Glock Firing Pin Primers?

[Daryl]

Hi,

I'm just starting on this but maybe someone has had some experience.

I recently got a police trade in Glock 21 45 ACP. Got the Lone Wolf barrel to shoot my cast out of it.

First time out, had a number of non-fires - fired on second strike.

Using Winchester Large Pistol primers recently purchased from fresh local dealer stock.

I read about breaking down and cleaning the Glock slides and did all that last night. So, pin chamber and all are free of oil (and there was some in there) and pretty clean.

I did not do this too scientifically so I don't have counts. But, today out of 100, maybe 4 or 5 did not fire first time. All but one did second time. ONe took a third hit. All pin imprints look equally strong on the primers.

This is first use of this batch (and gun unfortunately) - so I can't rule out the primers.

I have another 45 ACP in the Glock 30 that I'll need to try as well. But, I run about 30-50 out of this primer batch through it before I got the Glock 21.

So, like I said, I'm just getting started on solving this but thought someone may have had a similar experience that would move me along quicker or rule some things out.

Thanks

[Frozone]

Using Winchester Large Rifle primers recently purchased from fresh local dealer stock.

You May want to rethink the large RIFLE primer idea.
They are .006" taller than Large Pistol primers and have thicker metal, That would explain the problems

[P.K.]

You May want to rethink the large RIFLE primer idea.
They are .006" taller than Large Pistol primers and have thicker metal, That would explain the problems

BINGO!

I'd also look at a new firing pin spring.

[44mag1]

I only use federal LP primers in my glock 20. never had a misfire with them. I hope they become more available soon.

[Daryl]

My stupid mistake. I am using Large Pistol Primers.

Daryl

[ANeat]

Try the factory barrel and see if the problem goes away. Glocks in 45acp are known for being very lead friendly. (9mm and 40 S&W are not)

Ive heard of many folks having problems with aftermarket barrels.

If the headspace isnt right on the Lone Wolf barrel you could be seating the cartridge into the chamber a bit on the first strike of the primer.

[Daryl]

Good info ANeat.

I think I'll try a couple things.

First, I'll check the taper crimp and seating depth to make sure the cartridge is absolutely fully into the chamber and headspaced correctly so the pin is not pushing it forward. I thought I really checked that closely when I was working up the settings on the press, but I suppose it could have changed some or that the mixed headstamps could through it off.

I'm cautious not to over crimp so that the case does not slip into the barrel or swage the bullet down so much that the fit goes to heck.

Also, I can pull the firing pin assembly from my G 30 to see if it makes a difference in the G 21.

And, finally, I can try that factory Glock barrel. The Lone Wolf in the Glock 30 works fine. But both of the LW barrels have very tight tolerences in the chamber and a shorter lead in to the rifling than the Glock barrels.

And, also, I could run a batch through the G30.

[mooman76]

I shot my Glock 22 with winchester primers and never had a problem. Are you seating the primers fully?

[Daryl]

Yes, seem to be seated fine.

[MtGun44]

Most common reason for failure to fire that works the second time is not fully seated
primers. Second choice is no or inadequate taper crimp causing the round to be held
rearward by the remaining flare at the case mouth gripping the chamber wall. The round
may be driven deeper by the first hit absorbing too much energy to light off.

Remove your barrel and see if a loaded round will seat flush with the back of the bbl face
with about 1 lb finger pressure or less. If not, increase taper crimp a bit until it does.

Bill

[Daryl]

Ok,

Here's today's report.

I rechecked the rounds in the chamber. The bullet barely touched the rifling. So, I adjusted the seating die for a deeper seat (about 3/4 turn on the seating adjustment). They now drop into the chamber with no finger pressure at all. Most of them drop out when flipped over - the ones that don't fall with just a shake.

So, 100 of these plus 100 not re-seated to the range.

First mag, no problem, then one not fired. So, I took the firing pin assembly out of my G30 (almost new) and put it in the G21. Several mags - no misfires. Then, I took the old G21 firing pin assembly and put the newer spring from the G30 on it and ran the un-re-seated rounds through and no misfires in over 100 rounds. Then, oddly, I shot the G30 with the "old" firing pin spring and no misfires.

Could they have just wanted the attention?

Any how, out of 200 rounds - only that 1 misfire - compared to 4 to 6 or so out of 100 last time.

Another discovery is that the G30 did not like the Lee 452-200-RFN. It misfed several. The G21 never misfed at all.

So, maybe someone can tell me what all this means? I suppose I should get at least one new spring and replace the old on that is now on the G30.

[Daryl]

Oh, and, yes, I did change that little spring with those itty bitty little plastic pieces at the range in the snow.

[MtGun44]

Standard carb repair.

Many times I have had a carb give trouble on a car, bike, chainsaw, leaf blower, whatever.
Dissassemble, looking for a problem, probe around, look, inspect but find nothing.
Put it back together and problem is gone. Standard carb repair.

Probably a bit of grit, dried grease, general crud or such and you wiped it out.

If your rounds now drop in with no finger pressure you have avoided future FTC problems.

Bill

[Daryl]

That's kind of what I'm thinking. But, the first time I did take the G21 apart, clean it thoroughly, etc. All I did this time was take it apart & change the spring. But what really threw me off was when the G30 worked fine with the spring from the G21 and they both worked fine.

Oh well. I did order a new spring and I'll put it back into the G30 when it comes. And I ordered a set of those little plastic spring cups - I could see those will be easy to lose.

[truckmsl]

Be sure the striker channel is clean and not scratched up. The channel liner is dirt cheap and easy to replace if damaged.

[Daryl]

Back to the range again today. This time with different boolits - Lee 452-230-TC.

Dang if I did not have those misfires again! Well I looked really, really closely and it could be the TC shoulder was not below the case mouth and some were just barely engaged in the rifling. Back to the shop. So, I reseated and made absolutely sure every one of my new loads drop into the chamber.

I found that some of the rounds were about .010" not fully seated by dropping them in. So, now I'll test these out tomorrow.

I did have one mag of 13 of the RFN that I fully seated with me - after the misfires on the TC, I put that mag in and not a single misfire.

So, I'm starting to think these problems are completely related to not being fully seated. We'll see. In any case, for a few bucks, it certainly does not hurt to replace the springs & cheap parts in a 15 year old gun (who knows if it was ever done before).

I'll keep you posted. Keep the ideas coming.

Thanks

[paul45120]

LW barrels generly have much tighter chambers than factory Glock barrels. A good taper crimp along with making sure the boolits are seated deep enough should solve your problem. Rounds that ran fine in my factory barrel were unreliable in the LW barrel. A little adjustment and all is well.

[MtGun44]

Taper crimp.

Bill

[Daryl]

Today's report. 80 rounds fired perfectly from both guns with the Lone Wolf barrel. It was that I needed to seat the TC shoulder completely flush with the case mouth. The close tolerance of the LW barrel and the rifling close to the breech makes that necessary in my case.

I did go ahead and replace the old firing pin spring on the G21 since I had it ordered and it came. Interestingly, the G30 and G21 springs laid side by side and the the new G21 and old G21 spring were exactly the same length. The G30 was slightly longer (maybe 1/16-1/8 - but a visually noticeable amount).

So, looks like in my case it was the case not fully headspaced on the case mouth and the first hit on the firing pin had some cushion on the bullet.

Thanks for the input.