LGunslinger,
I bought one just like you described (funky grips and all) several months ago. Initially, I had a lot of failures to fire (both loose rounds and with moon clips). Tightened the strain screw – resulted in fewer failures but did not cure the problem. Also tried a cylinder & slide shop long firing pin, but that caused other problems (stuck firing pin, pierced primer and still had some ignition problems).
I put the factory firing pin back in the gun and replaced the PC ribbed spring with a full power factory spring that I had taken from another gun. That cured the problem, but double action with the full power factory spring was very heavy.
I ordered a couple of aftermarket mainsprings which arrived from Brownell’s early in Jan. The first one I tried worked just fine (
http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=26252/sku=080-665-220/Product/Standard-Mainspring-1-spring ). After loctiting the strain screw, a couple of sideplate screws and the front screw on the rear sight I’ve experienced no further problems. I have shot over 800 rounds since the last light primer hit W/MOON clips and all screws still tight. I’ve had a couple of loose rounds fail to fire double action in a couple of (sloppy?) chambers.
In the final analysis, it seems that the problem was a marginal mainspring for the Win LPs that I was using, and a strain screw that was not tight from the factory and would quickly work itself loose(r). Also, for 100% reliability, you probably need to use moon clips. Some folks say you need to use Federal primers with these guns, but I not satisfied until my gun will fire with any/all primers
I haven’t put this gun on paper except to verify POI, so I can’t comment on it’s accuracy.
After "The Fix", and adding some different grips, I've thoroughly enjoyed this gun.
FWIW,
Paul