Knicks/dents/marks in my primers from the striker. Is this normal?

[Nafets]

I just noticed that my Walther PPS is leaving knicks/dents/marks in my primers when I rack it with 1 in the chamber. Is this normal? I didn't think the striker should be contacting the primer at all unless being fired? I don't like the idea of the striker bouncing off the primer when I'm racking it. Thoughts?

 

[warwickben]

Check the firing pin hole.

 

[leewongfei]

Honestly, thats not normal. What caliber is that gun chambered in?
EDIT
How old is the recoil spring? How old is the firearm? Has it been modified?

 

[allen-1]

Honestly, thats not normal. What kind of a pistol is that from?

From the original post: "I just noticed that my Walther PPS is leaving knicks/dents/marks in ..."

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I just noticed that my Walther PPS is leaving knicks/dents/marks in my primers when I rack it with 1 in the chamber. Is this normal? I didn't think the striker should be contacting the primer at all unless being fired? I don't like the idea of the striker bouncing off the primer when I'm racking it. Thoughts?

That's not normal. I wouldn't like it either. Take it apart and clean it.

 

[SubieGuy4]

There are a handful of guns which have designs that allow this. Generally it's not a mechanical problem but an instance where the gun's drop safety DOES stop the firing pin from striking the round unintentionally, but DOES NOT prevent the very tip of the pin from protruding past the breech face.

I sold my gun that did this, but not so much for that reason. It was sub-par in other ways too. I wouldn't worry about an accidental discharge as long as you've confirmed the firing pin safety is functional. If you own an AR, go chamber the same round 5 times and check out the primer. You'll see it will have a significant ding in it but won't go off no matter how many times you chamber that same round (trust me I've tried). There would need to be a further mechanical issue for it to go off. Same will be true of the 9mm primer. It's a bit unnerving and I don't like guns that aren't designed to avoid that... but it's not going to go off.

 

[ToddDubya]

There are a handful of guns which have designs that allow this. Generally it's not a mechanical problem but an instance where the gun's drop safety DOES stop the firing pin from striking the round unintentionally, but DOES NOT prevent the very tip of the pin from protruding past the breech face.

I sold my gun that did this, but not so much for that reason. It was sub-par in other ways too. I wouldn't worry about an accidental discharge as long as you've confirmed the firing pin safety is functional. If you own an AR, go chamber the same round 5 times and check out the primer. You'll see it will have a significant ding in it but won't go off no matter how many times you chamber that same round (trust me I've tried). There would need to be a further mechanical issue for it to go off. Same will be true of the 9mm primer. It's a bit unnerving and I don't like guns that aren't designed to avoid that... but it's not going to go off.

I bet a lot of people have learned this lesson the hard way.

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Seriously though, are the primers perfect before being chambered? Sometimes when I reload I get some powder on the shell holder/primer seater and the primers end up looking like that.

 

[saltydude]

Just the Martha dot matrix ID code.
Nothing to worry about.

 

[Another_David]

Honestly, thats not normal. What caliber is that gun chambered in?

presumably 9 mm luger

 

[Another_David]

There are a handful of guns which have designs that allow this. Generally it's not a mechanical problem but an instance where the gun's drop safety DOES stop the firing pin from striking the round unintentionally, but DOES NOT prevent the very tip of the pin from protruding past the breech face.

I sold my gun that did this, but not so much for that reason. It was sub-par in other ways too. I wouldn't worry about an accidental discharge as long as you've confirmed the firing pin safety is functional. If you own an AR, go chamber the same round 5 times and check out the primer. You'll see it will have a significant ding in it but won't go off no matter how many times you chamber that same round (trust me I've tried). There would need to be a further mechanical issue for it to go off. Same will be true of the 9mm primer. It's a bit unnerving and I don't like guns that aren't designed to avoid that... but it's not going to go off.

clearly a software issue!

AR15 will dimple on chambering--it has a floating firing pin though

one of the safety checks you can do on a pistol like this is remove the slide then take a pencil and push on the end of the firing pin. it should only travel as far as the firing stop permits--it should barely move.

 

[leewongfei]

presumably 9 mm luger

True, but i was at work, and work blocks the pictures of the round.