Greetings, hope everyone is have an awesome holiday season I qualified with Magtech training 44 special and had about 5 out of 50 misfires. The strikes/dents seemed good and it took about 3 tries on each to get them to go BANG. I see a post over 10years ago re this, was wondering if they were having more recent issues with the bigger primers. Thanks and stay safe
Magtech 44 special misfire
- Thread starter Billbud
- Start date
bamaranger
New member
?????????????
Not seen anything. Could be a lot in play with that many failures to fire (10%).
Raises some questions: How old was your ammo, how was it stored? What type of revolver were you shooting, how long have you owned it, has it been reliable in the past? Anybody dork with the mainspring.=?
Not seen anything. Could be a lot in play with that many failures to fire (10%).
Raises some questions: How old was your ammo, how was it stored? What type of revolver were you shooting, how long have you owned it, has it been reliable in the past? Anybody dork with the mainspring.=?
There are only a few possibilites, the ammo, the gun, or the interaction between the two.
Test #1
get some different ammo (as many different brands as you can) and runt them through your gun. If you get misfires, its probably your gun that needs work.
Test #2, run the misfiring ammo through different guns, and note the percentage of misfires. (not always possible, if you shot up all the misfiring ammo)
Primers are slightly different. Some makers use thicker, or harder cup material, and it is possible a gun might work fine with Brand A, and C, but misfire with brand B. Its is also possible that a gun can work fine only with a certain brand of primer. I have seen "match guns" set up so that they only work 100% of the time with Federal primers.
A general use gun should fire everything, reliably 100% of the time.
Bad ammo is always a possibility, but a gun that is borderline reliably igniting the primers is also a possibility.
Figure out if its the gun, or the ammo, and also if its ALL the ammo made by that manufacturer, of just the batch you got.
You need to identify the cause of the problem, before you can fix it.
Odds are its the ammo, BUT, one can not be certain without testing.
I would count the service life of your pistol, (number of years/rounds always working with out issues) as a valid test. In other words, if you've shot the gun for years, and never had any misfires, its probably the ammo.
Test #1
get some different ammo (as many different brands as you can) and runt them through your gun. If you get misfires, its probably your gun that needs work.
Test #2, run the misfiring ammo through different guns, and note the percentage of misfires. (not always possible, if you shot up all the misfiring ammo)
Primers are slightly different. Some makers use thicker, or harder cup material, and it is possible a gun might work fine with Brand A, and C, but misfire with brand B. Its is also possible that a gun can work fine only with a certain brand of primer. I have seen "match guns" set up so that they only work 100% of the time with Federal primers.
A general use gun should fire everything, reliably 100% of the time.
Bad ammo is always a possibility, but a gun that is borderline reliably igniting the primers is also a possibility.
Figure out if its the gun, or the ammo, and also if its ALL the ammo made by that manufacturer, of just the batch you got.
You need to identify the cause of the problem, before you can fix it.
Odds are its the ammo, BUT, one can not be certain without testing.
I would count the service life of your pistol, (number of years/rounds always working with out issues) as a valid test. In other words, if you've shot the gun for years, and never had any misfires, its probably the ammo.
Would this by chance be in a Redhawk? The single spring arrangement is not too reliable. Sold mine and got a 629! The Redhawk had a tendency to double action lite strike. I suspect your gun is the problem as well. It may need a stronger hammer spring to be 100% reliable which will increase your trigger pull. I had messed with the springs in my Redhawk and then discovered the model was not a good candidate for reduced springs. The Super Redhawk, SP101 and GP100 don't have this problem since those guns have separate trigger and hammer springs. I'm sure there are a lot of guys with Redhawks cursing the ammo
Bob Wright
New member
Here's my test for firing pin function: Clear the gun, check it twice. Cock the hammer and point the muzzle straight up. Take a yellow No.2 lead pencil with the eraser at the end. Drop the pencil, eraser first down the muzzle, making sure the eraser is over the firing pin aperture (hole). Then pull the trigger. The impact should make the pencil jump clear of the muzzle. If it doesn't, either the firing pin is not protruding sufficiently, or the mainspring is too weak.
Also the red Coca Cola pencils seem to work as well.
Bob Wright
Also the red Coca Cola pencils seem to work as well.
Bob Wright
Bob Wright
New member
Annnnnd................Remember the photographer who wanted to test all of his flash bulbs before going on assignment? Cartridges are the same ilk.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Bob Wright
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Bob Wright
bamaranger
New member
candidates
Since we're naming likely culprits, is the suspect a Charter Bulldog?
I had an early one, circa late "70's, and shot the little thing out of time as well as creating a lot of end shake. Great little gun, but made to be carried a lot and shot a little. As I remember, there was a single coil mainspring on the Bulldog as well.
Since we're naming likely culprits, is the suspect a Charter Bulldog?
I had an early one, circa late "70's, and shot the little thing out of time as well as creating a lot of end shake. Great little gun, but made to be carried a lot and shot a little. As I remember, there was a single coil mainspring on the Bulldog as well.
Jim Watson
New member
Model 29 with a limber spring kit, maybe.
Funny!
On this site the joke is great, I bet on a lot of sites you'd get 'flash bulbs???' and puzzled looks.
Thanks for the New Year's wish and looking forward to more of your single action revolver wisdom in the year to come.
P.S. Some of the old flash bulbs had the same base as a desk lamp high intensity light bulb. Loads of dormitory room fun back in the 1960's-1970's.
44caliberkid
New member
We need to know what kind of revolver, but I would also suspect a Charter Bulldog, even though I love mine. I sent it back when new in 1975 for a weak mainspring and it was returned with a He Man mainspring, that is reliable, but I did trim a coil or so off it to make it useable in double action. I’ve shot a lot of Magtech Cowboy ammo in 44-40 and 45 Colt without any problems.
Bob Wright
New member
As to this trick, I learned this as a kid. I had an old Colt New Service and suspected a weak mainspring. Dropping a pencil down the muzzle was the only way I knew of to check the firing pin force. With the correct mainspring, the pencil would clear the muzzle easily.
Bob Wright
Bob Wright
I bought a pair of Super Redhawks off a guy at a gunshow that were his late father's. .44 Mag and .454 Casull. He told me they had trigger work done. .44 Mag goes bang every time. .454 did not. Multiple strikes were needed.
I sent the .454 back to Ruger and they replaced the mainspring or hammer spring (I forget which) along with the "upgrade" parts. Now it goes bang every time.
Ruger has excellent CS.
I sent the .454 back to Ruger and they replaced the mainspring or hammer spring (I forget which) along with the "upgrade" parts. Now it goes bang every time.
Ruger has excellent CS.
Heck I had one, a Bulgarian Makarov IIRC, that would stick the pencil in the ceiling.