Light strikes from USH

[Hogtamer]

Shot some big lead, no, make that Zinc, Monday, a bunch of Zlugs from 2 guns. I remembered I had not shot the final product after the upsize over Steel powder. Loaded a bunch w/44 grns Steel and was pleasantly surprised. The USH produced 2", 4" and 8" groups at 50, 100, and 150 yds respectively over the hood of truck. More recoil than I like but dang, what a load! 575 grn @ 1700 fps. Did remind me of a problem though, light primer strikes (failure to fire) on about 20% of shells. These were new 3" Win hulls (looked same as Super X type) that I deprimed because I don't know what primers are in the hull. Replaced with Fed 209a. Would those primers seat deeper for any reason or is there something that needs attention on the gun?

[Cap'n Morgan]

As I recall it H&R use a system with a safety bar engaging only when the trigger is pulled, I once fixed one where the firing pin couldn't reach deep enough to set off deep seated primers. The fix was to grind a little of the flat on the hammer where it meets the receiver - allowing it to push the firing pin a little deeper.

As a rule of thumb, if a gun misfires with the same shell twice, the firing pin is too short (or the primer too deep) If the gun fires after recocking, the primer strike is too weak.

[cpileri]

Hogtamer,
Have you noticed any "zinc-ing" (i.e. leading, but with zinc) in the bores after your testing the zlugs?
I have finally got enough newspaper to test them and was considering the possibility of stubborn zinc deposits. But, I have no idea if such an animal is even real.
C-

[Hogtamer]

Thanks Cap'n. Light strikes will shoot in Remington afterward so may need to work on that hammer. Carl, no build-up that I can detect. Look forward to that 44 gr Steel load result. Seems to me that something that has some "give" to it yields less penetration. Solid like a pine tree or mild steel gets punished.

[bikerbeans]

Hal,

FTFs are a fairly common problem with h&r and nef single shots. There are a number of "usual suspects" that I have encountered, I have owned several dozen h&r single shots and still have a few of them.

In no particular order here are my culprits;

Too deep rim cut on barrel
Weak hammer spring
Defective transfer bar
Bent, broke or dirty firing pin
Shooter releasing trigger early which interrupts the transfer bar timing
Adding a hammer extension, hammer spring a bit weak
Hammer interfering with scope
Not fully cooking the hammer, this prevents the transfer bar from setting correctly
Bad frame to barrel alignment

There are more but my tablet's autocorrect is driving me nuts and I can't think.

Good luck

BB

[hubel458]

I found half the nefs need the pin to protrude further like .060"

Some are only .040" from factory. Grind of top of hammer so it goes

forward more. Also the FED and CCI shotgun primers are rounded more

than the REM STS that I use exclusively now. And they are a little harder than REMs.

The Rem STS ones nearly flat on the back dent in more uniformly.

And they have nearly same power as Feds.

Stopped the misfires as long as pin was out far enough.

Once got a gun with weak spring, Gunparts got new ones ...Ed

[FullTang]

If you have a hammer extension on the gun, that can slow the hammer strike down a bit; that caused a problem for me, so I just took it off, and everything was better.

[Hogtamer]

Thanks guys, I'll take a little off the hammer tomorrow.....do have hammer ext. but that needs to stay.

[hubel458]

Another thing that can happen when you prime soft headed cases

like some BPI sells can get concave when primers push in so

I don't use reloader anyway on slug work, but after priming

I use a hollow tube down inside case and rap with hammer to

make sure base is flat, then super size it, then load. Ed

[Wyatt 525]

Hogtamer,

Is your barrel tight on that gun? Just curious. If it has play in it or a glimmer of light at breech then that could be a little longer travel for firing pin?

I bought a new USH in box about two months ago. Action was tight at gun store. Brought the gun home and disassembled, cleaned, and lubed it. Put it all back together and mounted a scope. The more the gun was broke and cocked the looser the barrel became. Grab barrel and stock and you could see light. Took four folds of foil to tighten it up at breech. Sent it back under warranty. Still waiting to get it back.

I have a few older side by sides. One is a little loose on the hinge pin and occasionally I will get a misfire or a dimpled primer.

[cpileri]

Cool, thx HT.
Although sunny, its pretty darn cold outside even here in TX. But I will get that newspaper test done soon.
C-