Webley Mk. IV-38 top break revolver is piercing primers

[Silence1]

I have a .38 S/W Webley which is piercing some of the primers. I loaded 1.8 grains of win. 231 with winchester small pistol primers. 158 gr.lead swc.

Is the winchester primer my issue or is the firing pin striking to hard? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[gewehr76]

Try magnum small pistol primers. These guns designed for military ammo that usually have harder primer cup. mag primers are somewhat similar to mill, not same but close.

 

[alpining]

That's a really light powder charge, isn't it? Where is your load data from? I don't know your experience level, so I'm sorry if it's old news, but you can get problems if you go too light with your powder charge.

If the above is irrelevant, it's worth trying tougher primers. Could be Winchester QC, they have been known to let some bad batches get out. Do you have any different primers you can try? Standard CCI should be tougher, before going to small pistol magnum.

 

[tiriaq]

What is the shape of the firing pin tip? Projection through the breech face? Fit of firing pin in hole?
I had a little .32 that was piercing primers. Firing pin tip was pointy, not nicely rounded.

 

[Silence1]

Gentlemen, Load data was from Lyman reloading manual. Start grains suggested in the manual was 1.5 to a max of 2.5. The firing pin point is rounded. I have CCI and small pistol magnum primers. I will test both and report back. Thank you for the advice.

 

[alpining]

Right you are, in my Lyman 48th Edition manual (2002), it lists 1.5gr start to 2.5gr max for 231 with 160gr cast. It also says the data is only for solid frame revolvers - But what are you gonna do? This is the only print source I've seen for 231.

And it says to slug your bore, which was going to be part of my follow up: Throat and bore diameter vs. bullet diameter, and bullet hardness.

Do you have any chrono data for this load in your revolver? It might give us some more useful info to work with. And the other obvious point, checking that your loaded cartridges are fully seating in the chambers (probably, but it's worth confirming).

 

[marshall]

check the firing pin protrusion
Have some pictures of a couple fired cases?

 

[Snider shooter]

Is the firing pin too long or possibly chipped making it sharp?

 

[hannibal.black98]

Any updates/new ideas on this…mine is also doing it, reguardless of ammo it happens about 40-50% of the time…its all factory ammo.

My fixed on the hammer firing pin is rather “sharp” too

 

[fightinghamster]

I use all campro primers for all my guns, haven’t had an issue with my Enfield top break 38s&w