Forehand & Wadsworth Top break miisfires

[jaef65]

My top break revolver only fired half of shells put through it, sometimes 2 trigger pulls to do it.Worn firing pin, or spring? ,Or just dirty? Probably hasn't been fired in at least 80 yrs.

 

[4V50 Gary]

If the firing pin is nice and round and protrudes from the breechface and the breechface hole is clean, then I suspect it could be the mainspring that provides the energy to drive the hammer forward.

Or it could be bad ammo.

 

[Jim Watson]

Yeah, if the ammo is 80 years old, too.

I suspect a top latch or topstrap stretched by more shooting than the type was meant for.

Assuming the OP hasn't put .32 ACP in a .32 S&W, a common occurrence in a century after the .32 revolver's heyday.

 

[jaef65]

the ammo was just purchased, and the gun is tight, you may have something ,4V50 Gary, I have my doubts as to if the pin protrudes far enough out of the breach face. the dimples on the primers of the shells that ignited were deeper than those of the shells that did not, ihave found that aquiring a replacement firing pin may be next to impossible. the pistol belonged to me great - grandfather ,who was a Deputy Sheriff in Monroe County Michigan in the Early 1900s.