I've been having trouble with light strikes on my .260 reloads. There were three of them in my last batch of 50. I can see there is a dimple in the primers. I disassembled each of them and they each had a full load of powder; the primers just didn't ignite. I'm wondering what the problem is. Are the primers set too deep? Did I bump the shoulders back too far? Is the firing pin worn? Did I set the headspace incorrectly? I recently replaced the Savage bolt head with a PTG bolt head, but the light strikes were happening even before the switch. Does anybody have any ideas?
Problem with light strikes
- Thread starter chromatica
- Start date
>>>Did I bump the shoulders back too far?<<<
You should never have to ask this question. You should know what your chamber's shoulder location is. You should know how to set your FL die. You should know exactly the shoulder location of the cases that come out of your FL die and how much clearance it has in the chamber. If you don't know these things you will have a lot of mysteries when your ammo does not go off or if it does not shoot well or if the cases separate.
Make sure your bolt handle is all the way down to the position it would be if you had no stock on the rifle.
Have you checked firing pin protrusion? Do you know if your main spring is good?
Is your trigger functioning correctly? Have you every monkeyed with your trigger or installed an after market trigger? Have you ever monkeyed with the stock or with the safety?
You should never have to ask this question. You should know what your chamber's shoulder location is. You should know how to set your FL die. You should know exactly the shoulder location of the cases that come out of your FL die and how much clearance it has in the chamber. If you don't know these things you will have a lot of mysteries when your ammo does not go off or if it does not shoot well or if the cases separate.
Make sure your bolt handle is all the way down to the position it would be if you had no stock on the rifle.
Have you checked firing pin protrusion? Do you know if your main spring is good?
Is your trigger functioning correctly? Have you every monkeyed with your trigger or installed an after market trigger? Have you ever monkeyed with the stock or with the safety?
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all your thoughts are things that should be checked
how old is the rifle. have you ever pulled the bolt apart and gave it a good cleaning? if the gun has some age on it replacing the firing pin spring might be a good idea
but i think the most likely culprit is your priming tool. you need to be able to feel that primer when it seats solidly. if your primers are not seated all the way a portion of that firing pin spring's energy is used to finish seating the primer. not enough left to set it off.
Sure. I'll make an assumption. Since BOTH bolt heads produced the same result I'll assume the head space is OK. Why and how much were you bumping the shoulders back? You bump them enough and you won't even get a dimple on the primer.
For me, if the bolt closes fine I am not bumping anything. For me again, it is unnecessary working of the brass.
I do not shoot in competitions and I am not a hunter.
How far is the fireing pin Beyond the head with the bolt released ? Larry
jepp2
Gold $$ Contributor
If you have a round that doesn't fire, but has a dimple in the primer. Try firing the round again. If it fires the second time, my experience has always been that means a primer wasn't seated deeply enough to start with.
I have had more issues with unclean firing pin assemblies, than weak firing pins. But that problem shows up in cold weather, not in the summer heat.
'bump'? Bump sounds like an accident, I decide what case length I want, adjust the die and size the case. And then you are setting head space. my cases do not have head space according to SAAMI. I off set the length of the chamber from the shoulder to the bolt face with the length of the case from the shoulder to the case head.
I have killer firing pins, when the spring will not hold the pressure I get holes in the primer. When everything works the pressure inside of the primer causes the primer to conform to the firing pin.
F. Guffey
Yes, I re-headspaced using a set of Forster Go and No-Go gauges.
Yes I have disassembled the bolt - both for cleaning and to replace the lift handle and to replace the bolt head.
I like your idea about the primers not being seated all the way. This comes as a surprise to me - I would have thought the problem would be that I crushed them too far down in the pocket! I do seat the primers using a Lee hand priming tool. I could switch to seating the primers on either my Lee Classic Cast press or my Bonanza press (precursor to the Co-Ax). The Bonanza press will seat primers to an exact depth.
I have an RCBS case gauge. You put the round inside and screw down the top until it reaches the shoulder. There is a micrometer drum readout. My fired cases are coming out of the chamber at SAAMI - .003 or -.0035. I bump them in my sizer die 1 thou so they measure SAAMI -.004.
A shooter/reloader was trying to help another shooter at the range. He had 5 fail to fire out of the first 20 rounds. He allowed all shooters with 30/06 chambered rifles to have a go at the 5 failed to fire rounds. The failed to fire rounds had to have been hit at least 6 times with 4 rifles; nothing. The 15 fired cases and the 5 failed to fire rounds show up here that afternoon. I measured them everyway possible and then I pulled the bullets and removed the primers, magnificent ammo. I installed the primers back into the cases they were removed from then chambered the cases into one of my rifles with a killer firing pin. Each primer busted off even with the abuse, I believe I could have fired the 5 to fire rounds at the rang after there were 6 attempts were made to fire them.
I have no ideal why someone would bring me 15 fired cases and 5 failed to fire from one box without the box or the phone number of the shooter that purchased a new rifle with the new ammo.
F. Guffey
I will agree with your first sentence. I don't like the word BUMP either. Has a negative connotation to me. I prefer "setback X amount of thousandths". At least it sounds like you are doing something that you have an idea what it is doing. And maybe doing it for a reason other than it sounds catchy.
That's where the agreement ends. The OP never said 'his cases had headspace' which drives you nuts. In fact he referred to go/no gauges which have nothing to do with the brass. He didn't ask what SAAMI says or does not say.
'Killer firing pins?' What's that?
How about "I set the shoulder back X number of thousandths because of bolt closing issues and now have a failure to fire problem?"
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When using a comparator I measure before and again after. When I use a case gage I understand the case gage is a datum based tool. MEANING it is not easy to get a negative reading when measuring from the shoulder to the case head when measuring before and again after.
F. Guffey
4 thing will give light strikes .
No. 1 firing pin Shape and how far it extends beyond the bolt face .
No 2 weak spring
No 3. Improper head space
No 4 primer not being seated .
If I was trying to find the problem I would start with no1 first . The only one that isn't a simple test is the spring . Larry
No. 1 firing pin Shape and how far it extends beyond the bolt face .
No 2 weak spring
No 3. Improper head space
No 4 primer not being seated .
If I was trying to find the problem I would start with no1 first . The only one that isn't a simple test is the spring . Larry
Come on guys! "Bumping" is an accepted term in reloading. If it weren't then whey does Forster sell a Shoulder Bump Die???
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