S&W REVOLVER EXTRA LENGTH FIRING PIN - Anyone have experience using these?

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VanMan

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Was thinking about getting some of these S&W extra length firing pins for my 625 and 929. They are advertised as helping with good primer strikes when using lighter main springs. Anyone have any experience with them?

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Not im my revolvers as my hammers are the old style but several people i know use them in their ipsc guns.
 
It's C&S so you can be pretty 100% certain it's quality built.

If you're having issues this would be the easy fix. If you're not having issues don't bother.

You need to remember that the Americans see alot of ammo we don't, in particular Russian stuff with hard primers. This would probably eliminate any issues you might have with Silver Wolf or Bronze Wolf bulk ammo, but we never see that stuff up here so moot point.
 
Might be good for those of us using Russian primers... i know that I get the odd light strike in DA.
 
thanks for the feedback. I'm setting up my 625's for IPSC and having problems with the Norinco 45acp ammo. Would be great if I could get that stuff to go off consistently with a 6-7lb DA trigger pull. That way I could use up the Norinco stuff for practice, and use my Federal primed reloads for matches. I'm relatively new to the revolver world, so great to hear that C&S has a great reputation :)
 
VanMan said:
thanks for the feedback. I'm setting up my 625's for IPSC and having problems with the Norinco 45acp ammo. Would be great if I could get that stuff to go off consistently with a 6-7lb DA trigger pull. That way I could use up the Norinco stuff for practice, and use my Federal primed reloads for matches. I'm relatively new to the revolver world, so great to hear that C&S has a great reputation :)
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That Norc stuff has some hard primers. I bet this will solve your issue.
 
juancarlos said:
That Norc stuff has some hard primers. I bet this will solve your issue.
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Ordered a couple from Brownells and hope to give them a try soon. Below is a pic of some of the Norinco ammo. I had the DA pull set at 9lbs and was still getting ~2 light strikes per moon clip. Bonus would be if I can get my 625 and 929 to consistently fire off Federal primers with a 4-5lb DA trigger pull :)

View attachment 41992
 
Got some interesting results testing the Extra Length Firing Pin. The net is - surprising the stock firing pin works better! I was able to use 9-10oz lighter hammer with the stock firing pin. Here's a summary of my tests:

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The extra length firing pin does indeed stick out past the frame farther at 1.7mm vs 1.2mm for the stock pin (sorry, only had my metric slip gauges available at the time)
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Although the turned down part of the firing pin is the same length, the relief cut in the body is longer in the extended length firing pin, enabling it to travel farther.
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I think the standard firing pin had better performance because it had a large chamfer cut into it, drastically reducing the diameter of the point of the firing pin.
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So for now, will stick with the stock firing pin. Although I may play around with putting a large chamfer on the extended length firing pin and then retest later :)

btw - I was testing using cases that were primed, but no powder or projectiles. Here's the thread on it http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/1316354-Test-Firing-Primers-at-home-%28for-purposes-of-fine-tuning-revolver-trigger-weight%29
 
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one member in my club, who is also on here, put this in his R8 to fix the light strike problem with positive results. he did use it with an extra length main spring set screw as well.
however, based on the brownells review as you may alrady read, usually people use this along with the spring kit to reduce trigger pull AND to ensure 100% positive ignition.
I am on the fence as some of the review mentioned this brand it's easy to break and Apex one is better quality(Apex XP firing pin kit) and at the same price. However, I couldn't find it anywhere. Brownells only sells the bigger J-Frame Carry/Duty Kit which has the extra J-Frame springs(cost $10 more) that we cannot use and will go to waste. So, still thinking.
I did order the N frame spring kits from Brownells as I would like to reduce my 627 and 629 DA pull to around 8-9LBs so that I can shoot DA only if I want.



VanMan said:
Was thinking about getting some of these S&W extra length firing pins for my 625 and 929. They are advertised as helping with good primer strikes when using lighter main springs. Anyone have any experience with them?

View attachment 41890
Click to expand...
 
any reported real life-span on this pins. as the reviews on brownells, it seems to be easier to break than the factory one.

brit84 said:
Not im my revolvers as my hammers are the old style but several people i know use them in their ipsc guns.
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How about target load with dominion large pistol primer(44mag)? I was planning on reduce both 627 PC and 629 Canadian to 8.x LBs, then when I got them, I like the way 627 as is, so only 629 is still in the plan as the DA is quite heavy.

TACTICAL111 said:
Shouldn't need one if you run Federal primers and seat them at 10-14 thou (deep)
From my experience. My trigger was around 6lbs DA
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TACTICAL111 said:
Shouldn't need one if you run Federal primers and seat them at 10-14 thou (deep)
From my experience. My trigger was around 6lbs DA
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Agreed, I have a good supply of Federal primers, but also have stocked up on CCI and Dominion primers. This is an exercise to see what different trigger pulls are needed for each type of primer, and if the extended length firing pin made any difference.
 
Update, had my 929 out at a practice day last weekend, and was starting to notice 1-2 fired cases had a dark smudge on the primers. Closer examination showed they were actually pierced and allowing blowback. I was using the stock firing pin and had the trigger pull set to 6.5lbs. I was using my reloads (147gr Campro, 3.4gr Titegroup, CCI primers), and still getting 1 or 2 light strikes per clip.

I'm thinking the stock firing pin may be tapered to too much of a point, and is piercing the primer when the round fires and pushes back against the firing pin. Has anyone else encountered this with their 929's?

There was 3 light strike in this clip, and the punctured primer is on the lower left
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EHG said:
Do you get pierced primers with Federal or Dominion?
I've only had Dominion with a 9lbs pull and nothing pierced yet with over 1,000 rounds.
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got a chance to try some reloads I did with Federal primers (3.5gr Titegroup & 3.6gr Titegroup under a 147gr Campro projectile). Chrono'd 48 rounds and no pierced primers! Not sure why I was getting pierced primers with CCI, but will be sticking with Federal anyhow.

59cd5605-636c-4d6c-97b4-634bb940c566_zpsopy8ewqk.jpg
 
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