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S&W Revolver Problem-- pierced primers, not due to pressure
- Thread starter kuduman
- Start date
Thanks y'all for all the good suggestions. I'll whip up some with Mag primers, and test out the filed firing pin on Wed. And the mag primer loads-- it will be good to know that I have enough pin left to set off harder primers, whether or not the filing fixed it.
Jackie has a good point though-- going forward, I'll use the mag primers to avoid a repeat of this. This gun is too nice to be self-destructing-- and heck I haven't put 400 rounds through it in the 10 years I've owned it.
Jackie has a good point though-- going forward, I'll use the mag primers to avoid a repeat of this. This gun is too nice to be self-destructing-- and heck I haven't put 400 rounds through it in the 10 years I've owned it.
glad to hear you got the firing pin smoothed down..... just my thoughts on this.... trash the old primers you were using, I mean to have multiple failures out of the same box. you know they are bad. this Christmas will be 52 years I've been reloading. I've always used CCI primers and have never had a problem like this. next I wouldn't use .44 special cases, I wouldn't even want them around my place........ you have any idea how hard they are to sort of from the magnum cases? imagine a bucket of some 500 fired cases and having to sort them, no thanks bad enough I have to suffer sorting .38 special and .357 magnum.... hey some of you will laugh but i don't get out shooting that much anymore however when i do i go thru a couple of thousand rounds..... the last thing you want when feeding high volume progressive press's is a stray case of the wrong size. i learned long ago not to skimp on things of importance.... no cheap commie primers in my place nor any old ones given away by friends it's just not worth it. i know from experience that ever round i load could very well be life or death.... be it blasting a huge rattler staring me in the face or facing a charge from a rather upset buff.... i used the same attitude toward my customers guns...... nothing but the best work and first quality materials....... you test that model 29 with several different loads and primers, measure and check everything only then can you be sure............ but bad primers happen, think of a product turned out by the billions with a end price of only a cent or two apiece.
Well, I have some .44 special because I have a gun that shoots it. I hear you though-- case sorting is a pain. And I hate having to clean the crud ring out of six chambers... that gets real old, after doing it the first time. I load light charges in .357 cases for that very reason.
Was using Remington primers, but I'll try CCI and magnums of whatever I can find.
Was going to test it tonight, but traffic was so unbelievably bad, that I turned around. Fifty minutes 285 to 316? Uh, no thanks.
I'll test it this weekend. If I have any further problems, I'll be looking for someone to change the firing pin. Like you said, it's worthless if it's not reliable.
(I'd love to get those "cent or two" primers though. Haven't seen any of those in quite a few years!)
Was using Remington primers, but I'll try CCI and magnums of whatever I can find.
Was going to test it tonight, but traffic was so unbelievably bad, that I turned around. Fifty minutes 285 to 316? Uh, no thanks.
I'll test it this weekend. If I have any further problems, I'll be looking for someone to change the firing pin. Like you said, it's worthless if it's not reliable.
(I'd love to get those "cent or two" primers though. Haven't seen any of those in quite a few years!)
you really want cheap primer prices? just order in volume. phone Olin, min order is 100,000 not price break there but if you order 5 or 6 million then you'll see a price break. LOL
to be honest I hate magnum primers..... I have a nice colt king cobra 6" stainless, very forward heavy so it hangs there nice and steady for .38 special mid-range target loads..... got it when they first came out, and spent two weeks going thru it..... stoned everything under a binocular microscope, lightened the trigger and main springs so it's smooth as silk. single action pull, well never measured it but around 2 ounces...... set up for long range work anyway every is great. many thousands of rounds thru it both .38 target and full magnum loads.... then I ran into Fiocchi very cheap..... my gun won't fire them double action not that I very often use that........ single action is fine and very accurate at long range (2 to 3 hundred yards) but I can't make double action to work and keep the fine trigger pull. no real problem for me just irritating that with that gun I can't get everything perfect lol all because Fiocchi is one of the few companies that uses magnum primers.
I shoot a lot of .38, have several colt diamondbacks love their balance and actions in a carry gun but can only feed them .38 special so sorting of cases is a major task... have gotten to where I don't much enjoy reloading... it's hard work. all empties just get dumped in a bucket, all calibers and when I get down to just a few thousand loaded rounds I put in a week or two loading..... sorting takes more time than the loading does.
that crud ring, I solved that task years ago..... I made a brass cleaning rod 6 inches long with no handle... put it in a Makita cordless drill, wet the bronze "chamber" brush and run it in and out once and crud ring gone. use old lewis(spelling?) lead remover by hand to clean forcing cone and one pass thru the barrel and done. 99% of what I shoot is hard cast lead, only use jacketed for long range hunting.
