[nisora]

I recently bought a PT 111 Mil Pro for carry purposes. It was purchased brand new, and when I got home I cleaned all the cosmoline off of it and made sure it functioned well. One week later I took it out and it fired beautifully for the first few mags. Then it misfired. I pulled the trigger and nothing happened, so I utilized the secondary DA feature by pulling the trigger again. Nothing. I ejected the round and finished the mag. After recovering the round, the primer looked just like all my spent cases so far, so it was definitely striking the case hard enough. It happened once more that day and again today. It just randomly will not ignite a certain round. I was using white box Winchester ammo on both instances.

I'm posting to see if someone else out there has had any problems like this or knows what might be wrong. I've been very careful to not get oil onto the striker or in the chamber, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was just leftover gunk from the cosmline (there was a LOT of cosmoline on this gun when I bought it). It could very well be that the pistol just needs broken in, and if that's the case then I'm more than up to the task. However, if this is going to be my carry piece, it must go bang every time. I would really like to avoid sending it to Taurus if at all possible. I really, really like this gun a lot. It feels great in my hand, and when it fires I can shoot it very well, but if I can't get this problem worked out I might be shopping for a Taurus revolver.

Thanks for any input.

 

[Mr. Peepers]

Try different ammo in it and see what happens. I got a 115 grain remington FMJ that only had half of the primer, thats right I could see inside of the thing. I did not fire it but made a note to check all ammo over before I load it up. You may have gotten weak loads or maybe the primer was crappy, it seems that if the spent rounds look the same then it is more of an ammo thing than a gun thing but I could be wrong. Try something other than WWB and see what it does for you.

 

[Steelheart]

I've been hearing of issues with WWB recently. I'd say to try some Federal (American Eagle is their generic line), Remington (UMC is the generic) or maybe some CCI Blazer but some people have had issues with both the aluminum and the brass versions.

FYI Sellier & Bellot are known for hard primers so I don't recommend trying them for something like this.

Steelheart

Steelheart

 

[MPanova]

I too have been noticing lately that WWB has had some bad primers and some deformed brass that will not feed right. I have been shooting Blazer Brass in my .45's for the last year or so because it is so much cheaper and cleaner then WWB but untill resently the WWB 100 packs in 9mm were still cheaper then Blazer so I stuck with it but the problems with WWB are getting worse and worse so I switched to the Blazer Brass for 9mm aswell. I buy it all at wall mart when its in stock and other then that I buy all my reloads at the gun show from T's ammo out of Texas city. There reloads work about 99% which is good enough for range/plinking to save about 40% when buying it in bulk verses 50 at a time in the store.

 

[davelikegun]

i had one round of WWB that i had to restrike last week. maybe they had a bad batch or something.

 

[nisora]

Okay, I started really picking stuff apart last night, and I discovered something. The spent cases look "scratched" on one side of the strike point. This looks like it is shaving small pieces of brass off the primer, and I believe the striking pin is pulling these pieces back into the assembly with it. If I dry fire the pistol I can find very small flecks of brass on the feed ramp and in the magazine well. This is the first Taurus semi-auto that I've owned, so it might be a common occurance. Again, thanks everyone for the input and advice.

As soon as I get a chance to put some different ammo through it I'll post an update. At least it's feeding and ejecting properly...

 

[Mr. Peepers]

Yeah I suspect ammo even more now with other people having the same problem that you are with WWB. Try some remington FMJ and JHP those work really well through my PT 92 but I haven't found anything that the gun won't eat and spit out but thats the PT 92.

 

[MPanova]

Sounds like you are discribing primer wipe, it happends when the action is so fast that it pulls the brass out faster then the firing pin can get away from the primer, for the most part it doesnt effect anything but I guess there could be a possability it could get some shavings on there and cause it not to fire after awhile, I would go to Wally world and pick up 3 or 4 boxes of Blazer Brass and see if you have any trouble with that

 

[nisora]

Very well. I'll head to the friendly (if available) guys at the Wal-Mart counter and get some other stuff to try in the gun. Hopefully Winchester just put out a bad batch and it'll improve in the future. I'll report back if it happens with another type of ammo. Thanks again.

 

[anxiety.]

If the striker hit it just like the rest then how could it be the gun's fault?

 

[nisora]

The reason I am skeptical of it being an issue with the ammo is because in all the years I've shot and all the years of the people I know that have shot, I have never heard of a Winchester White Box cartridge having a problem.

