[GeorgeF]

I have a few thousand rounds of US military ball .45 I inherited - 1961 manufacture. Every weapon I put it through, it has gone BANG. Never a dud.

I took my new PT145 4th gen to the range and loaded up one magazine and all I got were light hits on the primer. Bought a box of Blazer Brass and all went off as normal in the PT145. Cycling the military ball into my other weapon and they went off just fine.

Now, all my other .45's are your standard variation of 1911 so this my first striker fire. SO, is this something that is normal for striker fire pistols? I'm thinking the military ball is probably hard primers, but I would appreciate any other input/user experience out there.

Thanks!

 

[Cimarron]

You need to understand that unlike most hammer fired guns where the weight and length of the trigger is a matter of the hammer, sear, and main spring... on a striker fired gun the trigger weight is EXACTLY the weight of the striker spring.

To put it in comperable terms... on a 1911 the "reduced weight" main spring from Wilson Combat are 19#. The standard weight recoil on my Browning Hi-Power is 32#, but I shoot a 28# mainspring.

Can you imagine having a PT145 with a 19# trigger pull?

To get the 5-7 lb trigger pull on most PT145's you have to know that more than a lot of careful engineering went into the design... and the intent of these guns is to shoot the best ammo, not just the off the shelf, stored for years, mil-spec ammo.

When shooting your PT145 respect its design and shoot good quality ammo, preferably in a 185 gr JHP weight. If you get a batch of hard printers, save those for you 1911 which will shoot almost everything you can throw at it.

Remember that the milspec 1911 was a mud and dirt military combat weapon and was designed to shoot ammo that you had to reach into the pocket of a dead GI to retrieve to save your life and others.

The PT145 is rugged, but the striker design just isn't made for military ball.

Hope this helps!

 

[GeorgeF]

Many thanks for detailed reply. While I own a few striker fired pistols (HK, Glock, S&W Sigma and Taurus), I never probed too deeply into the mechanics. That makes perfect sense.

On a side note, I would take this ammo in a heartbeat in any situation. All has fired perfectly (with decent accuracy to boot) whereas I have had some new ammo that had issues (bullet not seated properly, squib without powder, etc).

Thanks again for the info.

 

[Sarge]

Interesting. I just purchased a PT145 and for the most part it has had no problems except on a box of reloaded 230 FMJ's with hardball (Winchester primers). Out of 50 10 failed to fire on the first attempt. 5 did fire after a second try. Showed the reloaded and he was able to get most of them to fire in his 1911.

Sarge

 

[Wild Irish]

I had a few light primer strikes with my pt 145 when it was new, but after firing a couple of hundred rounds through it, the problem disappeared.

 

[davewvu86]

Though the idea about the 1911 would seem to hold true, the problem lay in the fact that other manufacturers of striker fire pistols, namely Springfield, Glock, Kahr, etc. don't seem to have the same tendency to light strike rounds...at least from my personal experience.

As these guns are a SA/DA, the SA should have a very powerful strike with the action being loaded with the backwards stroke movement of the slide vs. the trigger pull. Should this be true, it's certainly poor design.

Now the question comes to are they really SA/DA or are they DAO? I talked to CS today and they said the PT111 I've been having problems with light strikes with is DAO...

 

[Joey C.]

>>>I took my new PT145 4th gen to the range

4th gen? I just bought one and thought I bought a 3rd gen myself. What should i look for to see if its a 4th?

Also, how "new?" Did you clean it before you fired it? When I bought mine new it was dirty as hell right out of the box, all kinds'a heavy grease and crud inside and out. I dry fired it twice before cleaning (once to strip it) and the action felt really gritty. After a moderate Hoppe's rub down and lube it seemed to really smooth out. Could that factory grease be the cause of light strikes?

-Joey

 

[Smokewagon]

Now the question comes to are they really SA/DA or are they DAO? I talked to CS today and they said the PT111 I've been having problems with light strikes with is DAO...

There are both DAO and SA/DA models out there depending on generation.

 

[Smokewagon]

>>>I took my new PT145 4th gen to the range

4th gen? I just bought one and thought I bought a 3rd gen myself. What should i look for to see if its a 4th?

Also, how "new?" Did you clean it before you fired it? When I bought mine new it was dirty as hell right out of the box, all kinds'a heavy grease and crud inside and out. I dry fired it twice before cleaning (once to strip it) and the action felt really gritty. After a moderate Hoppe's rub down and lube it seemed to really smooth out. Could that factory grease be the cause of light strikes?

-Joey

I think 4th generation is a myth. Newest is 3rd. And yes, that packing grease could cause light strikes.

 

[Joey C.]

After reading this post I decided to examine my primer strikes. Seems that my PT 145 has a very interesting strike signature. It does strike deep, but leaves a trail up one side of the primer. I spoke to the resident guru at the range and he said that its not something to worry about as long as it goes boom when you need it to. What he really said was that it is not uncommon for weapons to leave their own distinct markings. General consensus was that as long as the round is chambered properly and no other symptoms are evident (like excessive gas blowout into my face) that its all hunky-dorey. Anyone else have thoughts on this?

 

[Smokewagon]

Primer smear. Your guru is right, it's common. Most of mine do it too. No problems. I pick up a lot of range brass, and it's quite evident on probably half the stuff I gather.

 

[Jake3501]

I had one light primer strike on that commie ammo you should never fire in anything but a commie gun (Wolf) and never buy it any more except for my AKs. Primers are hard, and steel cases will wear out the extractor. Smokewagon, you live close to Rustic Range I guess?

 

[Smokewagon]

With in 2.5 miles. Thinkin' about goin' today.