Light Hits

[oddjob]

OK.....My son's open gun (STI made by the SA Custom Shop) just lately has been getting light hits and thus the primers don't go off. This has not been a problem untill recently. I have checked the firing pin hole and it was clear and clean. I replaced the firing pin and spring and the problem continues (about once every 40-50 rounds).

I'm thinking its my son's reloading habits as it happens when he reloads on the 1050. It never happened when he reloaded on the 550. Any thoughts as to #1 the gun itself?? #2 reloading habits?? Any comments would be appreciated.

[Jon Merricks]

What kind of primers? Are they checked to make sure they are not a little high? His he using an XLong firing pin?

[Loves2Shoot]

Ditto to Jon. Also. check the mainspring weight. a 15lb might work most of the time, a 17 should work all the time. Primers, Federal are the softest, I have had problems with Winchester.

[Steve Anderson]

I just switched to Federal, after getting about one failure out of 1000 w/winchester, on a 550 press.

SA

[wide45]

You have to check the primer depth every now and then on the 1050. The adjustment can go out over time.

[oddjob]

Std firing pin, W-W small rifle primers,

This combo has been used for years w/o a problem. I'll check the primer depth again, but I thought it was fine. Who makes an extra length firing pin that one could recommend??

Thanks for the advice......

[Loves2Shoot]

Limcat Firing pin

Try the Federal, I shot Winchester for years but ran into a hard batch it really sucked, and cost me a few matches. I have been told I am not the only one to have had this problem with Winchester. The Limcat firing pin seems to work well.

[Steve Anderson]

Just switch to Federal and forget about it. I had a winchester ftf cost me 3 seconds on an 11 second stage at the buckeye blast...

Goodbye gold, hello silver.

SA

[Flexmoney]

I'm thinking its my son's reloading habits as it happens when he reloads on the 1050. It never happened when he reloaded on the 550.

You might be on track here.

I always like to stress that the primers need to be fully seated into the pocket...not just flush.

I also like like to put every loaded round (especially match ammo) into a bullet box with the primer side up. Once the box is full, I give it the eagle-eye to see if I can pick out any primers that might be questionable. (anything questionable goes in a different pile)

I shoot a Glock, with the light striker spring. This is a big issue for Glock shooters.

- Federal primers (no question)

- FULLY seated (mine are nearly deformed sometimes)

- Clean striker/firing pin channel (no oil to collect dirt)

- Extra step of quality assurance of putting the rounds in an ammo box and looking at each individual primer a time or three.

- Probably ought to change out the striker/firing pin spring every so often (once a year, at least).

[Shooter Grrl]

Did you recently switch brass manufacturers?

[ErikW]

I'd put money on high primers as the cause. Any sane mainspring and hammer combo is going to light off even hard rifle primers, unless they are high.

And you can't look at the misfired rounds and say, "Well, they're not high" because the firing pin pushes a high primer back in the case. If you try to fire these previously misfired rounds, and they go off, they almost certainly had high primers.

[George D]

I had this exact problem at about the same frequency with my S&W M945 and have previously posted on the subject. I was advised by the local S&W gunsmith that my "IPSC high thumb grip" may not be exerting enough pressure on the grip safety and that this could be causing the problem. It didn't seem to me to be a plausible explanation, and I cop a bagging from Duane everytime I mention it, but when I change nothing else and either tape down the grip safety or adopt a lower thumbgrip the problem disappears. I don't pretend to know why it works, but I've put 10K rounds through without a light strike and I haven't changed primer brand (Federal) or seating depth or done anything else to address the problem.

[oddjob]

OK.....adjusted the primer depth on the 1050 so the primer looks like its just a tad crushed........light hit problem gone......must have undone itself on the 1050. Now I'm unhappy cause I may have to get another 1050 for me cause my kid wants this 1050.............anyway thanks to all with the suggestions.......I used the simple thought process of using the least expensive solution first and it was the correct one...............thanks again......ya made a 16 yr old "B" shooter happy and take 3rd at a local classifier out of 50 shooters........