What causes light strikes?

[Kahrmine]

I don't know a ton about semiautos, so bear with me if I say something that doesn't make sense. I bought a used gun that had previously had a trigger job to lighten the pull. I took it to the range to test it and it can't even cycle a full mag without light strikes all over the place. I had three different types of ammo, and it happened with all of them at various times.

Taking a peek at the primers of the ones that didn't fire, the dents were inconsistent. Some were deeper than others. Some of the ammo that had light strikes did fire a second time around when I ran them back through.

I don't know if a trigger job could affect the action of the actual hammer or not. Or do you think this is likely an unrelated matter?

thanks in advance

 

[TheRoland]

Maybe. Each gun works differently, though. What gun are we talking about here?

 

[drgrant]

I don't know a ton about semiautos, so bear with me if I say something that doesn't make sense. I bought a used gun that had previously had a trigger job to lighten the pull. I took it to the range to test it and it can't even cycle a full mag without light strikes all over the place. I had three different types of ammo, and it happened with all of them at various times.

Taking a peek at the primers of the ones that didn't fire, the dents were inconsistent. Some were deeper than others. Some of the ammo that had light strikes did fire a second time around when I ran them back through.

I don't know if a trigger job could affect the action of the actual hammer or not. Or do you think this is likely an unrelated matter?

thanks in advance

Without you telling us what it is, it's going to be hard to answer your question. The answer is "Yes, sometimes, if it's not done right, or its a gun ill suited to it". It's also possible there is junk in the firing pin channel or something like that. (I've seen this before on filthy 1911s- friend had an SW1911 that light striked, I took it apart and cleaned out the upper real good and it stopped light striking. )

-Mike

 

[newportri]

Yes, it can make a difference. What gun do you have?
I had a similar problem on my Glock when I switched to a lighter firing pin spring. A lighter spring means that the trigger pull is less since a Glock (and many other guns) have to overcome the spring tension to fully cock the striker (or hammer). On 1911/2011 style guns (single action) the slide is often lightened and a lighter spring is used (for competition guns) to reduce the felt recoil and you can get similar problems there as well. The same principle applies to revolvers as well and I unhooked one of the hammer springs on my Ruger Vaquero to get a lighter trigger pull.
Some ammo is also known for having hard primers and I know my Glock doesn't like CCI primers and I prefer Federal primers. Unfortunately, I didn't find that out after I bought 10000 CCI primers, but I am using them for training ammo.

 

[Kahrmine]

It's a Walther PPS .40 caliber.

It's actually an awesome gun, otherwise. It's freakin' accurate! Also, it recoils better than my M&P .40c, which is odd because I believe it's lighter than the Smith. But, if gun no go bang, party over...

 

[Kahrmine]

Without you telling us what it is, it's going to be hard to answer your question. The answer is "Yes, sometimes, if it's not done right, or its a gun ill suited to it". It's also possible there is junk in the firing pin channel or something like that. (I've seen this before on filthy 1911s- friend had an SW1911 that light striked, I took it apart and cleaned out the upper real good and it stopped light striking. )

-Mike

I just took the slide off and there is a ton of thick grease like you might use for an axle. Could it be this gun was never cleaned properly after the factory ship? The seller told me he bought it two months ago. I picked it up today, and went right to the range with it to make sure it functioned properly. I really don't want to mess with anything until I can bring it to Dave Santurri and see what he thinks tomorrow.

 

[drgrant]

I just took the slide off and there is a ton of thick grease like you might use for an axle. Could it be this gun was never cleaned properly after the factory ship? The seller told me he bought it two months ago. I picked it up today, and went right to the range with it to make sure it functioned properly. I really don't want to mess with anything until I can bring it to Dave Santurri and see what he thinks tomorrow.

I bet it is just gunked up with crap and needs a good cleaning.... a PPS is not a gun that grease belongs anywhere near!

-Mike

 

[Kahrmine]

I bet it is just gunked up with crap and needs a good cleaning.... a PPS is not a gun that grease belongs anywhere near!

