Failure to fire

[Hawk]

I took my nephew and his girl friend shooting yesterday, he's 28 tears old.

Had a good time. shot seven different handguns and went thru about 500 rounds.

BUT, he had a failure to fire in my Glock G20 10mm.
Starline Brass,
9.9 grains of Blue Dot,
Win SPP, probably less than 10 years old
MiHec 188 grain shallow HP, PC'ed.

We waited about 15 seconds and I ejected the round. Primer strike looked good, heavy dent in the primer.

I loaded the round again and it fired the second time. He seemed to be firing with his arms pretty bent, but I don't think a limp wrist hold would cause this. I feel like this had to be the primer.

This gun has only had about 100 rounds fired thru it and probably needs to be fired more to smooth it up.
The gun had had about 15 rounds fired before this happened. It was cleaned prior to yesterdays outing.

All components are stored in doors in a climate controlled environment and I ream primer pockets on all my pistol brass for this gun to a depth of 0.122".

I've never had a failure to fire like this before. Heck, I've been reloading for 40 years and never had a round not go off. This bothers me and I'm pretty worried about it.

This makes me pretty nervous, because I carry this gun as protection when I'm alone on our deer lease because of black bears.

Has anyone else had this problem before? Do u think the fire pin might be a little short or just the first funky primer I've ever encountered after firing fifty or sixty thousand reloads?

 

[Chris]

I had occasional misfires in 2 Ruger 77's, they were within 2 serial numbers apart. Had a heck of a time figuring it out, but as a few years went by I noticed it never happened at the range, only in the deer woods in inclement weather.

Long story made short, the fit of the firing pin within the bolt was a tad tight on both rifles. Blackened the pin, dry fired a bunch of times, could see it shine where it rubbed. Stoned it with an India, never happened again. Also, this would never have worn itself down as the rifle had many thousands of cast put through it and still had the occasional misfire.

Might be worth checking your pin, see if it rubs anywhere.

 

[Hawk]

That was what I was thinking, although the first strike looked pretty deep.
I'll run several hundred rounds thru it and see if does it again. Probably should have done that first, but I figured 100 rounds would have been enough.
Just glad it didn't happen at an inopportune moment in the woods.

 

[Chris]

My misadventure cost me 3 bucks. Meaning antlered deer not dollars. Tough lesson.

 

[Rick]

Possibly a poor firing pin strike. Also possible was a bad primer, it happens. It's possible to have a primer that is missing the charge on one side and firing it again hit the primer on the good side. I had one fail to fire during a match one time, after the match I chambered it three or four times and no joy. At home I tore the cartridge down and discovered the primer had no anvil. They are mass produced and oopsie's do happen. Kinda surprising how reliable they actually are.
.

 

[358156 hp]

This really sounds a lot like the symptoms of the primer not being fully seated in the case pocket. Look over some of your other 10mm ammo, are any of the primers a little high? Also, what tool do you use to seat your primers?

 

[Hawk]

For the 10mm, all my primers are seated with a lee hand priming tool.
It's always possible it was a high primer, but I'm pretty obsessive about examining each phase of high end or defensive loads.
I even ream primer pockets before loading.

 

[KHornet]

All things mechanical will sooner have some sort of
mechanical problems. Kinda like murphy's law!

Paul

 

[358156 hp]

When it fired on the second strike it pretty much ruled out a defective primer. I used to really like LEE priming tools until I wore out the toggle link in three of them, one right after the other. I think LEE redesigned the tool shortly after the complaints started. I have no idea how or when, I just tossed all mine and bought an RCBS hand primer, which I'm still using today, about 15 years or so later. The links used to wear out, on the large rounded end, leaving a flat spot that didn't allow full travel of the seating ram. I'm sure yours is probably the newer style from what I was using.

 

[RicinYakima]

My only fail to fire with a Glock was dirt inside the striker hole. Cleaned lately?