Now, I have disassembled the striker assembly and cleaned it out. There was a lot of cosmoline trapped in there, so I'm hoping this has fixed the issue (or at least helped it). I was also looking for the possibility of a burr inside the striker port, possibly causing the firing pin to hit just light enough to not fire the primer, but still make a dent. I've seen this happen in one of my friend's guns, and after the burr was filed off it functioned flawlessly. This, however, was not the case.

I have yet to get this gun back to the range and see if it is still having this issue, and when I do I'll be taking a box of Winchester, a box of Blazer, and a box of handloaded ammo. If this still happens I will once and for all determine if it is the ammo or the firearm. I should be able to take a trip out in the next week or so, and I will post an update.

 

[TGinAZ]

I've had similar issues with my PT145... but mine were with any ammo and light primer hits were very obvious. Taurus replaced the firing pin assembly and returned it... (my cost = $46.01!!!).

And now it has tiny dimples in one primer out of about 50.... and that's not acceptable in a carry gun!

At the range yesterday, a friend had a PT140... and she had the same problem with it! I looked at the primer on the round that didn't go bang, and it was just a shallow dimple!

Since it happens with all sorts of ammo, this is a gun problem in my case... and I'm frustrated! I love the gun, but don't want to carry it!

 

[Qwiks draw]

Just for the record ,Nisora never did get back to us on this one though like the National Inquirer, "inquiring minds want to know" how this turned out.

A lot of the times there is either a weak spring or dirt and debris have gathered in the firing pin channel. Cleaning out the channel takes care of the latter problem. Taurus customers have been able to obtain the firing pin spring or a new pin and do the job themselves at times.

 

[TGinAZ]

<snip> Cleaning out the channel takes care of the latter problem.<snip>

Can anyone point me to a disassembly diagram/instructions that goes beyond the owner's manual?

 

[Cimarron]

I read an interesting observation on one of Taurus' promo pieces. It talked about the problem of (A) debris in the striker channel or (B) enough lubrication to cause a seal so that the forward momentum of the striker became a "shock absorber"... they also rationalized that a second action of the DA trigger would then fire the gun.

HOWEVER, I've seen what is being described. Hard primers... probably so. BUT most of the time the DA follow up doesn't work... I then cycled the slide and went on... often picking up the unfired bullet, droping it in the chamber and firing the round. Some have indicated that they have just pulled the slide back the 1/4" to reset the slide and the round would then fire.

Obviously the primer is being hit hard to mark it
There is no reason for the primer not to fire unless it has a problem
But then why will it fire when dropped back into the chamber by hand?

Got me!

For help in disassembling the slide... try this http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=81.0

 

[TGinAZ]

For help in disassembling the slide... try this http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=81.0

Perfect! Thanks Cimarron!

Since I've tried and seen failures with 4 different factory loads and 2 different primers from handloads, I also doubt it's a hard primer problem. In the case where I've looked at the primer, the dimple is very slight and obviously not enough to set off the primer.

But your description is a very plausible explanation and I'll definitely look into it (pun intended!).

 

[TGinAZ]

For help in disassembling the slide... try this http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=81.0

WOW Cimarron, I'm impressed! That writeup and photo presentation made taking that thing apart so easy, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

That said, I won't know if it helps until I can get out to the rock quarry to pop off a bunch of ammo. I didn't see anything visible in the striker channel... debris or lubrication... that would explain an occasional light hit, but it's ready to be tested.

Thanks for the guide!

 

[nisora]

Hey guys, sorry for not getting back on this. I still haven't had a chance to burn a lot of ammo, but I was able to steal away for a bit and I put 50 rounds of WWB ammo though it with no problems at all. Next time I'm able (hopefully in the next couple of weeks) I'll be able to get out and put a couple of hundred rounds (of different types) through it and see what happens. I promise when I actually get out and give it a good, hard testing, I'll post the results.

 

[Qwiks draw]

That's a lot a rounds downa range ata one session. ;D I usually shoot at most 50 before things are over.Though to be honest several different firearms go along on each outing are used and those get about 20-30 apiece through them also.

Nisora...... or else.....we get out the soft noodle cat-o-nine tails and nerf bats and floob people who don't give us range reports pronto. Then again, we can't find the key to the storage portion of the dungeon either. : ;D

 

[Cimarron]

Glad the information helped... that's what a forum is supposed to be... guys trading ideas on what they have found out!