I am getting quite a few light strikes with my 9mm moonclip loaded 986. One 7 shot clip had as many as 3. It is not the ammo, because I was able to shoot the offending shells in my
M&P 9.
Is there a right side up on these moonclips? I have noticed that one side has rounded off edges, while the other side is sharp.
Some times all shells will fire, but the next clip will have one or
two not fire, and they will not fire if you try again.
If I am doing something wrong, I can correct it, if not is this a
send it back to S&W problem?

Walt

I 'think' the moon clips are supplied by TK Custom to S&W. I also believe that the blued ones are stamped pieces.
Additionally, I believe the sharp side should face the cylinder as opposed to the rounded side.
You could try it both ways if you haven't done so already.
When you buy additional clips from TK their initials are stamped on one of the 'wings' and the initials should be facing up or towards the rear of the revolver when the cylinder is closed.

Have you done anything in the way of spring kits or loosening of the main spring screw? If you have, therein may lay your trouble. If not then the first thing I would look at is the main spring screw and make sure it is Tight. Also make sure all the brass you are using (if you are reloading) is fitting the moon clip well. I have found PMC brass does well in my 986. Look at the ones with light strikes and see if they are the same as the ones that fire brand wise. Let me know how you make out.

__________________
Nam '66-67

I pay no attention to the way my clips face, and never had a light strike because of the facing (or otherwise). Mainspring, maybe the firing pin channel? I went and bought a C&S extended length firing pin just in case I should ever need it ... not that I would attempt the job myself.

If it's a new gun, I'd send it in. Sorry for your troubles ... it sucks, I know.

Replacing the firing pin is one of the easiest solutions to the problem. It's one of the first things I do with my 627s and my 929.

Make sure the strain screw is tight. Best thing to do is to use a little BLUE loctite on it. That will allow you to adjust it but it will not loosen up. Another old trick is to use clear nailpolish.

Good luck and good shooting.

Thanks to all of you for your advice. I bought the gun used, so I am not sure if S&W will repair it. I guess I had better go see my
gunsmith. I copied your comments, so he can get a head start.

9mm revolvers are a sort of juggling act between the brand of moon clip and the brand of ammo brass. Some combinations work much better than others. A looser combination allows the cartridge to move forward when struck by the firing pin. A longer firing pin can help, but some of the hammer force is lost if the cartridge has to be shoved forward by the firing pin. This can be a problem especially if you're using a lighter main spring.

Check your stain screw. My 986 suddenly started having lite strikes and the strain screw had backed out. Tightened it up and it was good as new.

Afternoon Waltswood;

My 986 was right on the edge of reliability as received. It never faulted in single action firing but I would get an occasional mis-fire when shooting slow-pull double action.

It really had issues in shooting my hard primer hand loads.

My standard home practice round is loaded using CCI small rifle primers as those are hard little devils, so if I can get the gun to have 100% ignition with small rifle primers I am pretty well assured it won't cause me any issues at a shoot using standard primers.

My first (quick-fix) was to just install a gutted small primer between the strain screw & the main spring-- that cured all my mis-fires but I wasn't that happy with the added trigger pull weight.

I shot it like that for a few hundred rounds to break the gun in then removed the gutted primer & most of my mis-fires were gone when using the small rifle primers & all gone with the standard small pistol primers.

After shooting the gun a while more I did full trigger job as well as shimming the hammer to center & shimming the trigger. (the hammer was hitting & dragging slightly on the side of the frame)

I'm really not sure what the cure was (one thing or all added together) but once I shimmed the hammer & trigger so no more hammer rub & the trigger was not moving sideways ALL my mis-fires are now gone even using hard small rifle primers.

So, as mentioned above, verify that strain screw is tight, & verify that you don't any bent moon clips (easy to bend when force loading)

If the moon clips are flat & your strain screw is tight then you will probably need to repair it yourself or send the gun back to Smith.

Just keep in mind that if you send it back to Smith they will probably just install a heavier hammer main spring so your trigger pull will come back heavier.

Or simply try a the gutted small primer between the strain screw tip & the main spring for a few hundred shots --then remove it & see if the gun has loosened up enough to allow 100% ignition.

I finally had time a few minutes ago to check the mainspring screw. I was able to get a full 3 turns before it tightened completely. I took the gun out and fired 5 clips through it without
a single lightstrike. The firing pin went clear through some of the
primers.
Thank you, guys, for your mainspring suggestions. I am learning
thanks to good guys like you.
Walt

Evening Walt

Now you have another problem to look into-- your firing pin should never/ever puncture a primer.

Does your gun have the correct stain screw in it??? (3 turns out sounds like a lot for the thing to even fire)

Sounds like a previous owner may have put in a longer firing pin. Now that you have tightened the main spring, a longer pin could be causing pierced primers. Firing pins are cheap, and easy to replace.

I picked up my Model 66 from the gunsmith today. I brought it in Monday to have him install a Wolf standard strength mainspring and the 14 pound return spring (I would've done the mainspring myself, but I don't wanna mess with the return spring, so I took it in ...) I also brought a C&S extended firing pin in case it might be needed. I told him it's a defense gun -- I want it as light as possible, BUT reliability is my main concern. I figured that the Wolf spring alone would make the pull tolerable, as the gun was smooth, but the trigger was probably at least 13 pounds. I can't imagine the Wolf and the 14 pound return spring yielding more than a 10 pound pull.

Anyway, he tells me the pull would be the same weight ... and I let him talk me into taking home my springs and buying a reduced power spring from him to install. He also said I wouldn't need the C&S installed.

Lo and behold, I picked it up today, and knew immediately I was going to have problems. The trigger was similar to the Ruger LC9s Pro, which is about 4.5-5 pounds. He also put in a 13 pound return spring.

I took it to the range, took a double action shot, and ... click. Single action, bang, click. Double action, click, bang. I quit after 4 cylinders. About 60-70% light strikes in double action, single action (OMG, talk about a hair trigger ...) felt like it would go off if you sneezed on it, but once the hammer fell, it was about a 50-50 change of a misfire.

Dry firing it as you would in a rapid fire defensive situation, it would skip cylinders once every 4 pulls or so. Man, do I have the luck ... and of course, the guy is off for 3 days and next week is basically a 3 day week.

My gut tells me to take it back and have him install the standard power mainspring and 14 pound return spring I wanted in the first place. Won't this be fun? $86 in the toilet for the springs and install, and I still have the stuff I bought for him to put in to begin with.