Acceptable rate of light strikes . . .

[twofewscrews]

Went out to shoot today and had a light strike on my Ruger PC Carbine (9mm). Its the first one in 2,500 rounds so I'm not too worried about it, but it made me wonder what do you consider an acceptable rate of light strikes/failure to fire for a given weapon? For a given ammunition/caliber?

I consider a failure rate of 5% acceptable for a plinking firearm (5 out of 100).

On a SD/HD/Hunting firearm I would want a failure rate of less then half a percent (5 out of 1000) and even then that's a little high.

For a given ammo in a given firearm, anything higher then a 5% failure rate is a no go. Anything less then 1% is good to go unless the firearm is meant for HD/SD/hunting in which case 1% is still unacceptable.

 

[Col. Harrumph]

Based on my experience with a well used High Standard Sentinel, I'd say 5% is an acceptable failure rate for a revolver or other manually operated gun not meant for the hunt or for serious social work. For other gun types or other uses, no failure is acceptable.

 

[Terry G]

With centerfire ammunition 0%, with rimfire it will vary from manufacturer. CCI is generally 1% or less, same with Golden Bullet and Blazer. Agulia gives me about 5%.

 

[kidneyboy]

I consider a failure rate of 5% acceptable

Not me. 1 in 2500 you can blame on the ammo but a 5% failure rate points to a problem with the firearm.

 

[tarosean]

a 5% failure rate points to a problem with the firearm.

or magazines or ammo, etc. Definitely needs investigated.

 

[twofewscrews]

Not me. 1 in 2500 you can blame on the ammo but a 5% failure rate points to a problem with the firearm.

Yes and no. You missed the plinking part.

I find a 5% failure rate to be acceptable for plinking ammo because for plinking I generally buy the cheapest most accurate ammo for that firearm. As long as it cycles and is accurate enough to have fun, 5 out of every 100 rounds failing is something I can live with.

Ammo for SD/HD is matched to the firearm and must have a failure rate of 1% or less, preferably less then .25%. If you put 500 rounds down range each month, you put out 6,000 a year, a 1%/.25% failure rate gives you 60/15 light strikes out of that 6000. Maybe I'm wrong, but fire 6000 rounds of anything and I expect to see a couple light strikes.

If you have matched the ammo to the gun and your failure rate begins to increase (1 or 2 failures in 100 where you had 3 in 3000) then it absolutely points to an issues with the firearm.

I don't hunt but I would assume ammo for hunting is generally not shot at a high enough volume to have a failure rate. I could be wrong . . .

 

[twofewscrews]

rimfire it will vary from manufacturer. CCI is generally 1% or less, same with Golden Bullet and Blazer. Agulia gives me about 5%.

Sounds about right. With CCI rimfire I see get a dude every 150 rounds whereas Armscor gives me a dude every 15-20.

 

[mcb]

I would not tolerate any light strikes that are not directly attributable to defective ammo even in a plinking gun. There is no reason to accept that type of malfunction from a gun.

 

[JohnKSa]

Went out to shoot today and had a light strike on my Ruger PC Carbine (9mm). Its the first one in 2,500 rounds so I'm not too worried about it, but it made me wonder what do you consider an acceptable rate of light strikes/failure to fire for a given weapon? For a given ammunition/caliber?

For a rimfire plinker, I think I could live with maybe 0.1% misfire rate but even that would make me unhappy. If it was a competition rimfire firearm, I'd either get the gun fixed or switch ammo to get rid of even a low misfire rate.

In centerfire, misfires just shouldn't happen unless the ammo is defective or something needs to be repaired/corrected on the firearm.

 

[kidneyboy]

You missed the plinking part.

No, I didn't. I shoot between 15,000 and 20,000 rounds per year. Last year I had a total of 3 light strikes and those were on my own reloads. I can't recall having any issues with factory ammo in the last 4 or 5 years.

 

[Demi-human]

I feel like the answer is “None” here…

A light strike is a firearm issue. One that can be corrected though.

 

[someguy2800]

maybe 0.1%

 

[Howland937]

One. I'll accept one light strike or misfire. A second, and I'm trying to figure out why. I'll eliminate ammo then mags as a possibility first and if neither of those are the culprit the gun is put away. Clean/lube and re-test. If it's still no good and I see nothing obvious, I'll ask here.

There's a reason a gun malfunctions. That reason could be the result of an underlying problem which could potentially be catastrophic. Chalking it up as part of the experience doesn't interest me.

 

[Shawn Dodson]

A random "light strike" is usually caused by a high primer, in which the firing pin impact seats the primer but the primer doesn't ignite.

Consistent light strikes point to a gun problem.

 

[Zendude]

If the primer on the dud has a healthy dimple from the firing pin, then it is likely a bad primer. If not, then I start with cleaning the striker channel and inspecting the firing pin.

