News

My gun hardly ever fires from the bottom barrel

I don't know if I have bought a consignment of cartridges with hard primers but my gun hardly ever fires one from the bottom barrel. Should I return them to the shop where I bought them?

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Technical
MIKE GEORGE says: By all means try it if you like – but in my experience you will find the fault lies with your gun, not the ammunition.

Yes, it is possible from time to time to end up with a batch of cartridges with overly hard primers but, from what you describe, this isn’t the case. Instead you should look to the state of your bottom firing pin. If hard primers have been fitted to the cartridges then you should be getting equal numbers of misfires between both barrels. This, however, isn’t so – they’re confined to the bottom barrel only.

If anything’s to blame it’s a pitted or chipped bottom striker and/or weak mainspring that’s failing to deliver a proper strike on the cartridge cap.

Replacing the pins and springs in a gun doesn’t cost much so why not have it all checked out by a gunsmith? If he says everything’s in order then, by all means, have a word with the shop that sold you the shells…in which case try out a carton or two before committing yourself to an expensive job lot!

Got a question? Contact: sportinggun@ipcmedia.com or Sporting Gun, PO Box 157, Stamford, Lincolnshire PE9 9FU