help from fellow darksders on my yellewboy

[knucklehead]

shooting black powder in my 66.

my 66 is a 45lc and has the short strock kit installed and action job done to it.

I am using mag tech large pistol and winchester large pistol primers.
each set of 10 shots yesterday i was getting at least 1 round that would not fire the first time the hammer fell on it.
i had to recock and then the round would go off.
i have been turning the screw under the lever on the rifle to the right about a 1/8" of a turn. but this is not helping.

the rifle has had less than 1000 rounds shot threw it so i dont think the firing pin is bad.
any suggestions as to what i can look at to fix this problem.

thanks in advance.

[Texas John Critter]

I would take apart and clean the bolt and firing pin.  If this doesn't help I would get it back to the person who did the "action job" and have them make it right.

[litl rooster]

I think I'd have the hammer checked to see how much (poundage) short for a better word it is hitting at.  It maybe it is just to light.  Right in line with Texas John's post.  I don't have much luck with Winchester Primers in some guns,  Will have to admit I didn't know Mag Tech had primers.>then of course I never looked to see if they did<

[Noz]

At the last two shoots I have been to there have been people complaining about non-firing Winchester primers. May not be the rifle at all.

[Arcey]

Might not be the rifle.  Check to make sure your primers are fully seated.

[Dick Dastardly]

We had a very experienced shooter having LOTS of trouble with his 66 this weekend.  He couldn't get his usual Federal Gold Medal primers, so he loaded CCI primers in his ammo.  His pin was hitting the primers just too light.

After the match was over, I handed him my Browning 92 44 Magnum stoked up with bp and Mav Dtuchmans.  I load only CCI primers and have no trouble with 'em.  Anyway, he shot the gun empty and it took a good half an hour to get the grin off his face.  He says he may switch to Holy Black. . . .

Point is, some primers need a harder hit.  Slicked up guns often sacrifice adequate hammer force with the notion that the gun runs faster.  Not so.  Usually it's the extractor spring or some such that's slowing down the gun.  My take is this.  Use enough hammer force to get you thru a serious gun fight.  No reason to die for a faster repeat when the gun won't go boom.

DD-DLoS

[Delmonico]

A gun that won't fire a certain brand of primers because it has to light a hammer fall is broke.  A too light of a hammer fall can also cause a hang-fire.

[Sawdust Jim]

I had the same problem with mine after 2 1/2 years. It turned out that the 2 piece firing pin had compressed a bit and wasn't striking the primer deep enough. I replaced it with a one piece firing pin from the Cowboys & Indian Store and have had no troubles since. Just something to check.

Something else, that screw under the lever holds the mainspring in and is not an adjustment screw as on a '73. IMHO, when a pard suggests that you fuss with it, just say "thanks".

See ya next month

[knucklehead]

I had the same problem with mine after 2 1/2 years. It turned out that the 2 piece firing pin had compressed a bit and wasn't striking the primer deep enough. I replaced it with a one piece firing pin from the Cowboys & Indian Store and have had no troubles since. Just something to check.

Something else, that screw under the lever holds the mainspring in and is not an adjustment screw as on a '73. IMHO, when a pard suggests that you fuss with it, just say "thanks".

See ya next month

Hey Sawdust Jim how you doing?

Loden did my action job. He said that screw was a adjustment screw. He might be thinking that the 73 and the 66 are the same in that aspect.
anyways I tightend that screw all the way and the problem went away. I also took out the bolt and cleaned it real good.
I ran 100 rounds through it yesterday without one misfire.
I also found out that when you shoot the 66 100 rounds in a row that barrel gets mighty hot

I ordered the firing pin that you suggested for my 66. I think that i will avoid the 2 piece firing pin problem before it happens.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

Yeah, I was reading your post and wondering if there was a strain screw on a '66. I didn't think so. If you see 2 screws under there, the one in front is the strain screw and the one to the rear is the one that holds down the spring. They will be only about 1/2" apart. If there is just one screw, it is the screw that holds down the spring. One trick for lightening a spring is to leave a spacer between the spring and the frame. It doesn't lighten the spring much, but it does a little bit. Sounds more to me like your smith was either careless, and did not snug up the screw all the way, or else he didn't want to grind down your spring any more and used a shortcut by leaving the fastening screw slightly loose. Either way, you have solved the problem by snugging down the spring to the frame, where it should be.

My Henry did not have a strain screw in it. When Happy Trails did an action job on my Henry recently, I had him add a strain screw for just that reason. Glad I did too, I've had to tweak the spring a little bit to keep it firing my Winchester primers. Incidentally, Hap also did an action job on a 100 year old Marlin of mine, and added a strain screw to it too.