Federal Primers with white 8.5# hammerspring, ext. FP

[newageroman]

Hi guys, I am wanting confirmations from some loaders here that the white spring can be used with minimal light strikes before I make another test batch or decide to just stick with the production hammer spring and whatever primers I use (federal, CCI, Win).


I have built up a 75B  model stuffed with CGW SAO conversion parts. I have the ex FP and return spring in, along with the white lightes 8.5# hammerspring. This trigger is sooooo nice. I have just recenlty started shooting USPSA and would rather have reliability over super trigger. I also tried the 11# hammerspirng and it had trouble setting off some CCI/Win/Fiocchi primers.

I am getting a fair amount 20/30% of light strikes on some bullets I made on the 650 using federal small pistol magnum primers.

At first I attributed this to the light hammer spring, but closer inspection uncovered that there were a fair number of high primers. I will be wathing the primers closer on the next batch for sure.

Thx!

[dave33]

One of my P-09's has an 11.5 hammer spring and will light off any primer I use.  I do seat my primers very deep and give them a little pre-crush which I'm sure helps.  When using light springs primer seating depth makes all the difference.  Really lean on that handle when priming, should help. 

[painter]

Pretty sure 1SOW uses an 8.5# hammer spring with Fed primers and gets 100% reliability. I use a 13# and can set off even CCI primers.

Likely the seating depth on your primers is the issue.

[RocketRyan]

I have a SP-01 standard with the full CGW kit. I run federal primers with the 8.5 hammerspring and ext fp/spring. I have zero issues with lighting off federals. If I need to use win/cci I swap back to the 11.5 spring.

When you say "I also tried the 11# hammerspirng and it had trouble setting off some CCI/Win/Fiocchi primers." Was this before you changed the seating depth? This setup should be reliable with those primers.

[1SOW]

As Painter said,  make certain the Fed primers are Fully bottomed out (seated).  I've been using the 8.5# hammer spring reliably for many thousands of rounds.  The Comp. Or Race Hammer,  extended firing pin and lighter FP spring is needed for reliabilty.
Keep the action parts properly lubed.  I use a light synthetic oil...Mobile.1.

I did have one problem after 20k RDS +/-.  I started having some "hammer follow" .  David at CGW said they had seen this with the 8.5# spring and the Competition hammer combination.  The hammer hooks and sear edge wore with this combo and had some double taps with one pull.  I installed a new Race Hammer with a new sear and no more problems since

 
Double action pull is great.  Single action pull was lighter than I prefer,  so I went back to the stock weight trigger spring and bent the spring tang to "increase" the S.A.pull weight.   This helped.:   5# or less DA and 2.6/7#  SA. with a borrowed Lyman dig. pull tester.

Hope this helps

 

[newageroman]

Based on input from you guys I will make another batch and make sure the primers are seated properly.
I'm not 100% sure about the seating depth of the previous batches of ammo that I made with CCI/Win/Fiocchi primers but I didn't see any in those batches that stood out.
Thanks for the info guys. Will report back after next range trip.

[win308]

With my Dillon I always have to go back and finish hand seating pistol primers....there are always hi ones.  I watch TV and use a Lee hand prime tool to go thru a box of 100 during the news.  Then I mark the box to know primers have been checked before I put the ammo on the shelf.

[Wobbly]

I have an SP-01 which has been modified over the years. It has the lighter hammer spring and I run Federal #100 primers exclusively with 100% reliability.

Part of my process is slowing the reloading process down quite a bit, and taking the time to properly seat each primer. Probably at a rate of ~300 rounds per hour, which is slow for a 650. If they are competition rounds, then I case gauge each round; if they are for practice I don't bother. Then each round gets placed primer-end-up in a plastic ammo box and check primer heights with a swipe of the finger.

I think the thinner primer cups are called for, and they require more care in seating.

 

[1SOW]

No high primers with a turret press if a firm pull is used .  I can even "speed up" to maybe 100/hour if I'm feeling froggy.

[newageroman]

Update:  (both batches were shot using the lightest/white/#8.5 hammer spring, ext. FP and FP spring)

Batch A was leftover from last range day. Federal sm. Pistol Magnum Primers - run on the 650, and checked each primer to make sure they were no protruding primers. Most were even with the rim of the case, not high, but not all were fully seated below the rim. Out of ~40 rounds I had 3 that had light primer strikes. Those 3 did fire in my carry gun no problem.

Batch B was a new batch that I sized on the 650, then hand primed with RCBS primer tool with the same Federal Sm. Pistol Magnum Primers. Hand checked all of those and they were fully seated and below the rim. About 40 rounds of those (all the brass I had), and not one of them had a light primer strike.

I shot Batch A first and was a little disheartened and considered going back to the heavier hammer spring. Then shot Batch B and was a little surprised that I had no issues with them. I've got a USPSA match this weekend, so I am going to hand prime all the match ammo. I will continue to run some small batches of plinking ammo on the 650 until I get all the seating issues worked out. I can generally feel the primer seating resistance pretty good and will pull the ones that are a little stiff to hand prime those.

Thanks again for the input guys!
I'll report back after the match. Wish me luck! ... and skill.

[RocketRyan]

Are you using mixed headstamp brass? It's possible that seating inconsistences are due to the different brass. Also I run a 1050, but on a 650 are you able to adjust the seating depth? I aim to get it two thousands below the rim.

[newageroman]

Yeah, I'm using mixed headstamp brass, as I'm cheap and new to 9mm and USPSA.

I just had my second match this past Saturday and things ran much better. I only had one malfunction and in the heat of the moment I can't remember for sure if it was a light primer strike or a failure to feed. I want to say it was a failure to feed after a fresh mag reload, but not 100% sure. I think what will help me improve now more than anything is dryfire and practicie in the backyard with moving and transitions.

I think this weekend I'm going to make ammo with what bullets I have left all on the 650 for comparison/plinking batch , paying close attention to any primers that don't seat properly. I have the roller thrust bearing, roller cam on my 650, so I have a pretty good "feel" for seating the primers, and should be able to pull out and hand seat any that feel problematic.

Also worth mentioning:
I have a lowbore front sight so I need to file down my rear a bit more as I'm shooting about 10" low at 10-15 yards. I was aiming at the neck through all the targets.
There was one stage with steel poppers where I aimed at the circle part, and hit the target low. It made the ring sound so I counted it as hit and moved on to other targets. It wasn't until after I finished ans showed clear that I saw it still standing.  On following stages with the same type of steel, I just kept shooting till they were down. Not the best for time, but it was fun!

[painter]

If you're shooting low, you don't want to lower the rear.

You move the rear in the direction you want to go. You move the front opposite the way you want to go.

[newageroman]

ohh yeah, duh. better rethink that, thx!