586 Fireing pin

[Craig H.]

I have replaced the main and hammer spring with the lighter Wolff Sping Kit. I am getting the occasional "non fire". I see that I can get a longer fireing pin from Brownells. Is there any chance of this longer pin piercing the primer?

Kind regards...Craig

[S&WIowegan]

There is some chance of piercing but I doubt it will be a problem. I
assume you have a modern 586 with a frame-mounted firing pin, right?

Did you have no light hits before you put the Wolff springs in? The most probable reason for your non-fire problem is the springs are too light. The hammer is not hitting hard enough to detonate the primer. Do you get light indents in the primer? Is the mainspring screw in all the way? Did you shorten it at all?

[Craig H.]

Correct, most recent model. Yes, light indents on primer...not all the time. No light hits with original springs. I like the feel of the trigger pull now. Strain screw is all the way in. I saw somewhere about replaceing the strain screw with a .5" 8/32 stainless setscrew.

[rbmorse]

Craig, I've got a 986 (another "L" frame) and went through the same thing you're seeing after changing the rebound spring to a lighter one from Wolfe. The longer firing pin will help, but may not eliminate the light strike issue. I've never had a pierced primer, afaIk.

My observation is that it only happens when shooting double action and when I'm a bit less than....shall I say committed...on the trigger. I'll usually get soft strikes if I inadvertently hesitate mid pull or if I'm trying to cheat the break. A smooth, positive full pull results in successful ignition. It's allegorical to limp-wristing an automatic...limp fingering?

There may be an issue with cartridges that have "hard" primers, but I haven't isolated that out.

I did have an issue on my 986 that you won't have. Somewhere along the lines I picked up some out of spec moon clips that caused just enough headspace error that some cartridges would show a soft strike. That one took me awhile to sort out.

[Protocall_Design]

The hammer will fall the same no matter how the trigger is pulled because it is strictly a mechanical function of the hammer being the same distance back at all times when it is released from the trigger. This means the spring is tensioned the same every time, and thus delivers the same strike force every time.

An extended firing pin will help some, but it may not be enough in this case. The softest primers are Federal, that is what all the competition guys use, second is Winchester. You need to be using one of these 2 primers with a reduced power mainspring.