-Mike

It's caked down in where the trigger assembly is within the polymer frame. It's all caked in where the hammer/striker thingy is at the rear of the slide. I don't know if I want to disassemble this thing that deeply to clean it, unless that's something most gun owners would regularly do. If it's not that hard, I'm up for it. I just don't want to have to need specialized tools or to look for the spring that sprung and can't be found, if you know what I mean.

 

[Greg Derr]

Try using mineral spirits to soak the stuff in then blow out with air if you can.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

The answer is "Yes, sometimes, if it's not done right, or its a gun ill suited to it".

It also depends on the design criteria of the trigger job. For example, JP Rifles offers trigger pulls optimized for competition - nicer trigger pull, but the risk of a light strike, or a duty trigger - not quite a nice a feel but for use when it absolutely, positively has to go bang and there is more than a match scoresheet at stake.

Similarly, some trigger jobs are expected to have a light strike - the classic example being a revolver trigger job that results in a mandate to "use only Federal primers" in the gun (since they are more sensitive than other brands).

 

[45collector]

It's caked down in where the trigger assembly is within the polymer frame. It's all caked in where the hammer/striker thingy is at the rear of the slide. I don't know if I want to disassemble this thing that deeply to clean it, unless that's something most gun owners would regularly do. If it's not that hard, I'm up for it. I just don't want to have to need specialized tools or to look for the spring that sprung and can't be found, if you know what I mean.

IIRC the PPS slide is not difficult to disassemble. It's the receiver and all it's parts that are a bitch.

Good luck!

 

[Kahrmine]

Try using mineral spirits to soak the stuff in then blow out with air if you can.

I was thinking of that, as a friend has a compressor. Thanks, Gregg.

Is it ok to just submerge the slide and the polymer frame in mineral spirits? I really would like to avoid taking all the parts out if possible.

 

[Kahrmine]

IIRC the PPS slide is not difficult to disassemble. It's the receiver and all it's parts that are a bitch.

Good luck!

Thanks for the heads up. I hope we can see what Greg thinks about leaving it all together while soaking it and just blowing the gunk out.

 

[dcmdon]

The PPS striker chanel is just like a glocks and is a natural place for gunk to accumulate. It will take you 30 sec to remove the striker and clean everything, off.

If you continue to have problems, replacing the striker spring with a one known to be factory stiffness is a good next step. Putting a lighter striker spring in is a common way to lighten a trigger, although its probably best done only to competition guns, not carry guns.

If the strikes were consistently light, I'd suggest a spring swap first. But because of the inconsistency you mentioned, I'm betting on gunk in the striker channel.

Don

 

[Kahrmine]

Yes, Don, Dave Santurri just took a peek at it for me and took out the spring assembly and cleaned it off real good. He said it was gunked up, and said he could hear a difference after cleaning it when dryfiring it. I won't be able to run rounds through it until tomorrow, but I will report back after to update the thread.

Thanks to everyone for your input.

 

[Kahrmine]

I'm thrilled to have a good report. I have to thank Dave for making this so simple for me. It was indeed the gunk in the striker channel. I ran about 45 flawless rounds through it today. Not a single issue. Every round went bang!

I really like this gun, it's the best compromise between size, ergonomics, caliber, and weight. I think the PPS is a clear standout among subcompact pistols. Now I just need to find the right iwb holster for it.

thanks again for everyone's input, you guys were right.

 

[agile_1]

I'm thrilled to have a good report. I have to thank Dave for making this so simple for me. It was indeed the gunk in the striker channel. I ran about 45 flawless rounds through it today. Not a single issue. Every round went bang!

I really like this gun, it's the best compromise between size, ergonomics, caliber, and weight. I think the PPS is a clear standout among subcompact pistols. Now I just need to find the right iwb holster for it.

thanks again for everyone's input, you guys were right.

Congrats. Glad to hear it.

When Walthers work - they work well. My P99's always go bang and I shoot well with them. Thinking about buying some kind of armorers manual for them. I want to keep them clean and in good operating condition for a long long time. If anyone has a recommendation, I would be much obliged.