best of luck
to be honest I hate magnum primers..... I have a nice colt king cobra 6" stainless, very forward heavy so it hangs there nice and steady for .38 special mid-range target loads..... got it when they first came out, and spent two weeks going thru it..... stoned everything under a binocular microscope, lightened the trigger and main springs so it's smooth as silk. single action pull, well never measured it but around 2 ounces...... set up for long range work anyway every is great. many thousands of rounds thru it both .38 target and full magnum loads.... then I ran into Fiocchi very cheap..... my gun won't fire them double action not that I very often use that........ single action is fine and very accurate at long range (2 to 3 hundred yards) but I can't make double action to work and keep the fine trigger pull. no real problem for me just irritating that with that gun I can't get everything perfect lol all because Fiocchi is one of the few companies that uses magnum primers.
I shoot a lot of .38, have several colt diamondbacks love their balance and actions in a carry gun but can only feed them .38 special so sorting of cases is a major task... have gotten to where I don't much enjoy reloading... it's hard work. all empties just get dumped in a bucket, all calibers and when I get down to just a few thousand loaded rounds I put in a week or two loading..... sorting takes more time than the loading does.
that crud ring, I solved that task years ago..... I made a brass cleaning rod 6 inches long with no handle... put it in a Makita cordless drill, wet the bronze "chamber" brush and run it in and out once and crud ring gone. use old lewis(spelling?) lead remover by hand to clean forcing cone and one pass thru the barrel and done. 99% of what I shoot is hard cast lead, only use jacketed for long range hunting.
best of luck
told you it was an easy fix...... hope your not really going to use magnum primers where they aren't needed. they can cause all sorts of other problems... such as over ignition, a condition where you get violent attempt at ignition and blow the bullet down the barrel before powder can fully begin burning.... pressures go crazy both up and down with no consistency.
I suggest you do a bit of reading, years ago I had a fun drinking buddy....... memories are a hazy alcohol induced fog.... last time I remember things fine til we got half way thru the second bottle..... omg that man could drink whisky. anyway he did a little writing on the .44 magnum.... his stuff isn't on the shelves like it used to be but is worth going to the effort and expense of finding. his work is some of the best and most informative on the cartridge there is..... half of the writers since have made their money by parroting his writings. no pride or truth in the world of gun writers. anyway look him up sometime, his name was Elmer Keith shouldn't be hard to find. and you won't have the hangovers I survived getting the info first hand. all the claims many make to knowing him few ever mention the whisky... you didn't get much and never the truth til you started the second bottle....
I suggest you do a bit of reading, years ago I had a fun drinking buddy....... memories are a hazy alcohol induced fog.... last time I remember things fine til we got half way thru the second bottle..... omg that man could drink whisky. anyway he did a little writing on the .44 magnum.... his stuff isn't on the shelves like it used to be but is worth going to the effort and expense of finding. his work is some of the best and most informative on the cartridge there is..... half of the writers since have made their money by parroting his writings. no pride or truth in the world of gun writers. anyway look him up sometime, his name was Elmer Keith shouldn't be hard to find. and you won't have the hangovers I survived getting the info first hand. all the claims many make to knowing him few ever mention the whisky... you didn't get much and never the truth til you started the second bottle....
Yeah, I know who Elmer Keith is, and I've done a great deal of reading over my 23 years of reloading, though not much of it about revolvers. I certainly didn't know about those issues with the magnum primers.
That's interesting, and I will investigate further. Thank you.
That's interesting, and I will investigate further. Thank you.
The primers may have not been the issue. It is possible there were micro cracks or defects in the firing pin and the tip broke off. That then could have caused the piercing and further gas cutting. I bought a 93 Mauser that was piercing and after inspecting the tip of the firing pin, it appeared to have been broken off. When I say broken off, we are talking about a very small chip was missing. I reshaped it with a Dremel and it has been perfect since.
Metal does experience work hardening over time and sometimes becomes brittle. A small chip can cause big problems. Once had a wheel bearing get noisy. I pressed it out and put in new one. The old one had 1 ball with a tiny chip missing out of it, all rest were perfect and it made an awful noisy going down the road. The bearings were not worn out, that one chip was either a factory defect or a result of work hardening that took years to become apparent.
Glad you got it fixed.
Rosewood
Metal does experience work hardening over time and sometimes becomes brittle. A small chip can cause big problems. Once had a wheel bearing get noisy. I pressed it out and put in new one. The old one had 1 ball with a tiny chip missing out of it, all rest were perfect and it made an awful noisy going down the road. The bearings were not worn out, that one chip was either a factory defect or a result of work hardening that took years to become apparent.
Glad you got it fixed.
Rosewood
