Thunder Ranch 325 Revolver

chrislind2

chrislind2

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My new Thunder Ranch just came back from repair. Took them 93 days to repair it. Meanwhile I reloaded some .45 Auto Rim ammo for it's return. I fired the auto rim today and out of 80 rounds 4 had light strikes on the primer. I do tend to seat my primers slightly below even, but never before had 4 out of 80 in the same gun fail to fire because of light strikes. I did attempt to fire them several times and no change at all. It seems really strange. I guess 4 out of 80 is not a lot, but it's hard to figure.
 

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4 out of 80 is not acceptable. No doubt you checked to make sure main spring strain screw was tight. If it was I would install a slightly longer one. BTW what was original issue it went back for?
 
chrislind2 said:
My new Thunder Ranch just came back from repair. Took them 93 days to repair it. Meanwhile I reloaded some .45 Auto Rim ammo for it's return. I fired the auto rim today and out of 80 rounds 4 had light strikes on the primer. I do tend to seat my primers slightly below even, but never before had 4 out of 80 in the same gun fail to fire because of light strikes. I did attempt to fire them several times and no change at all. It seems really strange. I guess 4 out of 80 is not a lot, but it's hard to figure.
Click to expand...

Four light strikes out of 80 rounds is unacceptable. Before you put all of the blame on your revolver, I'd check the cartridge rim thickness. Is the rim thickness uniform, especially on the rounds that had the light strikes?
 
With the cylinder empty and open, press the thumb piece forward and pull the trigger. Hold the trigger back and check how much firing pin protrudes from recoil shield. Should be about the thickness of a dime (.053)+

You can also stick some of your auto rim brass in gun and measure between it and recoil shield at firing pin area. should be less than .014 as that is max. .010 or less is best, but to tight and you could get some drag
 
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Try some factory ammo and see if the problem persists.
 
Got any friends with a model 25. You could see if it fires in their pistol. If it does, it's probably your gun, if it doesn't it's probably the ammo.
 
Can you show some pictures of the rounds that did fire? Are they similar?
I also vote longer firing pin needed, make sure the strain screw is fully tightened.
 
Lots of reasons for primers not to light. The first thing I would suspect is not seated deep enough. Just below the rim is not where they should be. They need to be seated to the bottom of the primer pocket. But, you hit them multiple time and they did not pop so that may not be the cause. Contaminated primers also don’t go bang. Oil, water, and other stuff will kill priming compound. Lack of compound is another reason.

There are a few more but you get the picture.

Kevin
 
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I read your other post about your hammer issues, and now getting light primer strikes after coming back from repair

Another reason for me not to trust gunbroker Im afraid. Someone unloaded a lemon at your expense at a bad time in history. Hope this doesnt tarnish your love of revolvers.
I wonder if the hammer is now just coming back far enough to drop but is still weak.
Is it hanging up on just one chamber?
Looks like its going back
 
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As noted previously, there are several factors in failure to fire in revolvers. Some ammunition related, some gun. Earlier this year I began to shoot my 625-6 for the first time since I bought it new quite a few years ago. I had quite a few failures to fire, both with ACP ammo and my AR reloads. Everything seemed ok with the gun and I was out of ammo, and thought that I could have had some bad primers. I did not shoot it until the last two weeks, after I had reloaded some more AR rounds. So far I have shot 200 rounds without a malfunction. Must have been a bad sleeve of primers.
As above, primers should be fully seated to the bottom of the cup. Mainspring strain screw fully seated to provide a firm strength to the spring.
 
Fired and light strikes

Here is a picture of the ones that had light strikes and 4 that fired. It's amazing to me that 76 fired fine with good hits on the primer and only 4 had light strikes. I bought 100 rounds of brass from Midway, and these are the ones I fired from that.
I bought this gun brand new on Gun Broker and when firing it for the first time one position of the cylinder would not allow the hammer to go back more than about half way. Same thing if you tried double action. But only always in the same cylinder position. They said they replaced a part. It took 93 days before they sent it back to me. It works 100% with .45 acp in the moon clips.
I did check the screw that is located in the lower front of the grip frame and it turned about 1/4 of a turn to tight.
 

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I've got TR 325 it has the same issue, i was getting at least 1 light strike on each cylinder, pretty sad
 
as it is a frame mounted firing pin, you might try cleaning the pin, spring and hole for same. Does your hammer show any drag marks on its sides from dragging on frame or side plate. I have 2 325s and neither has failed to fire.
 
chrislind2 said:
...Here is a picture of the ones that had light strikes and 4 that fired. It's amazing to me that 76 fired fine with good hits on the primer and only 4 had light strikes...
Click to expand...

It’s not the revolver. You are getting good strikes on the majority of your brass. 4 show light strikes. My best guess, without the brass or revolver in hand, is the primers were not seated to the bottom of the pocket.

Kevin
 
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@chrislind2 - It was repaired by Smith & Wesson can came back still not delivering solid primer strikes?

Sorry. But I've bought several guns off of GunBroker and online over the past three years and received good shooters.
 
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My new 325TR had occasional light strikes right out of the box.

It had a .490" long firing pin in it from the factory. These are typically trouble.

I installed an Apex extended firing pin (.501" long) & haven't had that problem again.

Same situation on my 625PC.

.

Just noticed, the OP posted this same question in the Reloading section too. Maybe we can just ask/answer this once. ;)

.
 
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I just installed a longer Apex firing pin in mine and cleaned it all really good while i was in there, ill see what happens next range day.
 
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