N frame firing pin issue ???

[christy]

I had a failure to fire at our local Action Pistol match.
Firing pin slightly dented the primer, fired all the other 5.
Never had any issue with this before, with either reloads or factory ammo.
Gun: 625, .45ACP, 5" barrel, steel full moons, reload, CCI primer.
One of the group approached me after the event and said he "knew" that N frames were notorious for a "shortened firing pin" and would exhibit the same failures as I had just had.

How does one determine if the firing pin is, or is not, extending within the specifications? And what is the appropriate depth?
And are there various length firing pins for this gun?

Thanks in advance...

 

[pinkymingeo]

If you've had no previous trouble, your strain screw has probably loosened some. Assuming you have a frame-mounted firing pin, measure it. Anything less than .494 is iffy. I've replaced all of mine with these Apex XP ignition kit [XP-IGN-KIT] - $14.99 : Zen Cart!, The Art of E-commerce . If you have a hammer-mounted pin that isn't chipped or broken, it's the strain screw, mainspring or maybe endshake.

 

[GB]

just a thought

The other thing that might have caused the problem is a primer that was not seated to the bottom. Or CCI does have a reputation for being just a little harder that other brands. I just had a session in the reloading room fixing a bunch of 41s that I didn't pay enough attention to when seating primers. I have a PPC gun from back in the day, that I spent a lot of money on at the time, that will not shoot CCIs no matter what I do. Load them in one of my old duty guns and they shoot fine, Go figure!

 

[jframefreak]

+1 for the apex firing pin, it will end your problems. I usually order a few at a time and keep an extra around.

 

[scooter123]

The model 625 with the frame mounted firing pin in 45ACP has a bit of a reputation for light primer strikes from the factory. The answer is most likely an extended firing pin, which are available from Apex Tactical and Cylinder and Slide.

However, after installing these extended firing pins I would strongly suggest checking your fired casings for evidence of a pierced, or borderline pierced primer. During an action job on my model 610 I installed a Cylinder & Slide + 0.015 inch firing pin and on the next range outing had 2 out of 48 casings that had microfractures that allowed some posder blowback into the the pocket formed by the firing pin in the primer. BTW, it was very easy to spot because I was repackaging the fired casings in ammo box trays for storage. The powder burns on 2 of the primers stood out distinctly. In my case, the longer firing pin just wasn't needed and I had only put it in as a "just in case". Now, my 610 has the original firing pin in place and it'll only get swapped out if I decide to install a weaker mainspring, which it also doesn't need but I just love to tinker with my range guns.

 

[500 Magnum Nut]

The basics are to tighten the strain screw. Clean under the extractor. Repair the endshake.