Hawker Posted February 5, 2003 Share Posted February 5, 2003 I have a PC 625 .45ACP. The gun has had an action job (duty style..not too aggressive) and I am having problems igniting my reloads. Factory ammo is fine.. just the very occassional misfire (maybe due to a bent moonclip). Right now, I am using WLP Primers. They fire well during SA, but they will not fire DA. The rounds fire fine in my semi's with no problem. If I tighten the strain screw, the problem starts to go away... but the trigger pull becomes unacceptable. I have ordered some Federal Primers and will try those next. I am loading on a 550B and what I have noticed is that the primers seat flush with the cartridge. I know they should be a bit deeper...but, that's all the 550 will do if I press them in hard. I've tried several techniques...same result. I need some good advice to get this gun running for the coming season. If the Federal Primers don't cure the problem, I'll try a manual primer seating tool. After that.. It goes to another 'smith to look it over. Any suggestions? If I send it out... anyone with a good 'smith recommendation to tweak this gun? I know it's asking alot... but turn around time would have to be in a week or so. One thing (unrelated to this problem) is the return spring in this gun. It is 13# and I don't like the feel. That is one thing that must be changed. Thanks for all your comments. Hawker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawker Posted February 5, 2003 Author Share Posted February 5, 2003 Some ammo info related to the above post: 5.0grs W231 New Starline Brass (cleaned and polished in tumbler) MG 230gr FMJ WLP Primers (No Chrono..but this load feel nice). The cartridges size out perfect to the book specs. Hawker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2tap45 Posted February 5, 2003 Share Posted February 5, 2003 Hawker, I suggest that you use Federal primers. They are softer than the WLP. However, I still use the WLP in my SA 1911's. Also, I replaced the firing pin in my 625 with one of the extra length pins from Cylinder and Slide. With the strain screw adjusted to where I like it, the primer dimples are deeper than before and I have reliable ignition every shot. The new firing pin is about .014" longer than the stock one. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1badmagnum Posted February 5, 2003 Share Posted February 5, 2003 I strickly use magnum primers in all my handloads. cci 550 small pistol magnum primers,and cci 350 large pistol magnum primers with great results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook Posted February 5, 2003 Share Posted February 5, 2003 Hawker, I use Federal 150 LP primers. Never have misfires (do have 'em with Winchesters). What I do is just load them on my Square deal. My match ammo gets another run through the Lee auto prime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Moore Posted February 5, 2003 Share Posted February 5, 2003 i use the jerry miculek spring kit found in the brownell's catalog and federal primers and never had a mis fire. if you're flerting with a 4-5lb trigger pull, you will experience mis-fires. the miculek spring kit says for the pull to be 7lbs double action. it's also very easy to install. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBF Posted February 5, 2003 Share Posted February 5, 2003 Spook, hope you are not reseating primers on loaded ammo, if I misunderstood you im sorry. Messing with primer depth on loaded rounds is asking for trouble. Hawker, you said factory stuff works fine ? If so you may have a bad batch of primers. Primers are very sensitive to any oil or oil vapor, have they been stored around the area you use to clean your gun? Just my .02 Travis F. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Sweeney Posted February 5, 2003 Share Posted February 5, 2003 1) Check the endshake. As a PC gun it probably doesn't have any, but the 25-2/moonclip guns are sensitive to it. The slop of the clearance for the moonclips is bad enough, but throw in a little endshake and things can get touchy. 2) I have re-seated primers in my moonclip-only ammo for 15 years without a problem. (Not to say you won't) I use an old hand seater and through practice have gotten the touch to seat them. Any that require too much force to seat to the indicated depth, I immediately stop and drop that round into the "practice and pitch the brass" bin. Those that seat properly are stored in their own bin marked "25-2 Only" Re-seated, I don't need to use Federal only. I don't recall any warnings against this practice in the manufacturers manuals, but we all know my memory is a spotty thing. (Who are all you guys, anyway? Why am I here? Why does Don Johnson still have a vcareer?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBF Posted February 5, 2003 Share Posted February 5, 2003 I didnt mean to imply you will surely blow one up, but the chance is greatly increased. I dont recall the manual, possibly Lee, but I know someone said it was a bad idea. Obviously not as bad an idea as I thought it was after reading your post. You just cant argue with experience. But back to the original post .......... Hawker, do they go bang when you drop the hammer on them again? If not pitch your present batch of primers.my .02 Travis F. