Changed primers

Just for conversation; I had to change from Fed to CCI small pistol primers. About half of them don't ignite in my revolver shooting DA. Didn't change anything but the primer. However they work fine shooting SA in the same revolver.
A stronger main spring will likely fix this.

I'd be curious what PPC shooter's like Jim Chapman would think. ALL of the shooter in our club's informal PPC matches shot Federal primers in their tuned D/A revolvers.

I shot the last 2 seasons without a failure to fire with this revolver and Fed primers.

In my Clark Custom Guns tuned S&W 625, Federal primers are a must as instructed by them. If I need to shoot CCI's or some other factory ammo a .020" shim between the strain screw and the hammer spring remedies the issue. Brass shim stock or the tail end of an Exacto knife blade does the trick. That changes my 6.5# double action trigger to about 7.5#.

During the NRA metallic reloading class I took they showed us a chart of primer cup hardness and CCI was the hardest on the list, and Fed the softest. Winchester was next softest after Fed. I've had a but of ignition issues with Win, many more with Remington, haven't bothered with CCI based on those results.

Dan Webb wrote:I'd be curious what PPC shooter's like Jim Chapman would think. ALL of the shooter in our club's informal PPC matches shot Federal primers in their tuned D/A revolvers.

This is the answer... Federal primers for any D/A.

Federal has been my go to primer but I ran out, so used what I had. Our summer league starts on Tuesday. Just glad I found the issue before the timer started.

Buy another mainspring, they are not expensive. Leave the one that you have, if you like it alone. Set the other one up to fire whatever other primers you have. switch them out as needed when needed.

or

Buy a new strain screw. It that works great. If not carefully peen the non threaded end to stretch it slightly. Trial and error will tell you when it is long enough. Switch out the strain screws as needed, when needed.

or

Find a threaded bolt with no head, but has allen wrench slot in one end which has the same threads as the strain screw. Put blue locktight on it. Thread it in to where you get 100% Federal ignition. Then reference that spot. Turn in 1/4 turns until you get ignition with alternate primers and reference that. I will guess the delta is only about 1/4 - 1/2 turn. I have drilled a hole in the front of my grips so that I can make this adjustment with an allen wrench without removing the grips.

or

Do the shim method.

or

Simply increase mainspring tension to shoot any primers and call it a day

We used to use spent primer cups as shims on the short strain screws

Allgoodhits wrote:Buy another mainspring, they are not expensive. Leave the one that you have, if you like it alone. Set the other one up to fire whatever other primers you have. switch them out as needed when needed.

I bag and tag all the original springs when I worked the trigger pull weight down. Hopefully the original main will get me running through these 1000 reloads.
At least until I find Federals to load.
I do like to shoot DA for all stages.