Magic recipe for reliable 45 Auto ignition in my 625?

[erwos]

A little frustrated with some random light primer strikes with my 625JM. Hammer is loaded to hit really hard (6lb hammer fall) and I'm still getting a few light strikes. I load using a Dillon 650 and try to make sure I really give the primer some love on the priming part of the stroke. I'm not having any such issues with my 9mm loads (Federal primers and cases, TK moonclips), so it must be something I'm not doing with the 45 Auto correctly. Keep in mind these same rounds work 100% in my 1911/2011 autoloaders, so it's gotta be something somewhat subtle... I think.

 

I'm using the RevolverSupply moonclips, which I have a ton of and am happy with from a functionality side (they just drop into the gun). My cases are mixed (potential issue?) and my primers are Winchesters (which I know are an issue). Anyone have a recommendation for which cases I should be standardizing on? I think I saw some people saying Remingtons were a good choice, but I don't know what's happened in the past ten years. I have purchased some Fed LPPs recently, so the next batch of ammo will incorporate those.

 

I shot my first IDPA match the other day with the 625 and loved it, so if I can just get my ammo dialed in, I think I'm gonna be doing more of that.

 

ETA: hammer block is removed, so we can take that out of the equation

Edited October 26, 2022 by erwos

[21 shooter]

I think the Federal primers will help.  On my 625, if using anything other than Federal. I have to turn the DA to 8# or so.  The 625 is one of my favorite revolvers to shoot.  

[Toolguy]

Fed. primers, firmly seated, longer Power Custom firing pin. Is your 625 a newer FP in frame one, or an older FP on hammer one? The FP in frame needs to be absolute minimum of .495 long. Many factory ones are shorter. I like a .505 to .510 better.

Edited October 27, 2022 by Toolguy

[Ignatz]

I hand seat the Federal primers with my older Lee Auto Prime. Both my Dillon 550's will seat small primers for the 929 100%. My 550's never fully seated the large pistol primers reliably. I've been hand seating 45acp cases since 05.  

[pskys2]

You said 6 lbs (96 ounces) for the hammer?  Is that 6 lbs measured by hooking a gauge to the hammer, then pulling the trigger to drop the hammer, and measuring while holding the trigger back?  If so you should be setting off any primer ever made.

Or is that 6 lbs the weight of the action?

I like using an extended FP, as Tooguy stated, and the Apex competition FP Spring.  You need to call them as it's not a listed part but they will sell it separately.

 

My 625 PC takes a 40 ounce hammer fall for F150's, 64 ounces will set off Winchester, Remington or CCI's.  It has the TK ligntened hammer which takes about 4 ounces off of the needed weight.  But the 64 ounces was with a stock hammer.

 

Other things to look at though:

1) the JM's will sometimes have rough chambers which can build up carbon and become sticky, bad enough it can give too much cushion to the case

2) Is the hammer dragging on anything in its arc?

3) Is the FP sticking in it's channel?

4) I've had issues in the past with many, many times fired 45 acp range brass having so much carbon in the FP hole as to hinder proper seating of the primers, they also would work in a 1911, but would give misfires in my 625.

Edited October 26, 2022 by pskys2

[testosterone]

2 hours ago, pskys2 said:

You said 6 lbs (96 ounces) for the hammer?  Is that 6 lbs measured by hooking a gauge to the hammer, then pulling the trigger to drop the hammer, and measuring while holding the trigger back?  If so you should be setting off any primer ever made.

Or is that 6 lbs the weight of the action?

 

this is what i'm thinking as well, my 625 has a 4 lbs trigger and sets off winchester primers.   If I spring it for 6 lbs it will set off anything you put in it, so my guess not knowing anything else something is sapping energy from the hammer of there is some other obstruction..

[625]

When did the 625 work perfectly, and what was the last modification to it before it started to have light strikes.  Or last time you had it apart? 

[erwos]

17 hours ago, testosterone said:

 

this is what i'm thinking as well, my 625 has a 4 lbs trigger and sets off winchester primers.   If I spring it for 6 lbs it will set off anything you put in it, so my guess not knowing anything else something is sapping energy from the hammer of there is some other obstruction..

Yeah, I'm an idiot and measured the hammer fall wrong, it's 3.5lbs. Which makes me think Federals will solve my problem, I guess.

 

The hammer is a Revup, firing pin is a power custom, rebound spring is 13lbs. I literally cannot tune the mainspring any tighter without starting to have issues with the trigger resetting.

Edited October 27, 2022 by erwos

[Toolguy]

Something is not right. Send us the RevUp hammer only, not the whole kit, and we will send you a new replacement. We recently have had reports of hammers rubbing at the top of the frame, and some grazing the bottom of the hammer block flag, due to minor variations in the frames and hammer blocks. They worked fine in all of my guns originally, but I only have a very small sample size to work with. Most of the ones we sent out worked fine, but we don't want anyone to have a problem.

Edited October 27, 2022 by Toolguy

[erwos]

57 minutes ago, Toolguy said:

Something is not right. Send us the RevUp hammer only, not the whole kit, and we will send you a new replacement. We recently have had reports of hammers rubbing at the top of the frame, and some grazing the bottom of the hammer block flag, due to minor variations in the frames and hammer blocks. They worked fine in all of my guns originally, but I only have a very small sample size to work with. Most of the ones we sent out worked fine, but we don't want anyone to have a problem.

I'll crack open the gun tonight and see if it looks like that (it's definitely not the hammer block flag, though), but I am inclined to believe that this is a typical S&W fitment issue rather than a problem with your hammer.

[Toolguy]

We will do whatever we can to help. Sometimes it's kind of hard to diagnose something like this without the gun on the bench.

[erwos]

Update: ran a few moons of 45 with Federal LPP, and no more light strikes. Once I feel good about where things stand, I'll see how much I can adjust.

[varminter22]

Just as an "Oh, by the way..." CCI engineers say their primers of recent manufacture are like Federal primers.  

 

It would be interesting to read of a test of the two primers in tuned revolvers.  

[pskys2]

7 hours ago, varminter22 said:

Just as an "Oh, by the way..." CCI engineers say their primers of recent manufacture are like Federal primers.  

 

It would be interesting to read of a test of the two primers in tuned revolvers.  

I've tried some and they're close, more like a Fed 200 magnum.  Don't seem quite as sensitive as F100 & F150's though.

But that's only with close to 1000 tried.

[erwos]

8 hours ago, varminter22 said:

Just as an "Oh, by the way..." CCI engineers say their primers of recent manufacture are like Federal primers.  

 

It would be interesting to read of a test of the two primers in tuned revolvers.  

I believe I have some basically-new CCI LPPs lying around, so I guess it's worth a go next time I load some 45 for semi-autos.

[varminter22]

On 11/5/2022 at 3:05 PM, pskys2 said:

I've tried some and they're close, more like a Fed 200 magnum.  Don't seem quite as sensitive as F100 & F150's though.

But that's only with close to 1000 tried.

I too tried 1000 CCI sm pist primers and had zero problems, but then my 627 ignites Win in addition to Fed primers.