Light Firing Pin Strikes.

warren5421 · Oct 15, 2017

Have a Colt Rail Gun that just started giving light Firing Pin Strikes. What spring would you change, less than 100 rounds on this spring set. Ammo is Horady XTP's 230 gr +P. Hammer spring is a Wilson. Hit is center of primer. Gun has 1000's of rounds through it and several spring changes over the years. Gun is one of my carry guns and gets cleaned every month if used or not. 3rd and 5th round was light strikes in the mag. Cleaning is all parts removed all holes and passages cleaned, oiled and reassembled. I have carried the 1911 for 60+ years and this is the first light strikes where I did not have old spring or broken firing pin.

NyleRN · Oct 15, 2017

It's probably not the springs if they're that new. Clean the firing pin channel first

red_zr24x4 · Oct 15, 2017

Also, if reloads make sure the primer is seated all the way and that the OAL is correct.
High primers will seat all the way first hit (usually) then fire. Same with OAL, bullet will seat till they go off

halfmileharry · Oct 15, 2017

Are the primer strikes in the center of the primer?
Definitely clean the firing pin and channel, inspect the spring and firing pin.
You mentioned "this spring set"???
I'd also suspect hammer spring weakness if you've changed out the springs.

warren5421 · Oct 16, 2017

Ammo is Horady XTP's 230 gr +P. Hammer spring is a Wilson. Hit is center of primer. Gun has 1000's of rounds through it and several spring changes over the years. Gun is one of my carry guns and gets cleaned every month if used or not. 3rd and 5th round was light strikes in the mag. Cleaning is all parts removed all holes and passages cleaned, oiled and reassembled. I have carried the 1911 for 60+ years and this is the first light strikes where I did not have old spring or broken firing pin.

halfmileharry · Oct 16, 2017

warren5421 said:
Ammo is Horady XTP's 230 gr +P. Hammer spring is a Wilson. Hit is center of primer. Gun has 1000's of rounds through it and several spring changes over the years. Gun is one of my carry guns and gets cleaned every month if used or not. 3rd and 5th round was light strikes in the mag. Cleaning is all parts removed all holes and passages cleaned, oiled and reassembled. I have carried the 1911 for 60+ years and this is the first light strikes where I did not have old spring or broken firing pin.

Try the easy remedies first.
Try different ammo.
Put in some known good factory springs and go from there.
IF that doesn't fix it I don't know what to tell you without hands on.
IF it's working good at that point then back track until you found what the issue was.

Squirt239 · Oct 16, 2017

Is the firing pin "mushroomed"? Lighter firing pin spring installed? Lighter hammer spring installed? Different hammer installed? Old ammo?

There's too many variables to tell you exactly what the problem is. I can guess the above things of what the problem MIGHT be...

PGRChaplain · Oct 21, 2017

It's like a Race Car, change 1 piece at a time to limit possibilities. Put your old firing pin spring back in and start there.

halfmileharry · Oct 25, 2017

Any word on the problem yet?

warren5421 · Aug 9, 2018

Have went through 1000 rounds now and works like a swiss watch. the firing pin was the problem. It was a Wilson but did not hold up. I checked the OAL and was .002 shorter than the 5 other firing pins.

praff · Aug 10, 2018

There are a lot of things that aren't necessarily intuitive that could be causing this. One example is how the chamber is cut or how it has worn over the years. Since 45 and 9mm headspace on the case mouth, if the chamber is becoming too long or doesn't have a good shoulder (think worn out), it can cause the round to creep forward in the chamber either before or after the firing pin has struck the primer.

Glad you figured it out....if you start having other issues, post back here. There are a lot of knowledgeable 1911 folks in this forum.

LCSOSgt11 · Aug 14, 2018

If you have cleaned out the firing pin channel, and all of the other things noted above and still have the problem, you may want to consider a "heavier" mainspring.

Drail · Aug 17, 2018

Kind of like the rifle in "Shooter".

Light Firing Pin Strikes.

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