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firing pin hitting the shell but not firing?

14K views 48 replies 16 participants last post by  buzzsaw 
#1 ·
I just bought my 1st pistol, a PMR30. I bought a box of CCI Maxi Mag 40 gr Hollowpoints. Out of the first 30 shells, 5 have failed to shoot. They have a spot where the firing pin hit the shell and it looks no different than the ones that did fire. My 1st guess is to try some different ammo out? Anyone had this issue? attached is a picture of the casings, the ignited ones and failed ones look exactly the same.
thank you in advance
 

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#31 ·
I had a similar issue with the PLR-22. I looked at the firing pin and the face wasn't exactly perpendicular. It seemed to have a slight slant. I sent an email to Keltec and they sent me a new firing pin. No issues after installing the new firing pin. Not sure if this is causing the problem with the CMR but worth a look.
 
#34 · (Edited)
2 full mags of mixed ammo without a FTFire :D

Then a few rounds into mag 3 I got sprayed in the face with debris, ruptured case. This was one of the rounds that didn't go off before the repair. I think the multiple pin strikes weakened the rim. :wall:

I didn't have anything with me to clear the shell casing from the barrel so that ended my pistol's workout. :(

It does seem like the replacement "rim support block" fixed my light strike issue. :)
 
#36 ·
I have two PMR-30s, one a few years old, and a new one. The new one is doing the same thing as the OP's and carwash's(?) and the primer strikes look like the OP's. Compared with the old gun, the firing pin strike is closer to the edge. It seems to be hitting hard enough. On the old one, the firing pin also mashes the edge, but the dent reaches about twice as far in, closer to the center of the case head. The design of the rim support block has been changed between the production of my old pistol and my new one. The old one had a round cutout to accommodate the edge of the rim. The new one is straight across, and keeps the edge of the rim lower relative to the firing pin. On the new gun, about half of the end of the firing pin is behind the rim support block and is hidden from view, and can't touch the rim. On the old gun, and on the extra slide assembly of the same vintage that I have, I can see the entire end of the firing pin, which can, and does, impact the rim making a bigger dent.

The first range trip with the new gun went perfectly, but was only a few rounds. On the last two outings, with both guns, the new gun had repeated failures to fire after it began to get dirty after only a few rounds (10-15). The older gun ran like a scalded dog and ate everything I fed it--BVAC ammo, which is old brass-cased Armscor, and Hornady 30 gr V-max. Same boxes of ammo for both guns. After the first new gun outing that had issues, when I cleaned it, the firing pin felt a bit gritty when I pushed it in by hand, so I pulled the cover off and cleaned and lightly lubed it, thinking there could be some metal turnings or other manufacturing debris in there. None found. This cleaning helped, but it quickly started failing again. This time, the firing pin did not feel gritty after the range session.

My theory is that the new design rim support block does not let the rim of the round go up as high relative to the firing pin, resulting in the strike being closer to the edge of the rim and more likely to not be an adequate strike. In other words, there is less tolerance for variations in the ammo, less tolerance for variations in ammo rim position, and less tolerance for dirt and debris on the bolt face and rim support block which can affect the position of the case head.

I'd rather not send my gun back to Kel-Tec. I may ask them to send a replacement rim support block--the old style, if possible. Another possibility is to reinstall the existing one and see if I can position it a little higher to expose more firing pin. It appears to be held in by two roll pins. A third possibility is to just use the extra old style slide assembly that I have. I shouldn't have to do that to a new gun. I like the finish on the new gun. They call it "blued" but it looks like a smooth, but matte, black Cerakote or something similar.

I haven't even gotten around to see if the new gun keyholes with 40 grain CCI like my old one does when I use the standard barrel.

The good news is that the new gun has never failed to strip a round and feed it correctly. The old gun is tighter, and it took quite a while to break in, plus a trip to Kel-Tec, where they filed on the feed ramp, which helped, but it still needed a bit more break in to get reliable.

buzzsaw
 
#40 ·
I took the rim support block out and used a round needle file to shape it to fit the radius of the rim. It didn't help. Something else is keeping the round from rising high enough to engage the firing pin fully. Perhaps the barrel is not going up high enough, which might be caused by the way the extractors fit the grooves in the barrel. The firing pin is not broken. I do have an aftermarket barrel I plan to try with it. This F. J. Feddersen barrel is specifically intended for use with the Hornady 30 gr V-Max ammo that gives this gun fits. I also have an extra old style slide assembly to try.

I am wondering if this is a case of tolerance stacking, where a collection of in spec parts are combined to give an out of spec assembly.

I also had some failures to strip a round, and failures to feed with the BVAC ammo this time with the new gun. This might be because I didn't clean anything but the barrel after the last outing. I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't need some break-in to become reliable. Indeed, I expected it to, and was surprised when it initially ran as well as it did, especially with the BVAC ammo which isn't the hottest around.

buzzsaw
 
#41 ·
I tried the Feddersen barrel with some Hornady 30 gr V-MAX. First round...click! Racked slide, loading the next round in the mag...bang!. Changed to one of my old slide assemblies, chambered the round that failed to fire...bang! Photo of the head of the spent case, showing the two primer strikes:
Locket Circle Fashion accessory Metal Pendant

At the top is the strike that failed to fire the round. At seven o'clock is the primer strike from the old slide assembly that set the round off. That, gentlemen, is what a primer strike is supposed to look like. The strikes from my other old pistol look the same and it rarely, if ever, fails to set off the round. It is clear to me that something isn't quite right about some of the new slide assemblies.

