Primers

[Beekeeper]

Sorry about the title but didn't know what else to call it!
I am again working on the Antique 577 Snider that I have.
It has a firing problem in that the hammer must fall twice to get the primer to go bang.
I have CCI and Winchester primers and it doesn't seem to make a difference.
Is there a softer primer that maybe I can use?

I get good primer strike and it markes the primer top dead center but not hard enough the first time to get it to fire.

I have been through this thing from top to bottom and sidewise and haven't found anything wrong so am grasping at straws.

Could the firing pin end be cut at an angle to get good contact?
The one I have is nicely rounded like any other rifle pin I have ever worked with but none of them ever drove down at an angle like the Snider.

Need any ones help or advice as I want to shoot this old war horse in a BP match.


Jim

[fishhawk]

have a rolling block that i turned into a 45-90 that needed a firing pin when i was done, no big deal just made one. well after getting it in it did the same thing you have i had to reshape the nose of the pin for it to work, after that no problem. steve k

[elk hunter]

Pistol primers have a thinner and slightly shorter cup, perhaps they would work.

[deltaenterprizes]

Federal primers are the softest and I have been told that Wolf primers are soft also.

[Buckshot]

.............Jim, be sure the nose of the hammer is striking the tip of the firing pin 'straight'. You can lose a good amount of energy of the hammer fall by the hammer actually forceing the firing pin against the side of it's bore if it doesn't. It also might be worth a try to replace the hammer spring.

I have been through this thing from top to bottom and sidewise and haven't found anything wrong so am grasping at straws.

By this I'm sure you mean you've had the firing in out and it's passage through the block buffed out with penetrating oil on a tight wad of steel wool, and it's not giving you red rusty sludge? The lock has been diassembled and inspected for no rubbing or other issues and the hammer moves freely? If all the above checks out there isn't any reason that that big hammer, after accelerating through it's 100º arc shouldn't set off ANY primer :-)

.............Buckshot

[Molly]

Take the breechblock out of the rifle and see if you get acceptable protrusion of the firing pin by finger pressure alone. If not, coat the firing pin with candle soot and put it back in to find out where it's binding. Also, check the diameter of the hole in the face of the breechblock: sometimes it gets peened over too small to allow the pin to easily get through.

If you get acceptable protrusion, check the headspace. It can get pretty generous on some of these old fellows, and it could be just a simple as epoxying a thin spacer on the end of the chamber rim to keep the case back far enough for the firing pin to hit it. The easy and quick test is to put a little grease on the base of a fired case to hold a washer in place while you try to chamber the case. This will give you a good idea of the headspace in just a few minutes. Generally speaking, you shouldn't have much more room than for a 0.005" spacer before the case begins to bind, though some guns have quite a bit more. You MAY have one of these excessive headspace guns.

[ilcop22]

Wolf primers are pretty hard IMHO. They can withstand M1 slamfires, so not sure if they would solve your problem.

[bigdog454]

Try removing the firing pin and cleaning the area (grove etc), I've had firing pins do that, and there was excessive grease, oil and dust build up that slowed the firing pin. Oil and cold weather will do that too.