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook Posted February 5, 2003 Share Posted February 5, 2003 TBF, yeah I run them through the Auto prime after I load them. Sometimes my Square deal (probably the operator ) does a real crappy job of seating primers. I always have one or two that need re-seating. For the rest I do exactly as Patrick. Anything that requires force goes in the practice bin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawker Posted February 5, 2003 Author Share Posted February 5, 2003 Yes...the primers go bang a second time (in SA). They just don't fire in DA. They also go bang a first time in SA. The primers are new, so contamination is not a problem. I have some Federals coming this week, so I'll load 'em up and see what happens. As for the note about a longer firing pin... I have the new internal pin. No options there on this gun. Thanks, Hawker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhgtyre Posted February 5, 2003 Share Posted February 5, 2003 Hawker, I am pretty sure that this is the part that was mentioned and it should work in your gun. I hope so anyway since I have the same model and have been planning to buy one. -ld Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBF Posted February 5, 2003 Share Posted February 5, 2003 Spook and Patrick, I learn something new all the time on this forum, thats why I keep coming back. I read it was bad juju and never messed with it. Your experience seems to indicate otherwise. I prime by hand anyway, before my finished cases hit the press. Hawker, sounds like you are on the right track.good luck. . Travis F. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRG65 Posted February 5, 2003 Share Posted February 5, 2003 Travis, It is bad juju to reseat primers. When I was starting to reload I did blow one up. I was not using a hand primer and maybe that was part of why; the press was able to put more force on the primer. No people were injured (I still count myself very lucky) but the priming mechanisim of the Lee progressive I was using was blown to pieces. I keep the remains of the case (torn open on one side) on my reloading bench as a reminder not to do that stupid trick again. I found the 185 LSWC bullet that had been in the bullet; it had gone up and was almost split in half by the die in the station above the primer seating station. After experiencing a case go off, I'm very glad it was in the press and not in a hand primer I was holding. I do pay the extra for federal so my lightened springs will do the job. I won't reseat again. For badly seated primers I pull the bullet and powder and cycle the case back through the press with a mark on the case head; 2 bad primers, the case gets pitched. Experiences form our opinions, I've had bad experiences reseating primers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rufus The Bum Posted February 6, 2003 Share Posted February 6, 2003 I installed the Miculek spring kit and set the pull to 7lbs and had a ton of misfires, set it to 8 and had a few, but at 9lbs, it works fine (With Federal Primers) I shot some of my 1911 45's though it with Winchester primers and it wouldn't set them off, so if you have a reduced trigger pull, use Federals, that will save you alot of heartache. Additionally, I had an extra length firing pin installed and it really seems to help as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook Posted February 6, 2003 Share Posted February 6, 2003 TBF, I learn something new everytime too. Like from HitechRN. That's one example, for me to never do it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawker Posted February 6, 2003 Author Share Posted February 6, 2003 Some updates: My Dillon (550B) was seating the primers flush with the case. I believe this the root cause of my misfires. It would misfire the first shot...then it would go bang the second time. Meaning... the gun was seating the primer on the first go. I spoke to Dillon about this and my shellplate was set too loose, resulting in the flush primer seating. I adjusted it down and now it seats the primers at .004, which is just about perfect. This should fix the problem, but I am still switching to Fed Primers. I have zero tolerance for misfires...especially at Matches. Updates on the gun: I replaced the adjustable allen type strain screw the 'smith installed during the action job. I put the original strain screw back in and tightened it down all the way (the way it should be). It increased the DA only slightly.. but made a big difference in reliability. The allen screw was causing the spring to offset just slightly and probably affected the spring pressure some. The gun has a Wolff spring as installed from the Perf Center. Anyway..all seems well so far. Thanks for all your help. I'll update everyone once I run a couple of hundred more rounds thru the gun. Safe shooting! Hawker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaiserb Posted February 7, 2003 Share Posted February 7, 2003 This link has a bunch of info on primers. http://www.jamescalhoon.com/primers_and_pressure.html As for replacing the strain screw, one of the things done on an action job is to back out the strain screw by a few thousands and test fire the gun, repeat until the gun mis fires. Measure the results and then file the strain screw down to match the measurement. Chances are if you had an action job done, then your gun is setup to shoot Federal primers. That is a popular choice, for most Revo shooters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawker Posted February 7, 2003 Author Share Posted February 7, 2003 Problem solved.... The misfire problem was due to primer seating. Loaded and shot almost 200 rounds this evening. The primers were half WIN WLP and Federal 150. Guess what? No misfires. Everthing went bang as it was supposed to. Thanks to all for the input. Hawker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawker Posted February 7, 2003 Author Share Posted February 7, 2003 One more thing... My thanks to Brian Enos for his patience and the answering of my questions prior to purchasing the 550B (from him, of course). I highly recommend Brian to anyone who is considering buying a Dillon. His advice is accurate and he offers a good discount when purchasing through him. It was a good experience all the way around. Thanks, Brian. Hawker (Charlie - Dover, DE) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now