I'm looking for some outside opinions on a recent problem. A family friend of my M-I-L just purchased a used Taurus 85 .38spcl, and is having issues with mis-fires when firing DA.

When firing SA, it's perfect, several hundred rounds through it in the last couple months without a hiccup, but it's about 50/50 when she fires it DA. My initial thought was a light mainspring/hammer spring, especially considering that it's a rather light DA trigger pull, and light hammer pull for a Taurus 85 (I own 2, and my MIL has one). She's an "almost elderly" woman (55-60ish), so the lighter trigger/hammer pull was nice for her.

I've had a spring kit from brownells AND midway backordered for a couple months now, figure having extra springs won't hurt, and whichever one gets it in stock first wins.

BUT.......

She called the guy that sold it to her, which is the same guy that instructed her CCW course, and a friend of hers, and he told her that it was likely a problem with a firing pin, so now she's wanting to take it to a gunsmith, or mail it to Taurus (God help her if she does) to have a new firing pin fitted.

Personally, I don't buy it. If it were a short firing pin, she'd see problems with DA or SA fire both, but she doesn't.

I suppose it could be a combination of multiple things, a short/worn/damaged firing pin being one of them, but personally, I'd expect issues under DA and SA fire if it were a firing pin problem alone.

Any thoughts?