posted August 16, 2005 Thanks-I ordered an oversize FP and FP stop directly from EGW. There's a description on their website that sounds like my problem and these parts are supposed to address that. Assuming my fitting skills are up to it I'll let you know if it works. Thanks to all for your help-this forum rules! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooterj Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 If the EGW parts don't fix the problem, you can have a smith drill the breech face and install a bushing. And while they're at it, they can center the firing pin on the primer. Clark did this job for me many moons ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuck in C Posted August 26, 2005 Author Share Posted August 26, 2005 Update: I replaced the firing pin stop and the firing pin with the EGW oversize ones and guess what-no more sheared primers! So far it has operated flawlessly. I left the bottom of the stop square, I just broke the sharp corner a little bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuildSF4 Posted August 26, 2005 Share Posted August 26, 2005 Cool, glad you got it running properly... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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