 

[Hawk]

My only fail to fire with a Glock was dirt inside the striker hole. Cleaned lately?

Complete cleaning after every use.

 

[RicinYakima]

Well, that isn't it!

 

[freebullet]

I wouldn't put much thought into 1 dud. I would want to get back out with it soon though.

 

[Winelover]

For the 10mm, all my primers are seated with a lee hand priming tool.

For many years I used the Lee hand primer and worked very well......until, I started to get FTF's due to high primers, out of the blue. IIRC, it was with SP primers. Scrapped that tool and bought the new model. Didn't care for it. Moved to the RCBS hand tool with the replaceable shell holders. PITA, to switch over, between Large and Small. Bought the other version with the universal shell holder and that wasn't cutting it. Currently, using the RCBS bench mounted tool and am very happy with it.

 

[Rick]

At least 30 years ago I tried the RCBS bench mounted priming tool and never looked back, except I don't mount it to the bench. It's mounted to a 1 inch thick steel block, while using it I add about 10 pounds of weight to the back of the steel block. Pushing down the handle to seat a primer takes X amount of pressure to lift the back up off the bench, each primer is seated in uniformed pockets requiring the same amount of pressure to seat.

 

[Winelover]

I don't have the bench space so I mounted it on piece of 2 x 6 to C-clamp it to the bench, as needed.

 

[Hawk]

I have the new model "square" Lee.
All the loaded rounds go into a plastic ammo box nose first, bases up.
Would a high primer be noticeable?
The FTF had a pretty big strike impact mark, not a small dimple.

I'm going to check out the firing pin and firing pin hole against my other Glocks.

 

[KHornet]

Used to use Lee hand primers, and had no real complaints. Then, I got
a Lee 4 hole press, and do all my priming on that and priming is just part
of the loading process, and not a separate function. Really like the Lee
4 holer.

Paul

 

[Cherokee]

Faulty primers are very unusual but I've had them, likewise dud factory ammo. Failure of the firing pin to cause the primer to ignite, in my 50 yrs of reloading experience, results from not seating the primer fully in the primer pocket (assuming factory FP springs). Frankly, I seat primers to almost a crush condition and always check for a high primer. I've been using the Lee hand primer tools ever since they came out; when they quit seating properly, I buy a new one. Now its possible to buy the parts to restore the Lee's to proper function. I tried RCBS, just not for me. Do make sure the firing pin channel is clear but your description seems to rule that out as a problem.

 

[Winelover]

d
Would a high primer be noticeable?
The FTF had a pretty big strike impact mark, not a small dimple.

High primers are not readily noticeable. Stand up cartridge in a flat surface....if there is any rocking, they are high.

FTF of a high primer = first firing pin strike seats it (causing a dimple). Second hit should fire it. If not, then chalk it up to a bad primer or weak hammer spring. Depending on frequency of occurrence.

Purchased a brand new Python @ 1976. Shot the hell out of it and always used CCI primers. Which have a reputation of being on the hard side. Had 100% reliability with CCI SP primers. Until, one day. FTF's were intermittent. Tried different primers, same thing. I was seating primers on a RCBS JR press with their system and you could feel they were seated properly. Tried different primers, same thing.

Finally, I decided to take it in and have a gunsmith look at it. On the way back from the range, I passed by Magnaport International. It was a Saturday and the owner, Larry Kelly was behind the counter. He looked at the Python and dry fired it. Promptly gave it back to me and accused me of putting in aftermarket spring and whatnot. I told him he was full of shit and left.

Had a Browning HP that I wanted some work done to and found a Master Gunsmith (Frank Paris) that lived in Redford, Michigan and worked out of his basement. I got around to mentioning my Python issues with FTF's and he recommended that I have the V-shaped hammer spring replaced. I suspected that, but Colt wouldn't sell the spring, to novices. Frank also did Python work and promptly furnished one from his stock. Problem solved. Goes to show, how much Larry Kelly knows......