Chiappa mini sharps fails to fire.

[Kylongrifle32]

I have a chiappa mini sharps in 38-55 tring to work up some loads for deer hunting. I purchased 50 new Star line brass and loaded up two groups 20 rounds. Both groups fired fine the first loading. After reloading the cases now I have a 40 percent fail to fire rate. Anyone shoot this same rifle and experience this problem. Need some help with this one.
Thanks Mike

[Sekiar]

Nice looking rifle, but that's about it. I got one when they first came available under the name of Lyman. Had a part break right off and called Lyman and no help there. Said they didn't make and referred me to a Chiappa rep. He was fast sending the part and I had to do some filling and fitting work to get it to work, however it ended up doing what your is doing. Spent hours working on the problem and the only way I could us it was to use softer pistol primers to get almost 100% reliability. I've got sever full size Sharps and never a problem. I love the caliber and have a 1885 Uberti and a Winchester lever action that are great rifles. Good luck, Charles

[Kylongrifle32]

I used S&B large rifle primers first and them seemed to seat deep into the primer pocket. Then I used WLR primers and no difference. The firing pin does not strick the center of the primer it a little below center at 6 o'clock. Will try pistol primers next. Would like to use this rifle for the end of the firearm season to harvest some antlerless venison. Don't trust using it to try to harvest a buck.

[Boz330]

Pistol primers will seat even deeper. Federal primers are typically a softer primer. You might check the protrusion of your firing pin from the block and make sure that the hammer isn't hitting anything besides the firing pin. Also check that the pin isn't broken.
You do know to pull the hammer back to half cock before lowering the lever to extract the empty? If you don't do that it can shorten the life of the firing pin. I had a similar problem with a Sharps 75 where the broken pin was still in the block and would set off some of the primers but not all. New pin fixed the problem.

Bob

[Good Cheer]

Not a good solution but maybe try the punch outs from a paper hole puncher.
Seat one in the primer pocket before seating the primer. I've done that for iffy primer fire on old rifles and sometimes it helps.

[upnorthwis]

Off center firing pin will cause mis-fires. My C-Sharps Hi-Wall was hitting off center and for a while I would rotate the shell to a new position and try again. Had a couple that took four hits before going off. After contacting C-Sharps, the block was returned to them for repair and turned around in under two weeks. Hasn't mis-fired since. Your manufacturer may vary.

[marlinman93]

This isn't an uncommon problem with some of the Sharps clones, whether they're small versions or the Italian full sized. Not that they all have the problem, but it does arise occasionally in them.
The design of the Sharps side hammer requires the firing pin to be at an angle and strike the primer at an angle. Well fitted guns like the Shiloh almost never have a problem, but less expensive versions occasionally slip through without the quality control of a Shiloh, and can require some polishing to work perfectly. I'd check the travel of the firing pin, and be sure there's no friction, or drag at all. Even polishing the external surfaces, and making sure there's no burrs inside the firing pin hole or opening.
A fair number of people have found that pistol primers fix the issue, even if they sit slightly lower, which tells me it might be related to firing pin strike. So making sure the firing pin has no drag ensures a better strike. You only need .040" protrusion to set off a primer if everything is good. If there are any issues a .060" protrusion might fix the issue, but it's not fixing whatever causes a correct length to not strike hard enough.

[Gazz]

I once fixed a Sharps remake that was having this problem. I found that the firing pin which slides in a slot in the breech block fit loose enough that it would bind from rubbing on the top at one end and the bottom on the other end, or something like that. It was years ago and I really can't remember the details but it did take me a while to figure it out. Look at the firing pin fit.