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Light Primer Strikes

5815 Views 21 Replies 9 Participants Last post by  rowe_s
Anyone having problems with light primer strikes?

I'm having a major issue with some of my reloads.

Could be a bad lot of primers I have also.

Factory ammo seems ok, but I've only put 50 rounds of factory through it so far.



IAShooter
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I've had 1, on a reload, CCI primer, they are also known to be a hard primer
These are Winchester primers. Bought a 1000 lot at a gunshow.

If I remember correctly, I shot some of these through a Glock I used to own

and had the same issue.

Also not sure if it is an issue, but these primers have got some years on them.
I have shot primers that sat in knee deep flood water.



Sat them in a heater on 100F for about 5 hours and they dried out, never had a problem. Shot in a rifle BTW.
Well, I have heard of some early adopters having light primer strikes and that S&W re-speced the striker spring.



But before you persue that, make sure you are seating the suckers fully. There also was a bad batch of winchester small pistol at some point apparantly. They were a tad out of spec and could cause seating issues or a small sliver of the primer cup to be shaved off. The sliver could then cause problems with the primer system on various presses.



Being a fairly shelf stable product, who knows how old the lot was. I just know the local reloading supply guy got a mess of them, and a lot of the locals had issues for a couple months.
I have had all types of issues with WWB ammo as of late. I burn through1k+ rounds a month and have had no issues, until the last 1k I purchased. Dozens of double feeds, jamming in barrel (No, I mean really jammed), and 2 suspected light primer hits. It has been such a bad experience I am thinking of mail ordering Speer Lawman. The Lawman have the advantage of being full power loads.
I've only purchased 1 box of factory ammo so far and it was WWB.

I've had the same issues you are experiencing MP40Fan.

Lots of double feeds and barrel jams.

It's been bad enough that I have definately purchased my first and last box of WWB.

The LEO's at the S.O. that I work at are qualifying today.

A few of them are going to take my M&P and put it to a serious test.

They've been asked to keep track of any feeding problems and any light primer strikes.

I should have a report tomorrow.

Any light strikes and I will be contacting Smith & Wesson.

As far as the winchester primers, I've never had a problem, with the exception of this 1000 lot.

When I do get a light strike, I inspect the primer and it appears to have a pretty good impact on it. I cycle it through the magazine again and 90 percent of the time it fires.
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Are you guys having problems in the 9 or 40?
JohnN said:
Are you guys having problems in the 9 or 40?


40 here.
I load most of my ammo using Win. primers, over the years CCI has caused some FTFs maybe one or two in 100 rnds. The CCI casings I believe are made of a combination of steel and nickel if my memory serves me correctly. for the army to meet safety requiremnts regarding shipping and handllng. My duty ammo is all Federal Match Primed. M&P 40 striker and spring are strong enough to light off any factory ammo.
IAShooter said:
I've only purchased 1 box of factory ammo so far and it was WWB.

I've had the same issues you are experiencing MP40Fan.

Lots of double feeds and barrel jams.

It's been bad enough that I have definately purchased my first and last box of WWB.

The LEO's at the S.O. that I work at are qualifying today.

A few of them are going to take my M&P and put it to a serious test.

They've been asked to keep track of any feeding problems and any light primer strikes.

I should have a report tomorrow.

Any light strikes and I will be contacting Smith & Wesson.

As far as the winchester primers, I've never had a problem, with the exception of this 1000 lot.

When I do get a light strike, I inspect the primer and it appears to have a pretty good impact on it. I cycle it through the magazine again and 90 percent of the time it fires.


When I first got mine I had a lot of misfires. Sent it back to S&W, they fixed it and returned it in a timely manner. Worked perfect after that. Haven't had a misfire since.
IAShooter said:
I've only purchased 1 box of factory ammo so far and it was WWB.

I've had the same issues you are experiencing MP40Fan.

Lots of double feeds and barrel jams.

It's been bad enough that I have definately purchased my first and last box of WWB.

The LEO's at the S.O. that I work at are qualifying today.

A few of them are going to take my M&P and put it to a serious test.

They've been asked to keep track of any feeding problems and any light primer strikes.

I should have a report tomorrow.

Any light strikes and I will be contacting Smith & Wesson.

