My first firing

[Daniel Keefe]

Today I fired my iver johnson. Sadly and irresponsible I used some bullets that my antique collecting buddy gave to me. 3 of them. Very old but in seemingly good condition.

I say sadly and irresponsibly because I didnt know if they were smokeless or black. Although I do know the smokeless has been spec down to be okay with good quality top breaks, I still purchased black powder .32s.

I was just excited to fire it. And so I brought it to my place for shooting, and tested it out.

I'm not sure if it's from the bullets being old, or my suspicion of the firing pin maybe being slightly loose.

I've read and saw in video that when a firing pin is loose on these they stick out and Jam up the action. That's not the case with mine, it just seemed for a minute like it had play. I thought I saw it move around but I cant seem to get it to do it again.

Anyway I cycled the 3 bullets through. Nothing.

On the second time around, bullets 1 and 2 fired nicely.

Bullet 3 did not.

I tried bullet 3 for a third and final time. Nothing.

All three shells had Mark's on the back from being struck.

For now I'm chalking it up to the very old ammo. Really glad I got to see it fire. Hopefully it will work flawlessly with new ammo.

 

[792mauser]

Always good to see an old piece brought back to use.
Probably old ammunition.

I've got a charter arms 38 that'll act similarly. If I use cci primers it'll fire about half and just ignore the rest.

 

[Daniel Keefe]

Always good to see an old piece brought back to use.
Probably old ammunition.

I've got a charter arms 38 that'll act similarly. If I use cci primers it'll fire about half and just ignore the rest.

Are primers similar to precussion caps? Cci caps suck. Go remington.

Anyhow. The new ammo came in. .32 smith charged with black powder instead of smokeless.

She fires 10/10

 

[Navy Six 2]

I recently decided to start loading black powder in a couple old 32 S&W's. I had a few old factory rounds that had the "domed" shape primers. Not sure when that type of primer was last used. I pulled the bullets from the cases as I had no way of knowing what was inside. Some of the rounds were smokeless but two were loaded with black. Out of curiosity I loaded these empty but still primed cases in the guns. All of them fired normally. Eventually I loaded 20 rounds with 5.5 grains of 3F Swiss to test them out. Both guns seemed to smile proudly as they were being used after all this time. I will load some more.

 

[792mauser]

I've got several thousand remington #10 & a thousand or so #11 caps.

The cci primers are only a problem in THAT specific revolver of mine. The Smiths, Rugers, colts and Manuhrin all fire them off no problem.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Old primers and old rimfire rounds have a tendency to go bad. Modern primers are much more reliable since WW2, and the switch to non-corrosive. Folks using vintage ammo need to be sure they rinse the firearm well and then glean and oil well. With the Cold War and such they weren't sure how old the ammo was going to be and how it had been stored if we ended up fighting the Commies with what was left-over after a Nuclear exchange. So primers got better I've a box of vintage .45 ACP from WWII civilian use. Made in Brooklyn NY and all lead projectiles. (Copper jacketed stuff was for The Boys in Europe and the Pacific, don't ya know, eh?) I might one day try some just to see if it goes bang.

Caps as a result are better now then back then too. Pretty similar chemistry with primers and caps.

LD