Failure to Fire, AGAIN!!!

Status
Not open for further replies.
M

martin6

New member
Dear friends, I once again experienced a failure to fire with my Ruger P-89. This time I did not pull the trigger a second time. I waited for a possible hang fire and then removed the round. The primer had a very slight dent in it and looked like it was struck much more lightly than the rounds that did fire. This has now happened twice in approximately 150 rounds. Both times have been on the first double action shot. All following SA shots have had no problems. I am now thinking it is a gun problem and not the ammo. I have made an effort to be sure the slide slams shut upon loading and I keep the gun clean and lubricated. I now suspect the problem could be due to a weak recoil spring and that the slide is not fully closing after I chamber a round. What do you think? Thank you, martin6
 
obvious things to check;
- wear on firing pin tip
- crud in firing pin channel

do a bunch of dry firing, both in DA and SA mode. see if you can hear any differences in the hammer fall.

good luck!
 
Stick a piece of white address label on the slide, across the gap to a nice flat bit of the frame. Draw a vertical line with a very fine tip pen from the slide to the frame. Trim the label away from the gap with a sharp knife.

NOW go to the range and so a magazine full of insert mag, cycle slide, safety drop hammer (however you do it),

look at the lines,

and shoot one round. Remove Mag, remove live round, set that one aside, and repeat until you've fired half the rounds in the mag.

Go ahead and fire if the lines show the slide to be 1/16 inch or 1mm or so back from full-forward. Often, the hammer will finish closing the slide but lose so much energy doing so that there's a very weak strike.

Oversize ammo can cause this problem. Or poor fitting of the barrel/slide surfaces. Or the weak hammerspring you mention.

But other things can cause it too.
 
Sorry can't help you there but just wanted to give my two cents worth about the Ruger P-89. Friend of mine bought one a year ago and five times the mag release breaks down when the gun is being fired causing the magazine to just plain fall out. Much to my friends' dismay, not to mention chuckles from other people at the range.
 
It is also possible that this is a shooter induced malfunction called limp wristing. Any auto requires pretty firm support of the shooting hand to function properly.

If the slide is not going fully into battery you should be able to see it. Some of the energy of the hammer strike is absorbed pushing the slide shut and you end up with a light hit as you describe. The most common causes of this are: limp wrist, dirty gun, weak recoil spring, gremlins
 
Personally, I would not hesitate to send the gun to the Ruger factory service department along with a description of the problem, if you have not done so already. Ruger is good about standing behind its products.
 
You don't mention if this is factory ammo or reloads. Your problem sounds like improperly seated primers. The firing pin seats the primer on the first strike, then will set it off if struck again. May be just a coincidence that it is the first round. Another possibility (as mentioned before) is that the gun is not going fully into battery when you change magazines. I like to "slingshot" mine into battery by pulling the slide back with my weak hand and releasing to allow the recoil spring the full run to lock everything up. You loose a little slide travel (and IMHO cause unnecessary wear to the slide stop) if you use the slide stop to release the slide. And by all means you should never, ever "ride the slide" to gently put your gun in battery.

------------------
"An unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."

Cesare Beccaria, the father of modern criminology
 
Sport45, the ammo I am using is 115 grain FMJ S&B. I have heard that it is not the greatest ammo, but could it cause this problem?
 
I've never had any trouble with S&B .45, haven't shot any of their 9mm. The .45 has red laquer on the primer. I would think that it would show some cracks if the primer moved.

Do you insert the magazine with the slide open or closed? Sometimes the top round in an overloaded magazine can push up too hard on the slide, or be too hard to strip out and cause some problems.

Best bet might be to call Ruger and take advantage of their customer service.

------------------
"An unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."

Cesare Beccaria, the father of modern criminology
 
I took my P-89 in question to the gunsmith this afternoon. He looked at the gun, played with the trigger, the slide and checked the firing pin. He said that he could find no problem with the gun and suspects that it is just the ammo. He told me that S&B uses harder metal in their primers. He said to experiment with other ammo and that if I do not experience any other problems then the S&B was the problem. In this whole process, I have heard from a couple of knowledgeble people that S&B is not very good.
 
Also be sure you load your first round by pulling the slide to the rear and letting it go stripping the first round into the chamber. Do not ease it foreward. Then drop your magazine and put one more cartridge in to top it off if you want a full load.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top