Taurus 82 light primer strikes

[Skunkeye]

I just got a great deal on an older Taurus 82 (1995 manufacture). Took it out for its first range trip yesterday, and about one in ten shots was a light primer strike. Primer was dimpled, but didn't go off. This ammo worked fine in other revolvers, so I suspect the gun.

Is there anything I should look for before I start replacing springs?

 

[The Red Hot Rider]

Are you shooting reloads? If so, my first suspicion would be that your primers aren't seated deep enough. If you're not shooting reloads, maybe a weak mainspring. I wish you good results. I used to defend Taurus, but I gave up on 'em a long time ago due to dependability issues. I still have a Rossi 1892 in .357 for SASS that seems to be holding up, though.

 

[AZAndy]

Whoops, just realized I was talking about a different model revolver. Deleted.

 

[Skunkeye]

Not reloads; factory ammo. Thanks for the insight, looks like I'll try replacing the mainspring and see what happens.

 

[Jim K]

Try replacing the main (hammer) spring. It sounds like a previous owner may have tried reducing the trigger pull for easier DA shooting.

Jim

 

[ThomasT]

I had a model 82 with the same misfire problem. Mine was NIB so the springs were the original factory springs.

But I got to looking and saw the firing pin extrusion was not that far. And I could add a folded piece of paper between the hammer and the transfer bar and the firing pin stuck out much further.

So I decided to remove a small amount from the hammer nose. There is no way to do this without removing the trigger. So the trigger was removed and inked with magic marker to keep the removal flat. Then the nose was slowly ground down and tested until it had maximum extension of the firing pin. I never had another misfire with that gun after that.

 

[Zendude]

Could also be too much cylinder endplay. I recently had this issue with light primer strikes.

 

[Skunkeye]

Ratshooter, you may have cracked this case wide open... I tried the same experiment with mine, and indeed, I can get quite a bit more range of forward movement on the firing pin if I put a thin buffer between the hammer and hammer block. I may try to take a little material off the hammer nose and see if that cures it.

Thanks!

 

[ThomasT]

Glad I could help. Let us know how it works. And these guns are simple to take apart. Just remove a little metal at a time. I tried to use a diamond stone but it was just too slow. So I used a grinder and was very careful to just barely touch the nose of the hammer. I used the side of the grinder wheel. Good luck.

 

[Old Fuff]

The hammer is supposed to hit the transfer bar, which in turn hits the firing pin and then bounces backwards, allowing the firing pin spring to retract the pin so that the nose is back and clear of the breech face.

Removing metal from the hammer shouldn't be necessary, and if you go too far the hammer may have to be replaced. Because of the high demand for new guns, repair parts are sometimes difficult to get.

 

[Skunkeye]

I ended up taking just a tiny bit off the hammer nose (maybe the thickness of two sheets of paper), and that seems to have resolved it. Fired a whole box of the same ammo with no misfires. Previously, that many rounds would have had at least three or four light strikes. Doesn't seem to have affected the cycling of the gun in any other way, so I'm happy.

I suspect replacing the spring would have also worked, but at the expense of a stiffer trigger. I really like the smooth, relatively light DA action on this gun, so I'm glad I didn't have to put in a new spring.

Thanks, guys!

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Glad you got it fixed.

My Taurus 82 has a pretty stiff double action trigger, but has the absolute best single action trigger of any DA revolver I have ever fired (admittedly not that many). Wonderful SA trigger.