Mossberg 500 light primer strikes? or hard primers?

[chevyman097]

I have a mossberg 500 pump. Ive had this gun for many years, at least 10 or more. Ive hunted with this all these years and put 100s of rounds through it. High brass hunting ammo of course. Never had a problem with FTF or light primer strikes.

Now recently I have started trap shooting with a friends father and his buddies. I am really enjoying it and plan on doing it as often as possible.

Now for the problem. I have been shooting the wal mart bulk packs of the 8 shot cheapo ammo. About every 50-75 rounds it seems like I have one FTF due to what looks like a light primer strike. This is embarassing to say the least as Im out in the middle of a bunch of older guys with Belgium brownings and high class shotguns. Of course they give me a hard time about my mossy, but its all in good fun. I just cant afford a nice gun like their trap guns. but I want to try and correct this problem so I wont be handicapped.

So my question is. Do you think my mossy is just getting old and needs some work? maybe the springs or firing pin worn. Or could this be the ammo im shooting? Ive never had a problem with the high brass ammo. I was thinking maybe the primers on the cheap ammo are harder.

I have kept this gun clean and maintained very well over the years. So I know this is not due to being dirty.

maybe some one else has had the same issues as me and can give me some help.


Any helps or tips are much welcome. Thanks guys.

 

[LiENUS]

How much oil have you been using when cleaning and have you been oiling the firing pin channel? Too much oil or oil in the channel can lad to light strikes.

 

[Snarlingiron]

A dirty firing pin channel can be an issue, but with your description of maintenance, probably not. It would be a good idea to detail strip the gun and break down the bolt and firing pin just to be sure all is right.

The term "High Brass" is essentially meaningless as is the term "wal mart bulk packs of cheapo ammo". Specifically what brand of ammo? I have experienced a fair number of FTFs with Remington ammo in several of my shotguns. Don't rule out the possibility that it could be a combination of both a slightly week strike, and a hard primer. Definitely try a different brand of ammo and see if your problem goes away. If it doesn't it may be time for some new springs and maybe a new firing pin. Mossberg parts are not expensive and the guns are not hard to work on.

 

[oneounceload]

Of the promo ammo offered at wally world, most folks find the Federal version to be the most reliable with the Remington a close second and the Winchester Universal stuff a FAR distant third place.

One thing to try would be using some target grade ammo from Remington (the STS), or from Winchester (the AA) and see if you still get your problem.

I suspect a low primer or possibly enough crud buildup from dirty powder that now and again you get light strikes. I have had them once in a great while with even good quality ammo - remember, those production lines run 24/7, churning out millions of rounds - once in a while a bad one slips through. Sometimes, however, it seems to be more prevalent with some of the really cheap brands.

If you do not reload, you might look for Rio or Kemen - made in Spain, they are better than the wally world stuff and cost about the same - typically available through a lot of gun clubs when they do bulk buys

 

[451 Detonics]

I would consider a change of ammo as well, Estate ammo is reasonably priced but have you thought of reloading your own? That way you could load good primers and still save a little money.

 

[chevyman097]

Lienus - I will look into that, I possibly could be using a bit too much oil. I do oil up everything while cleaning.

Snarlingiron, oneounceload, and 451 - Thanks for the advice I will deff look into some different ammo.

Forgive the poor description of ammo. I basically was getting at I have mostly only used the high quality duck hunting ammo and what not.

Ive been using the cheap winchester 8 shot from wal mart. So from what I see i seems to be at the bottom of the list. Ill try some other stuff as suggested.

Im gonna break the whole thing down again and clean it and make sure im not oiling too much as suggested. If this doesnt fix it I might check out some replacement parts.



Thanks for all the suggestions folks.