30-30 misfires

[44 Man]

Well, I'm totally confused now!  You know the story.  My old topper stopped firing.  Put in a new hammer spring as the stock one was 35 years old.  Didn't fix it.  Put in a new hammer, didn't fix it.  t-bar broke, put in a new one and it worked.  I took it to the range and sighted it in (I had swapped scopes) just fine.  That used the last 9 of my Win factory 150 gr 30-30 that I had on hand.  So I open a box of Rem's and..... click.  Nothing.  I tried four different shells,  I have light firing pin marks on three (with multiple tries), and one fired. The new t-bar covers the firing pin very good, so it's not that.  Now I'm thinking I'm going to need a new firing pin?  This one protrudes .0040 when the t bar is up and the hammer down.  It will still touch my finger when .010 away when fired before it falls back to it's .0040 position.  I need to try my reloads and see (WLR primers) if it will fire them reliably.  Maybe it just doesn't like the primers in the Rem factory stuff. 
If this nice tapered barrel would fit one of my new actions, I'd just shelve this old action, but it doesn't even come close.  It's short of the breech face on both other actions and won't lock up on either.
44 Man

[dieselten]

.040 is on the short side for FP protrusion.  if you figure in the tolerance stacking of a breach face that does not touch the receiver and a chamber rim cut that is too deep, you could very well have misfires even if all the hammers, pins, and springs are brand new.

If you can find a longer firing pin of about .060 this would probably cure your problem.  Remember, a brand new firing pin might only be as long as the one you have now, which would be a waste of time.

If this was mine I would shorten the face of the hammer (where it touches the receiver) a little so that it pushed the firing pin out a little more.  This is a tricky operation and a ham fisted attempt could yield an unsafe condition. 

You do not need to install any new parts unless you are SURE that the firing pin is longer than the one you have.

[44 Man]

Great idea!  I never even thought of that but it yields the same result as a longer pin.  I'm headed out for the weekend, so it will have to wait until Monday, but I'll get a report back.  What is the 'ideal' protrusion?  Do I go for another .010, or .015, or go for .20.  If I get it too long, then I'll be into pierced primers, and possibly the pin sticking forward so the action won't open?  44 Man

[quickdtoo]

CRS musta struck ya 44 Man, remember our PMs on this problem?  Whittle away a little on the hammer I sent ya and get back to shooting!! 

Tim

I forgot about the firing pin question, I don't have one that will fit, my spare is for a shotgun, Brownells sells it, but they don't sell the rifle pin, it may work on your 30-30 tho, they list it as a rifle pin, but the S01671 is a Pardner pin, the rifle pin is R00266, it's marked FFL only from H&R. Numrich may have the right pin tho.  But you can remove .010"-.015" off the face of the hammer where it stops against the frame, that will give you a bit more pin projection.  .040"-.050" is typical pin projection, .055"-.060" would be the maximum I've seen, .032" is the least I've seen that still worked.

Tim

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