 

[Ethan Verity]

I don't think any light primer strikes are acceptable if you are using quality ammo. In short, the light strike FTF should not be the fault of the gun itself. If ammo related, then I'm fine with a few failed primer strikes in a box of 50, so long as it's just cheap FMJ target ammo. If ammo related, it's usually because a company fails to fully seat their primers - rather than actually bad primers. They should go off on the second strike.

 

[trackskippy]

Not me. 1 in 2500 you can blame on the ammo but a 5% failure rate points to a problem with the firearm.

I bought 10K worth of Remington SPP's one year. Got a great deal on them, about $10/1000 cheaper ($19) than any of the others. Found out after Id loaded them all up and was cycling through them in the queue that they were crap. 5-10% failure rate. Some deal. The positive side of that, great random and unplanned malfunction practice.

Rimfire you tend to expect it, and even though they seem to have gotten a lot better in that respect, just a dirty gun, especially with a revolver, and they can happen a lot.

Centerfire, unless you have crappy ammo, its not as common a thing, and if it was anything other than known crap ammo, and happening a lot, Id be looking at the gun and not happy about it.

A perfect example of that happening with centerfire guns too is, revolvers where people try and lighten the triggers. Ive bought a number of them over the years where Ive had to, at the very least, screw in the strain screw, and in some cases, replace springs back to factory as well to stop the problem.

With the 22 revolvers, just slightly dirty chambers can exacerbate the problem too.

 

[Demi-human]

If ammo related, then I'm fine with a few failed primer strikes in a box of 50, so long as it's just cheap FMJ target ammo.

I’m not that rich. I didn’t buy 47 rounds of ammunition, I bought fifty.

A 4 cent LRN rimfire is one thing, a $.43 FMJ 45 Auto is quite the other.

It is nearly a statistical impossibility to have more than one bad primer in a factory made box of primers. For factory ammunition to have more than one light strike, there is a cause, and I need to know what it was.

 

[Ethan Verity]

It is nearly a statistical impossibility to have more than one bad primer in a factory made box of primers. For factory ammunition to have more than one light strike, there is a cause, and I need to know what it was.

Like I said, it's usually because a company is failing to fully seat their primers when loading their rounds, rather than actually bad primers. If this is the case, they will usually fire on a second attempt.

 

[Demi-human]

Like I said, it's usually because a company is failing to fully seat their primers when loading their rounds, rather than actually bad primers. If this is the case, they will usually fire on a second attempt.

True. But, I find this unacceptable.

 

[north east redneck]

I won't accept a gun that doesn't fire every time I pull the trigger on a live round. (let's put rimfire ammo and it's issues aside)
It's a machine meant to do one thing, expel a projectile. If it can't do that it needs to be fixed.
I've only ever had one gun that would light strike, a Mossberg 88. 20 minutes and a five dollar spring corrected that.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

40 + years ago I had a problem with light strikes with Winchester primers, my reloads in my Charter Arms Bulldog. Didn't use Winchesters for that application
again.

 

[gnappi]

With factory and reloaded ammo, Zero. Light strikes are a problem worth investigating the "why" it happened. On a very rare occasion a reload may not fire even if the firing pin struck it well, is a second go at it doesn't ignite it I figure it's a bad primer.

 

[I6turbo]

I don't accept light strikes, except possibly on a target/range handgun that I keep set for the lightest strike that will ignite the primer on 99%+ of rounds. I adjust for this light of a strike because of the improved overall trigger pull that results. I have one gun that sometimes falls into that category (that I sometimes run a hammer spring that is that light), but the resulting action is excellent so I think it's worth the occasional annoyance of a light strike.

Otherwise I address the cause of the light strike and eliminate it. As far as I can recall, I've never had a gun that couldn't be made to deliver adequate primer strikes.

With regard to rimfire FTFs, IME the vast majority of these result not from the ammo, but from the gun. Either dirty, a weak spring, or a poorly-positioned firing pin strike. Most rimfire guns don't strike the primer rim in the ideal spot if they've not been modified.

Here's a pretty typical rimfire gun's primer strike. This is from my 1958 BRNO Model 4. I don't recall a FTF from this gun, but perhaps there has been one or two at some point that I don't remember. The "problem" with this strike is that the very edge of the rim is being crushed by the firing pin. Crushing the relatively thick edge of the rim requires force, but doesn't contribute to igniting the primer. A weakening firing pin or a unusually thick rim could result in insufficient crush to ignite the primer.


Here are some strikes from the same type of gun that's had the tip of the firing pin reshaped to deliver the strike only to the area that contains the primer, and to avoid crushing the metal rim. This will be more reliable, require less spring tension to drive the firing pin to a reliable strike, and according to several shooters I've seen who tested before and after, may result in slightly improved groups.


Here's another before-and-after of a firing pin re-contour. He simply removed the corner of the firing pin tip that originally contacted the rim edge. IIRC, this was from one of the target shooters who saw improved groups following the modification to his rifle.

 

[Jim Watson]

Zero. If I have a light hit on a hard or high primer, I am crushed.