As far as the winchester primers, I've never had a problem, with the exception of this 1000 lot.

When I do get a light strike, I inspect the primer and it appears to have a pretty good impact on it. I cycle it through the magazine again and 90 percent of the time it fires.


I would love to see this report of yours. I appears my M&P .40 will chew up and spit out anything, except for this last batch of WWB. Oddly, I carry with Winchester Ranger RA40TA and have not had a single issue with this ammo. I have put around 350 rounds of it through my firearm. I usually do this 1 magazine each time I hit the range. Of course 350 rounds is pale when compared to the 4,000+ rounds of WWB I have cycled through the firearm.



On interesting note I do have. I pulled the striker around the same time as purchasing my last 1k of WWB. I sprayed it with a composite/plastic safe solvent and lightly scrubbed it with a soft bristled brush. Could this have caused the issue?
I'll post the report when I get it.

I was suprised about the WWB myself, I have never heard any bad reports about that ammo before.

rowe_s, curious as to what Smith did to fix your problem? Really don't want to go through the hassle to ship if it is only going to be a striker spring change.

On that note, is anyone producing after market springs yet?

Wolff perhaps.
OK rowe_s what did S&W tell you did to fix the problem so we all can be informed TKS Posselaw
Here's a preliminary report on the M&P from the LEO's I work with.

Worked the graveyard last night and talked to a couple of the guys that were at qualification.

Those that shot it, either liked it or loved it. So far have not heard anyone say they didn't care for it.

Haven't spoke to the person that wanted it for the initial test yet, but from what I hear he will be converting from his Beretta to an M&P.

Also those that I spoke to said there was not one problem with light strikes or any feed failures. Was told it ran flawlessly, so I think my issue of light strikes is going to be faulty primers.

Will post more info when I receive it.
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When I first got mine I had a lot of misfires. Sent it back to S&W, they fixed it and returned it in a timely manner. Worked perfect after that. Haven't had a misfire since.


My very first mag through my .40, I had two light primer hits. I disassembled, cleaned, and then pushed down the button on the slide that releases the firing pin, and worked the pin back and forth a few times, cleaning and oiling as I went. Smoothed right out, apparently had some grease or grit from the factory.



I have reassembled and have another 60 rounds through it so far and not another problem of any kind.
DJ said:
he slide that releases the firing pin, and worked the pin back and forth a few times, cleaning and oiling as I went. Smoothed right out, apparently had some grease or grit from the factory.


I second taking out the striker and making sure the channel is clear. When I got mine, it had a bunch of plastic shavings in there.
Spoke to the deputy, this morning, that had my M&P.

He qualified with his duty gun first and then took the M&P and went through the stages he did not score %100 on, primarily 25 yds.

He said with the M&P he shot %100 at his 25 yd stage, something he said he is not able to do with his duty gun. Mind you, he didn't even sight the M&P in, just picked it up and fired away.

He also stated he will be converting to the M&P.

For what it's worth, several people shot the M&P using Ultramax ammo and the report was not one problem.
I just brought my 40 back from the range, so in doing my usual cleaning I decide to go ahead and remove the striker assembly and clean it out and inpect it for possible wear issues. I was not experiencing a problem, I have just put about a thousand round thru it and the striker assembly had not been cleaned yet. When I removed it, I found an accumulation of what apeared to be brass shavings. Not sure where they came from, other than flakes from the firing pin making contact with the primer and carring shavings back with it. As far as I know there are no brass parts in the striker assembley, unless there is a bushing in there I can't see. I can see after a while if left unchecked it could cause problems. Keep em clean!
iskiuskiweski said:
I just brought my 40 back from the range, so in doing my usual cleaning I decide to go ahead and remove the striker assembly and clean it out and inpect it for possible wear issues. I was not experiencing a problem, I have just put about a thousand round thru it and the striker assembly had not been cleaned yet. When I removed it, I found an accumulation of what apeared to be brass shavings. Not sure where they came from, other than flakes from the firing pin making contact with the primer and carring shavings back with it. As far as I know there are no brass parts in the striker assembley, unless there is a bushing in there I can't see. I can see after a while if left unchecked it could cause problems. Keep em clean!


I know this has been told, but I cannot find the info, how do you remove the striker?
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