*Solved* Sig 1911-22 light primer strikes, hammer falling to half-#### position

Jäger1

Jäger1

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Location
Thornbury, Ontario
Gun:
New Sig 1911-22

Mods:
Replaced factory ambi-safety with Norinco standard right handed safety

Issue:
Failure to fire due to light primer strikes, failure to fire due to hammer falling only to half #### position

Ammo:
Federal Champion 36gr, CCI mini mag 36gr, CCI copper plated round nose 40gr, winchester 40gr lead hollow points, winchester bulk 555


So I had this gun out at the range last night for the first time and I was very disappointed to find that it wouldn't fire about 40% of the time. I at first shrugged and reasoned it needed some breaking in but after 250-300 rounds the problem persisted. I tried a bunch of different kinds of ammo with no significant difference in performance. I did notice it was far more frequent if I was taking carefully aimed shots (50% +) vs if I was just dumping the magazine at the target (about 10%).

After some internet research, I've concluded that there is insufficient trigger travel, causing the hammer to only just slip past half ####...but losing significant momentum along the way causing the light primer strikes, or getting hung up on half #### entirely. This seems to be consistent with the gun being more prone to this problem with me pressing the trigger carefully and less prone if I'm just smashing it down while firing quickly. So I've adjusted the trigger travel screw by backing it out 3/4 of a turn.

I'm worried that I may have reassembled something incorrectly when installing a right-handed safety though, or that the safety is interfering with the hammer drop somehow. 1911 experts, before I head back to the range, is there anything about my problem that is familiar to you? Is there anything else I can try at the range if the problem persists? Is there anything in particular I should be looking at if I take the gun apart again? Or do you agree with my conclusions and think it ought to be taken care of by adjusting the screw?

I will drop the hammer on some snap caps with the trigger travel screw at different adjustments to see if it makes a difference after work today and post the results.
 
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first thing i'd try would be putting the original saftey back in and seeing if the problem persists. Did you have to fit the norc saftey when you installed it?
 
1911 parts aren't always swappable and require some fine tuning. Does the Norc safety engage or disengage cleanly/easily? I sense that the safety needs some minor fitting and is currently holding up the sear.

Check out this safety check:
h ttp://www.coolgunsite.com/funcheck/function.htm
 
Old safety is long gone. The norc safety dropped right in with no fitting, no forcing required but yet the fit is as snug and rattle-free as you'd like it to be. Switching the safety from on to off to on brings a positive click with no rubbing and the act of engaging/disengaging the safety is indistinguishable from that of my SR1911. I will check out the function check posted above this evening and report back results.

Thanks for the advice guys! Keep it coming
 
Having the same problem on a full bore 1911 where I swapped a safety with no gunsmithing, gone back to the old safety but the problem remains.
 
So I disassembled the gun and was unable to see any safety/sear engagement while the hammer was falling. I cocked and released the hammer under the control of my thumb several dozen times and could see no rubbing or impact, nor could I feel any kind of rubbing as the hammer travelled forward. I coated the safety in marker and installed it and cocked and dropped the hammer a bunch of times. Upon removal there were no distinguishable rub marks. I filed a bit off the safety where the sear could conceivably be catching anyway just to be safe. The gun passed all function checks both before and after this. Unfortunately I neglected to do my snap cap test before I made this modification, so when I dropped the hammer on 22lr snap caps, the indents appear to be strong regardless of the setting of the trigger travel screw. So hopefully that's that. I think I'll be back at the club on Friday to run some more tests.
 
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Managed to get out to the club this afternoon and I have the following to report:

The gun still doesn't work.

After playing with the trigger travel screw and investigating the safety, the gun still doesn't work. There was zero change in its performance. I removed the thumb safety entirely and the problem persisted. I removed the magazine disconnect as well. After disassembling the slide, I inspected the firing pin housing for debris but discovered nothing.

However, after getting home, I noticed that my hammer has a huge dimple in it.

1ki3.jpg


I've now concluded that the firing pin safety is the culprit. It is unreliably moving out of the way to free up firing pin travel. Sometimes it moves enough to allow the gun to fire, sometimes it moves enough to allow the firing pin to travel, but not before losing enough momentum that only a light strike is left, and sometimes it does not move enough to permit any forward travel, causing my hammer to hit the firing pin and bounce off of it into the half #### position, leaving that nasty impression on the hammer surface.

I will remove the firing pin safety for my next range outing and report the results.
 
Couple things, the hammer is not bouncing off of the firing pin into half ####, that mark on the hammer is from the casting process, my GSG has the exact same mark. Have you taken the firing pin assembly out of the slide and thoroughly cleaned it? When I bought my GSG the firing pins housing was packed full of white grease and I was getting light strikes until I cleaned it all out.
 
Yeah, took it apart and blasted it out with G96. If that mark is from the manufacturing process, I believe it could still be possible that it is bouncing back into half ####.

After removing the firing pin block, the impressions the firing pin is leaving seem stronger. I test fired on a couple of empty casings and got promising results:

On the left is the new strike, the middle a light strike, and on the right the second firing that set the cartridge off earlier at the range.

zcxg.jpg
 
After getting back to the range, it is definitive: the firing pin block was the culprit. I shot 140 rounds with 2 failures to fire (fired on 2nd time through the gun) and zero falls to half ####. It's been 600 or so rounds since a cleaning, so I can say that the 2 ftf can be attributed to crud in the channel, or just the odd dud that comes with bulk 22. The failure rate just isn't anywhere close to 50% or even the 10% I was getting when mashing the trigger.

I believe my conclusions were correct in post #8, even though that mark on the hammer was not a result of the issue. There is likely something wrong with the arm that disengages the firing pin safety rather than the safety itself, but that doesn't matter. I'm just happy the gun works properly and anyone else with this issue can search for the resolution.
 
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