From: towle@vssteg.enet.dec.com (Clark Towle Gunsmith)
Subject: Re: Occasional Dud in Glock 20
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation

In article <199207311940.AA94983@ns1.CC.Lehigh.EDU>, ka02@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (Kent P. Aitchison) writes...
#Hello Netters,
#    Well, I'm still the owner of only one gun, a Glock in 10mm, and I love it:
#engineering appreciation, simplicity, beauty, etc.  I have also gotten into
#reloading with a Dillon RL550B; love it, too.  But there is a problem of late.
#    Every so often (some days 1 in 100 rounds, others 5 in 100) the striker
#will hit a primer and fail to ignite it.  No, I haven't had the problem with
#factory ammo, but I also haven't fired any in quite some time ;-).

 Text deleted

#    Any other Glock owners experience this problem?  Other handguns?  This is
#particularly disconcerting since this is also the gun I carry day to day.  I
#will appreciate any input from you NetExperts on this, will post results.


 When's the last time you cleaned the primer pockets?

 90% of all cases of misfiring reloads wether in a revolver or autoloader, can
be attributed to primers not being seated to the bottom of the pocket (on
account if crud buildup) so what happens is the firing pin finishes seating
the primer on the first whack of the firing pin then the second whack makes it
go bang.

 An aside, until you achieve 100% continued reliability with your reloads you
should use factory ammo for carry.

 The life you save could be your own. :-)

From: towle@vssteg.enet.dec.com (Clark Towle Gunsmith)
Subject: Re: Occasional Dud in Glock 20 - responses
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation

In article <199208051621.AA105016@ns1.CC.Lehigh.EDU>, ka02@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (Kent P. Aitchison) writes...

# Original text on round failure deleted.

#    Thanks for this and all the well-considered replies to the posting.  Good
#possible reasons given for the "bang failure" were:
#    -  "Hard" CCI primers
#    -  Dirty/damaged striker
#    -  Gummed up firing mechanism
#    -  Too short case length
#    -  Dirty primer pockets/poor seating
#    -  Oiling of primers
#
#    It seems that in my case, it is probably poor seating of the primers due
#dirty primer pockets.  Yup, I've been lazy, nary a one ever cleaned.  I will
#be acquiring a tumbler very soon, but am a bit perplexed about the situation
#when I do.
#    As I understand it, one very good reason for having a tumbler is to
#preserve your die sets - less dirt, less wear.  However, if I am to solve the
#dirty primer pocket problem, I would have to eject the fired primers by
#putting the fired cases through the first stage on the 550B, negating a main
#purpose of cleaning them(not to mention a tedious extra process).  Should I
#buy another, hand held depriming tool?  What does the rest of the world do?

 No problem Ken, glad I nailed it down for you. :-)

 Go out and get an el cheapo used RCBS A2, Rockchucker, etc. single stage
press to do the decapping/sizing on. Typically used single stage presses can
be found in the $20.00 to $25.00 range.

 After they are decapped/sized, you twirl the primer pocket cleaner a couple
times to get the crusty crud out then drop the case into the tumbler. When the
cases are clean and shiney, use the 550 (omitting the sizing die) to prime,
then proceed as usual through the other stations.

 Yeah, it takes a bit more time with the added step of using the single stage
press but using this method I for both rifle and pistol I've never had a
misfire (in several hundred thousand rounds) due to dirty primer pockets.