Failure to Fire

[wombat13]

I took my brother-in-law shooting the other day and he had two failures-to-fire while shooting my XD45. The ammo was a reload using Winchester primers. I've fired hundreds of these reloads with no problems. I noticed a dent from the firing pin in the primers of the cartridges when I ejected them. Also, I put the two failed cartridges back in the magazine and they fired just fine for me.

Is it likely that my BIL was limp-wristing the XD and that is the cause of the failures-to-fire? If not, what is the likely cause?

Thanks for any help.

[SpringfieldXD.40]

I would guess that he was limp wristing it, but I will let other, more experienced folks weigh in....

[Legend]

I can't see why you would have a FTF for limp wristing though

Feeding problems are what happen with a limp wrist...



So my guess is, the ammo is the culprit... I've never had a failure to fire though... Well, in my 45s that is.

[wombat13]

Originally Posted by Legend

I can't see why you would have a FTF for limp wristing though

Feeding problems are what happen with a limp wrist...



So my guess is, the ammo is the culprit... I've never had a failure to fire though... Well, in my 45s that is.

My theory was that by limp-wristing, there wasn't enough energy left in the slide to fully cock the striker. I haven't looked at a schematic of the XD and don't know exactly how the cocking mechanism works, so I have no idea if this makes sense or not, that's why I posted the question.

If the ammo is the culprit, it seems that it must be the primers. I was using primers that my FIL had leftover from when he shot his 1911 in competition. They were probably at least 15 year old Winchester primers. I've read that Winchesters are made with a thicker cup so they can be harder to ignite (if that's the appropriate term). I have since purchased Federal primers and have just started reloading with them. We'll see if that does the trick over time I guess.

[Legend]

If you play with your XD, you will see that you only need to move the slide backwards 1/4-1/2 inch to cock the striker again. So if limp wristing WAS the problem, your slide wouldn't even have moved enough to eject the old shell and load a new one.

I don't think it is physically even possible for the striker not to have enough energy if the gun were floating in mid-air to not hit the primer...

I'd bet lots and lots of 45acp rounds on the primers... Either that, or a defective striker... Then again, that is I think unheard of with the XD

[Forker45]

+1 for primers as cause

They could possibly be old and no good. My understanding is that they can absorb moisture and become inert.

The more likely possibility is primer seating. Out of the 1500+ reloads I've made since starting out, I've had 2 fail to fires. These were right when I first started and further investigation revealed a soft primer strike. A second run through the gun and they both went bang. I'm 100% sure the primer wasn't seated fully (my fault) and the force from the first firing pin strike was dissipated into seating the primer instead of igniting the primer.

[Frisco Pete]

I would agree with Forker45. Failure to fully seat a primer in a case can lead to that type of FTF. When the FP hits the primer, there is enough "give" in the primer (til it bottoms) that effectively cushions the blow enough to not set off the primer pellet.
Don't feel bad, it is easy enough to do when reloading lots of ammo, and factory brass can have a primer pocket that actually is not square , which leads to less of a feel and lessens the ability to fully seat the primer.
Sometimes a second strike will not ignite the primer because the original blow shatters the pellet without igniting it, rendering it inert for the second blow.

If a person was really serious about curing this possible problem, there are primer pocket uniforming tools made of carbide steel that you can chuck in a drill and "uniform" the pocket to square sides and a flat bottom. Certain runs of brass are more liable to this, or shallow pockets. Now this is nice in target grade ammo, a lot of work in large quantities of regular pistol though. However, just paying good attention when seating primers, even old ones, can normally alleviate the issue.

If one was interested in this type of tool for some reloading project or another, try Sinclair Intl. www.sinclairintl.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=RECPUN&type=store

[Boricua]

I had this problem a while back which is why I only us Federal 150's. There was a rash of hard primers that came out of the factory some time ago.

You might also take your firing pin out and check for dirt in the hole and on the parts. Mine was so dirty once I had to use a Q-tip and cleaner to clean it up. Not to mention that when I first got the pistol it had a metal shaving in the way so I had erratic firing. But that was all and easy fix.

[wombat13]

Thanks for the great responses. I'm new to reloading, so after reading your responses it seems like the seating of the primers is a distinct possibility.

[fredj338]

Defiently not limp wristing. Win. primers have a rep. for being a bit hard. If you don't seat them all the way into the pocket, a striker fired pistol may have difficulty. Part of the learning curve for handloading. Saty w/ it.