Ammo issue or rifle issue?

[Letzhunt]

Find a buddy with the same caliber rifle , I think you said 30-06..... which should be an easy find. See if they go off in his rifle.
I had one fail to fire from a Hornady outfitter load. Bad thing is it was at a deer. I simply ran the bolt and the next one went off. It troubled me for a bit. I shot a bunch more and they all went off..... what are the odds that the one I had in the gun for hunting was it? Also did that it was a Hornady CX.
This was in. 7mm PRC and Hornady had a lot of issues with the velocity being well below the advertised. Stay with the other brands and for peace of mind try the bad rounds in another gun just to see what they do.

 

[Bwgunslinger]

Find a buddy with the same caliber rifle , I think you said 30-06..... which should be an easy find. See if they go off in his rifle.
I had one fail to fire from a Hornady outfitter load. Bad thing is it was at a deer. I simply ran the bolt and the next one went off. It troubled me for a bit. I shot a bunch more and they all went off..... what are the odds that the one I had in the gun for hunting was it? Also did that it was a Hornady CX.
This was in. 7mm PRC and Hornady had a lot of issues with the velocity being well below the advertised. Stay with the other brands and for peace of mind try the bad rounds in another gun just to see what they do.

Ahh that’s a bad feeling. You get him with the follow-up shot?

I’ll shoot them once my bolt is cleaned better and see who else I might know that shoots 30-06. Unfortunately most of my friends and family around here are all shooting 6.5

 

[rdog]

Check the firing pin protrusion it should be about 0.65 tho of an inch, with the bolt uncocked , bolt face to tip of pin . if that is ok its not the rifle providing head space is correct , may be the ammo that did not fire is short in headspace , on a controled round feed rifle the extractor may hold the cartridge up to the bolt face to fire a short headspace round & leave a primer looking like a light strike.

 

[Wyatt Smith]

I did some checking and there are no aftermarket improved springs for the post-2008 FN made model 70s. So going from a 20lb to a 30lb spring is a non-starter.

I was hoping maybe Wolff had started making them since I looked last, (2019) All my model 70s have 30 pound Wolff striker springs.
The spring on the FN is shorter than the New Haven rifles, being compressed the same distance the shorter spring should wear out first, everything else being equal.
I also looked into installing a New Haven firing pin to allow use of the longer spring, but they’re not interchangeable.
The safety lever also broke on my rifle, so I bought two. I recommend getting a spare for the low cost of $10.
My rifle may have been a lemon, but I still cringe when people tell me the new FN Winchesters are better than the old ones. I now own a New Haven, post 64 CRF 375 and another member is enjoying the FN I sold him.

 

[baxterb]

I was over at D'Arcy Echols' shop a while back and we were talking about random stuff as we often do and he was going over some of the small details of his LX action. one of the features was to prevent firing pin drop during firing, which can result in misfires in rare instances. I had never heard of that before so he explained it to me. This video is mostly about cratering, etc, but at 2: 30 shows the drop phenomenon that echols was talking about

 

[eshift]

measure from shoulder to rear of case on unfired rounds both good and problem ammo. I think you will find the problem ammo is shorter

 

[fourfive8]

The primer has to be bottomed out in the pocket otherwise, as described earlier, the firing pin energy is being wasted (absorbed) trying to seat the primer instead of denting the primer cup and detonating the compound within the primer.

Also, if the particular loaded cartridge has a bit too much headspace relative to the chamber, similarly, the firing pin may waste energy in driving the whole round forward to datum contact, instead of denting the primer cup. In this case, could be cumulative “zigs and zags” where the cartridge is near min headspace length and chamber is near max headspace length, resulting in excessive headspace.

Appearance of fired primer likely not diagnostic of problem because of chain of the events through the firing cycle where the cartridge first moves forward to headspace stop as primer fires. The primer pushes rearward while simultaneously the case is pushed forward. The powder ignites and forces (slightly stretching) the rear portion of the case rearward against bolt face thus reseating primer. All rifles need a small amount of headspace for proper function- nominally around .004-006”. A telling test would be to fire a primed case with bullet and powder removed and fire a fully loaded round, all other things being kept equal. Compare appearance and primer depth.

Of course the other possibility, although less likely, is something wacky with rifle’s bolt, firing pin/striker or chamber.

 

[coreydb]

I picked up a Winchester super grade in 30-06 and put the first rounds down range this weekend.

I had two Ammo brands with me on day 1. The factory Federal Terminal Ascent shot great and functioned 100%. I had another big name brand that had two out of 6 that did not go off. (Thought maybe the rifle was having light strikes because the primers were not hit really deeply).

I went back this morning and shot a whole box of Remington Core Lokt without issue. Then shot some more Federal and it was great.

I field stripped and cleaned the bolt last night thinking maybe that was the issue but when I tried the two rounds that didn’t fire again, they still did not go off.

I think these days ammo issues from the main manufacturers are rare so not sure what to think.

Would you just shoot Federal and Remington and consider the rifle good to go? Or would you send the rifle to Winchester to get checked out?

Thanks!

Go with the good ammo and set the other aside until you can contact the ammo manufacturer. Lot # is important so they can see if any other complaints were submitted. Nothing is wrong with the rifle-it's that particular box of ammo.

 

[TheDoubleD]

One other thing come to mind on misfires where the primer fires and the powder does not.

The primer has enough oomph to push the bullet out of the cartridge and down the bore. Sometimes sticking in the bore, sometime pushing the bullet out on the ground. If you (the collective you here) experience one of these type misfires be sure to check the bore.

I have experienced this only with reloads, first hand. I have not had factory ammo do this to me.

But I have cleared customer guns who have had bullets stick in bore-rifles where primer fired but powder did not.

This was my Major concern with my wife's rifle and those Hornady Custom Lite rounds. She would be hunting and fire, and the cartridge misfire. She might cycle the bolt, chamber a new round and the next one fired into a plugged bore. At our age she no longer hunts alone. We hunt here in OK in ground blinds, and I am with her. She doesn't shoot much any more. If she had a misfire she probably wouldn't do any thing except give me the evil eye because here gun didn't work.

The advice about disassembling the bolt and cleaning it or installing a heavier spring, isn't bad, especially the cleaning the bolt. The new spring, maybe, if nothing else works, and the misfire is not resolved or occurs with more than the one box off ammo.

As to this the OP's Super Grade M-70 having a weak spring. Not likely, but of course nothing is for sure. The few I have looked at are top of the line and well made. I think there is more detailed hand fitting with these guns. I have never examined the OP's guns, but I feel safe saying there is nothing wrong with his gun.

I am really curious to hear if those primer did fire. Or if that ammo fires in another gun-including the mid fired ammo.