Factory Ammo Misfire

[GusF16]

I took my new Browning HC in 6.8 Western to the range today to tweak the zero and had a misfire on roughly the 6th round. In 25 years of elk hunting I’ve never had a misfire. I only shoot factory ammo, normally Federal Premium (7mm REM mag) but Federal isn’t making a 6.8W round yet so I’m shooting Winchester ABs for elk. I’m wondering how often this happens? The pin clearly struck the primer dead center…would this be a primer issue? Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Good Hunting.

 

[EastHumboldt]

Light pin strike?

 

[SDHNTR]

I’ve had it happen 3 times on factory ammo and a couple times on reloaded primers. The factory was one Coreloct and two Barnes Vortx. Both handloaded primers were Remmy 9 1/2’s.

Misfires can also be caused by a headspace issue (rare) and by slow firing pin drops due to an old or weakened firing pin spring (rare) or from it being all gunked up with old oil and grime (less rare). Give it a good cleaning cause you should do that periodically anyway. But if it only happened once, I’d blame it on a dud primer.

 

[MattB]

It would be interesting to see if it fires the second try.

 

[ODB]

Could be deep primer pocket / shallow primer seat and your primer strike merely seated it all the way down. Do as @MattB said and try it again. For the rest - take note if the primers are flush or countersunk...

along with the cleaning etc...

 

[Cynoscion]

About 18 yrs ago or so, I bought a brand new Rem 700 LVSF in 22-250. I ordered 3 boxes of Hornady ammo from Cabelas. They were 55gr v-max. First range trip with my new rifle and ammo, I couldn’t get any of the first 6-8 rounds out of the first box to go off. Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed thinking I bought a new rifle that didn’t work. I ran to Walmart and bought a box of 55gr corelokts and never looked back. I carried that rifle every day for about 15 yrs and eventually shot the barrel out. It is now rebarreled in 6xc.
All that to say, it happens. Rare but it happens.

 

[49ereric]

Could be a double primer as well.

 

[Darryle]

Have you stripped the bolt, cleaned it and lightly lubed it?

 

[GSPHUNTER]

I had same problem, misfire every few rounds. it turned out to be light strike from firing pin. The difference between pin strike on misfire round and and a round which fired was hard to visually detect. After I removed pin from weapon and compared it to new pin, there was barely enough difference to notice. I did not measure pins so I don't know exact numbers, but the new pin solved the problem.

 

[Rich M]

It happens. See if you can get it to happenbagain, if it does that a second time replace the firing pin and spring. I wouldnt hunt with a chance for a dud unless it was long range hunting.

 

[Smallie]

Had this issue with a box of Federal Premiums several years ago. Was on a doe and pulled the trigger and heard the click and she bolted. After ejecting the round and looking at the primer it was hit dead center. Compared to the rest of the box primer was seated deeper than the rest. Also found 2 other rounds that I found like that. Round didn’t go off after trying to fire it again so I think it just happens in the production line. Glad it didn’t happen to me on a big buck though. Disappointed to see that in a $60 box of ammo but never had a problem since switching to Hornady

 

[Desk Jockey]

I shoot a good bit of pistol competitions. With supply chain / Covid issues over the past few years, I have seen more primer issues from a variety of manufacturers. I bought a bunch of off brand stuff since 2019 and as expected, had some issues with hard and out spec primers. Lately though I or my buddies have had issues with CCI, federal and winchester. I have also had more issues with factory pistol ammo.

with that in mind, I would strip, clean and lube my bolt. Inspect it and see if you notice anything. If you have a gunsmith handy maybe have them take a peak to make sure your new gun doesn’t have a burr or a bum spring or something. Set that ammo aside and mark it. Save it for practice rounds. Get another box and see if the issue repeats. It’s most likely a bad round but you can’t rule out your gun until you try a few different batches of ammo.

 

[weekender7]

A factory round didn't go off? It happens ....

 

[Grumman]

I had it happen on a factory Hornady Black 6.5CM last week. I rechambered it and it went off the second time. It’s rare but I’ve had happen several times over the years. Now .22 rimfire I’ve had that a bunch.


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[GusF16]

Wow, I had no idea it was that common. Thanks for all the great comments. I will be shooting it again a few times before my elk hunt so hopefully it was a low primer. I didn’t think to try shooting it again. I did compare it to one that fired and I couldn’t tell a difference. If it happens again I’ll have my gunsmith take a look.

 

[ODB]

I was over chatting with D'Arcy Echols one time and we were talking about the new action he designed and how he came to make the decisions he did. One of the items in the bolt had to do with eliminating the 'ride up' of the firing pin on the bottom of the inside of the bolt body just before the bolt face, which, due to drag, can cause light strike, among other things.

This video shows the phenomenon very well - albeit this guy is solving cratered primer issues - but the inner working sections of the video are excellent.

Not saying this is the cause of the issue here, but could be, given this is a new rifle...who know what the inside of the bolt body looks like.

 

[GusF16]

Hmm…guess I’m going to have to take a look. Thanks ODB.