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Old August 3, 2012, 07:05 PM   #1
bspillman
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help with a revolver please.

I have an older Taurus probably built in the late 70s. I inherited it from my dad. it has had thousands of trouble free rounds through it. today i took it out and had some light primer strikes. it would go boom boom click click boom click. i ran 12 rounds through it like this. i took it inside and lightly pressed in the firing pin a few times to make sure it wasn't being held up or any thing. took it back out and the next 6 ran perfect. i looked at the primers some were off center. the ones that went off had good dents in them the ones that didn't barely had marks on them. can any one tell me whats going on and about how much it should cost. thanks in advance.
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Old August 3, 2012, 07:17 PM   #2
Scorch
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What's going on is light primer strikes. Could be gummed up oil slowing the hammer fall, a weak mainspring, or excessive headspace. I would star at the easiest one to fix first, open it up and give it a good bath and a few drops of oil (or if you aren't comfortable doing this take it to a gunsmith for a disassemble/clean/oil). If that doesn't fix the problem, try a new mainspring (probably $10 or so). If you have serious headspace, the cylinder can be shimmed. If that won't work, it's a whole different ball game.
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Old August 3, 2012, 08:24 PM   #3
James K
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The problem could be the ammunition. Does it date to the 70's also? Do you have another revolver in that caliber you could use to check out the ammo? Or you could obtain some other ammo.

Note that when a primer fires, the internal pressure pushes the primer metal back out and around the firing pin, giving the deep looking indent we are used to seeing. If the primer doesn't fire, there is no pressure, and no deep indent, only what appears to be a light strike.

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Old August 3, 2012, 09:20 PM   #4
bspillman
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The problem could be the ammunition. Does it date to the 70's also?

No i bought 158 grain round nose federal ammo today right before i went to shoot it.
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Old August 4, 2012, 12:51 AM   #5
kraigwy
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Quote:
No i bought 158 grain round nose federal ammo today right before i went to shoot it.

What kind of ammo, I bought two boxes of Remington 158 gr LSWC 38s, about a half of them required two to three hammer hits to go off. This was new ammo too.

Try switching ammo and see what happens.
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Old August 4, 2012, 04:19 AM   #6
HiBC
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Something to consider:
When you eject your empties,are you muzzle up or muzzle down?

Muzzle up is good.If you are looking at the brass as you eject,any powder fouling crud falling out of the cases will try to find its way under that star shaped ejector plate .Then the ejector will ride a little high,with mushy crud under it.That is what your rims will be resting on as the hammer falls.

If my guess was right,clean under the ejector ,and get in the habit of pointing the muzzle at the sky as you swing the cyl out and press the ejector rod.
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Old August 4, 2012, 07:41 PM   #7
drail
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If it won't bang off a Federal primer then it definitely has a weak strike problem. Buy a new mainspring and install it. I really don't think this is an ammo problem. Something is slowing the hammer down or the spring has been modified or just had a poor temper job when it was built.
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