Wow, seems a bit of an overreaction.
Maybe the spring is getting weak, maybe there’s residue or debris inside the bolt firing pin raceway obstructing the firing pin enough to cause light strikes.
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Wow, seems a bit of an overreaction.
Maybe the spring is getting weak, maybe there’s residue or debris inside the bolt firing pin raceway obstructing the firing pin enough to cause light strikes.
I've had some light strike issues with my Remage setup.
When running hard primers, I have to make sure they are seated 2-3 thousandths deep, and that the headspace is snug...just a slight resistance on bolt close.
I've picked up brass at the range that was sized short and fired in a short chamber. When reloaded and shot, the 8-10 thousands of headspace will be enough for the hard primer to bounce of the firing pin.
In doing some research about this issue, I read several reloaders who stated that if the round goes off after a second strike, the primer is getting seated deeper with the first strike, and going off with the second.
Bingo, I learned this early on in my competition days when it happened under the clock. Ive been doing the simple QC check of running a finger over the bases of my cartridges to feel for a high primer since. Never happened again and it takes less than min for a few trays of newly reloaded ammo.
As you know, if the headspace is generous(aka-"oversized") the spring loaded ejector will push the case forward enough that may cause what one thinks is a light strike. if it does fire, the first thing that occurs after the ignition is the primer gets blown out partially, the case then comes back and flattens the primer giving false over pressure sign.
Please explain how a worn firing pin spring can cause light strikes?
This routinely happens with very light loads as well. Not enough pressure for the brass to grip the chamber and it slides back. Even the primer can be set back some with low pressure making flattened primers worse.
The issue is there's enough pressure to push the case & primer back, but not enough that there's temporarily increased friction with the chamber and primer cup.
Oftentimes soot on the outside of the cases is a sign as well.
It does not have enough inertia or speed to hit the primer hard enough. It can also give you a cratered primer if it does set it off. The pressure from the fired round pushes the pin back into the bolt when it is too lite. Remington 700's are notorious for this and the large pin hole they have makes it even worse.
This is not new. If you have reloading experience longer than 6 months you should have picked up on this already. And using a non optimized powder and pushing it past what is safe shows the experience some people have. After the 100th case that you pop a case head in you think that would have told you that you are too far. The thing is, when a cartridge starts to show pressure you are already too far past safe.
This thread needed to die a long time ago
Had to reread to see that he was firing this in a 700. I thought you were referring to a non-existent AR firing pin spring and was going to ask you for a picture of one (I thought I was on M4C).
As to snarky comments about reloading experience, reread my comment where I explained basically the same thing. (BTW, I've been actively reloading over 45 years, with occasional periods of competitive shooting where I reloaded almost daily)
It's fairly easy to tell the difference between flattened primers from an excessively light load setting back versus those from a super hot load.
Improper sizing and a head space on the large end can also cause misfires. And how bad Remington 700 chambers are I would not put it past that also. I have yet to see a straight chamber on a 700. All of them are off center. You have to pull the barrel on a rifle that has been shot a lot to check it. But when they are new all you have to do it look down the chamber. You will see what looks like the crescent on the Turkish flag in the throat. Its what happens when a solid pilot reamer is used.
Edit: Oops. Thread drift. Feel free to move or delete. Sorry....
So, assuming primer detonates, how many thou short of a 556 go guage (don't have numbers in front of me from checking my hs guage against one) might you start seeing case failure with factory loads?
Edit: go guage 1.4636. my rcbs thimble measures it at -1/2. Sized cases are -3 to -5. Fired cases from 3 different chambered guns average measure +1, +3, +4+. All guns set back factory rounds to -4 to -5 upon chambering and remeasuring. Have seen no signs of head separation except on 2 lots of ppu brass fired 2 and 3 times. No cracks, but last sizing left a hard ridge on outside of case in front of web. Have other lots of ppu fired 3 and 4 times with no signs.
Sorry, just wondering how far from the failure zone I may be.....