light primer strikes

[Drop45]

Have a Glock 34 and changed the trigger to an Edge trigger and installed their lighter 4# striker spring, got about 3 out of 50 light strikes with my reloads using cci primers. Tried Fiocchi primers and got the same result even moving up to the 4.5# striker spring. Same thing happened with Remington primers until I switched back to the factory Glock spring. Went back and fired all three reloads with the factory spring, about 175 rounds total, not a single failure to fire. Moral of the story, I'm not sure, but I'm sticking with the stock firing spring.

 

[beeb173]

Is the spring easy to change? Or should I just send it in?

 

[ny32182]

I clean and lube that gun even if it hasn't been fired and just worn. The firing pin gets lubed from the front and back and worked back and fourth after every range trip. Is there something else I can do to get it cleaner?

If this means you are intentionally injecting lube into the firing pin channel, I would bet that is your problem. The FP channel should be cleaned occasionally, but should be dry, and you should be actively trying to minimize the amount of lube and cleaning compound that gets in there, not intentionally increasing it... in short the ideal condition of the FP channel is clean and dry, not lubed.

 

[Drop45]

beeb173 on a Glock yes it's easy to change; if your question was directed towards me.

 

[gamestalker]

Maybe you should take the firing pin out and measure it, it may be short. Also inspect it for any signs of binding, that should be fairly obvious I would think.

I would also try slowly pushing it through the channel without the spring to see if you can feel any resistance or catching. It may have a burr on the FP or in the channel or a machining flaw?

But in the end, any out of the box firearm should have no problems with light strikes with any factory ammo.

GS

 

[Captcurt]

Another thought.

Headspace can cause this also. Your cartridge headspaces on the case mouth. If the case has too much crimp or if your chamber is a hair too long it will cause the same problem.

 

[murf]

in addition to what gamestalker said, roll the firing pin on a flat surface and make sure it isn't bent.

murf

 

[Jim K]

Why do we always seem to assume that gun factories are run by idiots who know nothing about the guns they turn out, and that any off the wall shop can turn out superior parts?

Jim

 

[beeb173]

Finally got to the range after cleaning the gunk out of the firing pin channel. There was a lot. The gun runs better than ever. I think it's finally 100% broken in. Thanks for everyone's help.

 

[BCRider]

Now you know about not oiling or at least using the right product for lubricating the firing pin.

If you put anything down there it needs to be something thin that won't leave much residual lubrication. As you found too much oil damps the movement. It ends up acting like a shock absorber. Or like you waving your hand under water vs in the air.

The primers need to be hit with a fast, sharp strike. How hard it hits isn't as important as how fast it hits. Too much oil or too thick an oil slows down the firing pin. So clean and dry or at most some sort of lube and solvent mix that mostly evaporates away and leaves only a very light coating of light oil.

For example, if you had a stripped down gun in front of you for assembly the right amount of oil to use on the firing pin would be one drop onto a cleaning patch that then soaked in through the material and then rubbed over the firing pin. The resulting film would barely be enough to feel like your fingers might be a little oily. But it's more than enough to keep rust away and provides just the right amount of lubrication for the pin.