Out of battery fire

First a little info. Pistol, Benelli MP95E Atlanta. Ammo case in image, Eley Practice. CCI-SV passes a "plunk test". Eley fails the plunk test, but experiences fewer failures. I have been experiencing "light strikes" with CCI-SV, and less frequently with Eley Practice. Something in my cranium told me this was happening because the cartridge was not fully entering the chamber. So I super cleaned the chamber with a .25 bronze brush. Fewer light strike problems, but still there. Today at a match in Waterman Illinois I believe I proved my theory. Please look at fired case. You will see what appears to be an out of battery fire. I caught it this time because the empty ejected into my forehead and landed on the bench directly in front of me. Being the last round of a string, I picked it up to examine. So, my question is, what do I do? Is it possible to have the chamber reamed out .001 or .002? Or will I be opening up other problems? Any advise from the experts out there would be appreciated.

Side note. Besides the regular 90 shots of the 1800 match today, I shot a CMP .22 EIC match with this Benelli. Got a bronze medal, so that's a plus, for me anyhow. Looking to get a few gold medals to put with it in the near future, I hope.

Thank you for any replies.

Completely unrelated, but is there a schedule for matches in waterman? That's about an hour 45 from me, so not too bad

Mike;

Is your firing pin channel spic and span clean ?

I would not ream the chamber, perhaps change out the recoil spring first?

Sc0 wrote:I would not ream the chamber, perhaps change out the recoil spring first?

+1 it looks like it is in battery but coming out too quickly. Out of battery firing pin strikes are usually too light to fire.

I had FTF at the last match with CCI SV.  Maybe have done the same with any ammo but that was all I had along.  Got home and found the breach face and the chamber was terribly dirty.  Cleaned both and the ammo ran fine all week.  Don

Terribly dirty chamber is another thing that can happen if the recoil spring is too light. Here is an interesting read.

http://bullseyepistol.com/malfunction.htm

Just checked my Nelson .22 that exhibited a few light strikes at at the end of the TSRA 2700, the issue was built up residue on the bolt face and chamber edge.  Guessing that the bolt residue spaced the bolt back a little bit and the chamber residue did the same.  Combined it cushioned the firing pin strike to be null... Thought the firing pin channel was dirty but the firing pin still had full travel.

You say that the Eley fails the plunk test... if you took a photo of an unfired Eley round that has been dropped into the chamber (and failed to go in all the way), and took a second photo of that fired casing placed into the chamber... do they both sit above the chamber about the same amount?  More or less what I'm getting at is... is this any more than confirmation that this ammo fails the plunk test in your gun, which you already knew?

Also, is it just me, or does that casing have grease all over the rim / bulge area in that photo?  Is that grease preventing it from fully seating?

VolScorpion wrote:Completely unrelated, but is there a schedule for matches in waterman? That's about an hour 45 from me, so not too bad

We run two Bullseye "opportunities" that are run in Waterman. The range is the Aurora Sportman's Club. We have a summer league that shoots 6 900's. Generally on the 4th Saturday of the month. We shoot 22 on the even months starting in April and CF on the odd months starting in May. We also run two 1800's, one on the second Saturday in May and one on the second Saturday in August. The website to find the match bulletins is https://sites.google.com/a/aurorasc.org/asc/home

Our Bullseye range is a temporary set up that we put up and take down for these. We do have turning targets for the 25 yd line. Capacity currently is 14 shooters, hence the 1800 format so we can run two relays. We also generally run both EIC 22 and Service Pistol leg matches in between the 1800's. The range is at present uncovered with permanent benches. We get most of our shooters from the Chicago area but we also see shooters down from Wisconsin and once in a awhile from Iowa.

....does that casing have grease all over the rim / bulge area in that photo?

Nope. Must be a shadow or something? I use oil to lube not grease.

I ordered a couple of new recoil springs from Larry's Guns this morning. Will install one, clean the chamber extra good, and shoot 100 rounds of CCI in training this weekend to see how it works out.

Why I don't know, but a misfeed or jam throws me out of my "groove" during a match so bad it effects my scores the rest of the day. The .22 started it all off, then the .45 wasn't any better. Bad day all around for me. It's a mental game that I need to get control of.

weber1b, even though I had problems, and the lowest scores I've had since "coming out of retirement" overall I must say that I enjoyed myself at your match. More than likely, I'll make it to your August match. Thanks.

Update: Made it to the range this morning. New recoil springs came in, but as I learned years ago when troubleshooting any piece of machinery, do one thing at a time, then test. If you do two things and the problem goes away, you'll never know which one cured the problem. So with a clean chamber and old recoil spring, I started my weekly training session, with CCI-SV ammo. Got to round 50, no problems with light strikes or extraction. I stopped to do a "plunk test". All's good so far. Another 50 rounds, no problems what so ever.

Larry's Guns Inc. sent a Questions/Answers/Trouble Shooting guide for the Benelli MP95E along with the new recoil springs. After reading it over, it looks like 90% of problems with these pistols can be blamed on a dirty chamber. They aren't kidding one bit. I've never owned an European target pistol until now, so I can blame this on inexperience.

Got home, cleaned the chamber real good again, installed new recoil spring, should be ready to go.

I hope my ignorance / inexperience will help someone else later down the road if they find this thread on a search. Clean the chamber, then clean it again, maybe even a third time. It just may solve your problems.


Oh, and during today's training, I put 30 consecutive rounds of timed fire in the black. For me that's outstanding. Warming up to this Benelli!