Miss fire!

Went over Fennes in Essex today and bought some 28 gram comp x shells. Had prob around 6-8 miss fires in a slab of 250. Reception were good and gave me half a box of 21s to replace them with even though I only kept 2 of them. My gun is brand new 525s 1st time shooting it today. Could it be an issue with the gun or was it just bad luck that I had that many duds!

Unlikely the new gun (although Browning firing pins will do this to you in the future, they aren’t the best).

How do the primers look like? Light strike? Primers seated too low?

Bavarian said:

How do the primers look like? Light strike? Primers seated too low?

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They looked like they had a good hit on them. Well a good ding in the primer. Maybe seated too low but was always the bottom barrel and also that many in the box which was throwing me

If it was first time with a brand new gun it could be some of the protection grease is making the pins drag and light strike. Spray some cleaner down the firing pins and try it again.

I take the barrels off and press a penny over the firing pin hole on the breech face. Pull the trigger. You can feel a good hit, it almost hurts your finger. Anything less, a sign of something wrong.

You could try a box of different brand cartridges and see if similar results.

If that happens again put the cartridge in the other barrel and try again, if you're shooting with someone else let them try it then you'll know if it's your gun

what did the 21g cartridges fire like ? My money is on a faulty batch of cartridges i have never heard of a new 525 have miss fires. just to rule it out have a look the bottom pin is not chipped but I would be amazed if it is on a brand new gun.

Gregwilliams111 said:

Went over Fennes in Essex today and bought some 28 gram comp x shells. Had prob around 6-8 miss fires in a slab of 250. Reception were good and gave me half a box of 21s to replace them with even though I only kept 2 of them. My gun is brand new 525s 1st time shooting it today. Could it be an issue with the gun or was it just bad luck that I had that many duds!

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Out of curiosity, what did you do with the other 4-6 shells that didn't go off? Not "keeping them" would imply they were either fired in another gun (or barrel) which I hope is the case, or that they were discarded. Discarding a live cartridge doesn't strike me (pun intended) as the best thing to do (and I am not assuming you did). If they were fired in another fashion, that would imply it is down to the gun.

vmax1010 said:

If that happens again put the cartridge in the other barrel and try again, if you're shooting with someone else let them try it then you'll know if it's your gun

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Was with someone that hasn't got a licence yet. Will try the other barrel next time see if it shoots

Mad dog said:

what did the 21g cartridges fire like ? My money is on a faulty batch of cartridges i have never heard of a new 525 have miss fires. just to rule it out have a look the bottom pin is not chipped but I would be amazed if it is on a brand new gun.

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They were 28s fibres but they said that they have never had that many in a box

Luke_(NL) said:

Out of curiosity, what did you do with the other 4-6 shells that didn't go off? Not "keeping them" would imply they were either fired in another gun (or barrel) which I hope is the case, or that they were discarded. Discarding a live cartridge doesn't strike me (pun intended) as the best thing to do (and I am not assuming you did). If they were fired in another fashion, that would imply it is down to the gun.

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They were discarded in the bins they provide that's what the groundsman guy said to do. He said once hit wait 20 seconds and take out of the gun and chuck them away. Or bring them back to get replacement shells.

was it the same barrel miss firing each time?

FESkent said:

was it the same barrel miss firing each time?

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I'm pretty sure it was always the bottom barrel, but I wasn't always using it at the time

If it's consistently the bottom barrel, that would imply the firing pin...or at least the force exerted by the hammer/spring.

I had a similar issue with my old Winchester Platinum Select and the gunsmith mentioned that the angle of the firing pin (on this model at least) required a firmer/cleaner strike on the cartridge primer. He polished up the firing pins, adjusted the tension a little and it's not missed a beat since. Not a major job at all.

Also, given that it's brand new, maybe a little swarf in the mechanism just needs blowing through?

In any regard, I would drop it in with the gunsmith or wherever you bought it from and I'm sure they'll be able to diagnose and have you back on the clay ground in no time at all. Last thing you want on a round is a lack of confidence in your kit. It's a tough enough game without additional doubts and distractions.

Good luck!

I would definitely give the gun shop that you sold you the gun a call & see what they have to say.

Try another brand. TBH I find Hull a bit thumpy

Will Hewland said:

I take the barrels off and press a penny over the firing pin hole on the breech face. Pull the trigger. You can feel a good hit, it almost hurts your finger. Anything less, a sign of something wrong.

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If you do it without holding the penny, i was told it should hit the ceiling anything less indicates a problem.
I did once have a new gun where the pin sheared near the tip. It was quite obvious though as the tip was no longer dome shaped.
In this case I Still bet on it being the cartridges.

Being a Browning and the bottom barrel specifically, my guess is that there's gunk in the 'channel' guiding the bottom firing pin, which slows down and gives a lighter strike. For some reason the bottom suffers more from this than the top pin does. Could be any debris really but likely dried up grease or even a faulty spring if it is a new gun. If you do find a lot of gunk, I'd question the latter assumption.

Went over dartford today and shot 100 shells and not a single miss fire new box of shells and gun had been cleaned since the last use so can't put it down to either but it seems to be ok now thanks for the replies everyone