I'll order a new rim support block, simply to return the gun to unmodified condition. This is apparently not causing the problem, since the rims were not touching the rim support block, certainly after I modified it. Polishing the bolt face is the next thing to do. Along with the rim support block, I will order some new buffers, since the new ones are considerably thicker than the old ones. KT probably did that for a reason, and my old gun and slide might could benefit from the upgrade. And a firing pin or two. If I can't get it working by polishing the breech face, as Kel Tec did for carwash's pistol, I may send it in.

buzzsaw
 
#43 ·
I will write a little update, about a month after I wrote this I ruptured my Achilles Tendon and wasn't able to get out and shoot for quite sometime. I had researched and read several times on here that the PMR's really like the Armscor ammo for some reason. So I bought a couple boxes of it. I also realized when I was "tapping" the rounds in to seat them I was tapping the bottom of the magazine on a table instead of tapping the back of the magazine. So I loaded up a couple magazines with the Armscor and smacked the back of the magazine against my hand as I loaded every other round. The first magazine had 10 rounds, the second held 15......all 25 round fired flawlessly. The first 10 I took my time and shot them one at a time slowly. The second one I shot 15 as fast as I could humanly pull the trigger. It fired them all without so much as a hick up. I'm chaulking it up to really liking Armscor mainly. As a side note I had also finally got my hands on some CCI "shot shells" for my PMR30, I have been wanting these to shoot snakes. I decided to shoot one and it fired perfectly as well. 26 shots is a small sample size but it's better than what I was dealing with for sure. I hope to shoot it more again soon as well.
 
#44 ·
I just bought my 1st pistol, a PMR30. I bought a box of CCI Maxi Mag 40 gr Hollowpoints. Out of the first 30 shells, 5 have failed to shoot. They have a spot where the firing pin hit the shell and it looks no different than the ones that did fire. My 1st guess is to try some different ammo out? Anyone had this issue? attached is a picture of the casings, the ignited ones and failed ones look exactly the same.
thank you in advance
unscrew the four screws holding the rear sites and remove the piece carefully to avoid losing the small spiral spring and see if the firing pin is broke in half. I have had two break and the result was hitting the cartridge which seemed hard enough but no firing. I would rotate the cartridge it would fire. With new firing pin hundreds fired without a single misfire.
 
#45 ·
Polishing the breech face didn't help. Installing the old barrel and barrel block into the new slide did not help. The new barrel and barrel block worked well when installed in the old slide. Swapping firing pins didn't help either. It is clear to me that there is something not quite right about the new slide, maybe the firing pin channel is not milled deeply enough. I have sent it in.

buzzsaw
 
#46 ·
just a follow up. Took some Armscor and some Hornady CD out today. Ran thru a 50 round box of Armscor and it shot every one as fast as i could pull the stinking trigger. Shot 25 of the Hornady CD and i had one hit the shell out of 25 that didn't go off. Picked it up and put it back in and again, click no fire. Guess i've pretty much decided that i'm going to buy Armscor from now on as i've now gone thru 2 boxes without a FTF and the CCI does terrible in it and the Hornady CD does "ok" in it. Amscor seems to be the cheapest and goes bang every time. Damn this this is FUN to shoot though, it's so addicting to shoot and it's accurate as can be!!
 
#47 ·
I've had nothing but great results with Armscor ammo, both 22lr and 22wmr. I'm using the nickel plated now with excellent results. I've read in some posts that it smoother so easier to extract, not sure if that's fact or fiction. The nickel plated is also recommended for my new Rock Island 22 WMR, which is a lot of fun, kind of like a heavy PMR 30 with 1/2 the rounds.
 
#49 ·
I like the Armscor .22 Mag, though I haven't tried the nickel-plated yet. If it's better than the brass-cased, it's really good ammo, especially for the price. Armscor, and Rock Island Armory are the same company, so no surprise they would recommend it for their guns. This means they have a particular interest in making good ammo, and also bodes well for its continued availability.

What's not to like about a 1911 in .22 magnum?:cool:

buzzsaw
 
#48 ·
These new posts reminded me I haven't posted the results of the service. Kel-Tec got it on 7/2 and finished it on 8/29, and I got it back during the first week of September. This is longer than usual, but their workload had been increased by the SUB-2000 recall.

I shot the ammo (Hornady 30 gr V-MAX) that it had so much trouble with, and it had no problems at all. The primer strikes look much better. They're maybe not quite as extensive as the old gun's, but enough, is indeed, enough. Between the weather being too hot and humid, and my having some other toys to play with, I haven't had much range time to devote to this one.

Kel-Tec replaced the slide, polished the feed ramp and breech face, inspected and test fired it with no malfunctions. It looks like they transferred all or most of my parts over to the new slide. I recognize the rim support block as the one I modified, and the extractors had been polished, as I had done.

I noticed the finish on the new slide has a much rougher texture than the old one, which looked like low-gloss black CeraKote. This one looks bead blasted and Parkerized, only black. It feels like 320-grit sandpaper. I can get enough purchase on this finish to rack the slide, gripping it near the muzzle. I'm not able to do this with my older pistol, which dates from 2013, and does really look like a traditional blued finish. They referred to this gun as a second generation, and yes, there are differences, other than the finish. But during the course of my troubleshooting, I found that everything will interchange. The biggest difference is the rim support block. Between the time they first released these, and my first PMR-30, there were at least as many, and more significant, changes than between my first pistol and this new one. I don't know that my older one wouldn't also be considered "2nd Generation." They have continued to tighten the twist rate of the rifling. My old one is 1 in 11 inches, the new one is 1 in 9 inches. (The original ones were 1 in 13 inches.)

buzzsaw
 
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