Enfield No. 2 misfire

[oldmil]

I just picked up a gunshow special British Enfield No. 2 revolver in 38 S&W. After replacing the broken barrel latch, I decided to fire it with a load equivalent to the original British military .380-200. This is a 200 grain lead round nose over 2 grains of Bullseye, Starline brass, WSP primers, giving about 600 fps. I fired four rounds with one misfire. The misfired round had just a dimple in the primer. The other rounds had a much more pronounced and normal primer impression. The misfire never would fire in any cylinder no matter how many times the trigger was pulled. I primed some empty cases and loaded up six. Three fired, three didn't. All fired when brought under the hammer again. Any ideas?

 

[James K]

A couple of things to check on the gun. The mainspring might be weak (uncommon), or your new latch might be interfering with the hammer. Excess headspace is also a possibility.

Also, your primers could be going bad from extreme age or improper storage. Do you have any problem with them in any other ammo?

I am not sure what you mean by a "dimple", but a misfired primer normally has what looks like a fairly shallow dent. The reason is that when a primer fires, the first thing that happens is that the internal pressure of the primer itself causes the primer metal to push out around the firing pin, giving the cratered look we normally associate with the primers of fired rounds. If the primer doesn't fire, the primer metal is just dented and the primer looks odd.

You might try a box of fresh factory ammo and see if it works OK.

Jim