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Joined: 14 Nov 2011 Posts: 164 Location: Minnesota

I have a 2 barrel Fox set and one of the barrels is slightly off center of the action. This results in the firing pin not hitting dead center on the primer. Everything is correct mechanically with the gun. I am trying to avoid having 2 new firing pins put in with the pins angled to try and get a more consistent fire.

Are there any primers that are more reliable with light/off center strikes than others? Gunsmith suggested trying several different loads and primers to try and find one that will fire consistently.

Thanks for any help

I have found the Winchester 209 to be very tolerant of off center or light strikes.

Mike

Member Joined: 16 Nov 2006 Posts: 1338

Guest

Rob, my Belgian OU 16 has a little of that same issue. For some reason it does fine with Remington hulls, either factory new RGL's or my reloads with W209 primers. I'm not sure if the brass is thicker in the right spot on the Rem hulls or what, but it's worth checking in to. I just reserve my Remington ammo and hulls for that shotgun. It's been the cure for me. Mark Beasland said the next step would be to get the pin bushed and that's expensive.

every Federal cap I have cracked has worked. Had a Huglu that was off that way causing mis fires now and then. I could put that shell in another gun and it would fire just fine. Using Federal primers in that Huglu it always fired. it turned out the Firing pin was a frogs hair short and it wobbled in its seat. I made a new one and it was really fixed.

Joined: 15 Jun 2010 Posts: 1358 Location: Twin Cities, MN

Federal 209As are super reliable when smacked in the middle, but they are not reliable with off center hits. If you look at them they are slightly domed, making the outer part of the primer farther away from the breach face. I haven't had problems with any of the major primers - Federal, Winchester, Remington or Cheddite. Have not used enough Fiocchi, Noble Sport, or Rios to determine their reliability.
I know someone else with the exact same problem with an after market 2 barreled Fox. He ended up having new angled firing pins made and I think that gun was still picky about primers. Hope a different primer fixes this.
Regards,
Jeff

Joined: 16 Jul 2015 Posts: 2124 Location: Hudson,Wy

For what its worth, the hardest primers (or possibly the thickest) I have used are CCI 209 or 209M. I had partial pin dents in the primers with several different guns over the years. Not much of a problem in most, but a definite issue with one gun in particular.
As others have stated, my luck with Win primers has been excellent and Federals are very easy to to punch but are indeed domed and might cause problems with your off center pins.

Joined: 18 Feb 2014 Posts: 30 Location: New Zealand

I have that issue sometimes in my gun with brand spanking Clever Mirage cartridges. I don't know what the factory primers are - all silver coloured so Cheddites maybe?.

I reload the same empties with Win 209 and they always go bang.