[Willamette]

Went to the range today after completing the bolt chamfer mod and cleaning the rifle thoroughly, magazines too. What I noticed was the rifle consistently failed to fire the first round after chambering. All subsequent shots fired fine.

I attempted to remove the first round in the chamber by retracting the bolt and the round would not eject. When I removed the magazine, recocked the hammer and closed the bolt on the round remaining in the chamber, it would fire fine.

I did remove some of the rounds that did not fire to see if the firing pin was striking it and it looked like it was receiving a light strike.

Any suggestions or solutions to correct this problem? Or if you can direct me to a link to a previous thread on the same subject. I tried a search and found little under FTF or failure to fire.

TIA,

Will

Oh yeah, the rifle setup is as follows:

Ruger 10/22, chamfered stock bolt, Power Custom hammer/sear/trigger, Buffer Tech bolt buffer, stock hammer spring, VQ extractor, VQ bull barrel SS, stock magazines, hogue stock, stock firing pin, VQ hold open lever, home mode extended mag release, Leupold base, Ultralux 6X42 scope

The ammo used was CCI Mini-mags

 

[050]

Just to eliminate any confusion, then, I take it the hammer IS falling when you pull the trigger on that first round?

Ron

 

[Willamette]

Correct, just lightly, as it imprints the case but not enough to ignite the primer

 

[050]

This could be a real guessing game, but still, even though you said you cleaned it, sounds like both problems could be from metal shavings having got in to the working parts of the bolt assembly.

I'd pull the bolt back out and check to see that the firing pin freely (Except for the spring tension) moves foreward its full travel. It should go almost to flush (but not quite) to the face of the bolt, and the extractor should freely snap all the way back in if you pull back on it slightly.

Ron

 

[Willamette]

Is it possible to remove the firing pin? I attempted to remove the roll pin but had trouble getting it out and decided to let it be.

The firing pin did move freely when I was cleaning the bolt and I made sure that area of the bolt was protected from metal particles while chamfering the rear.

I'm assuming there is a spring contained within the firing pin, but I also noticed what looks like a steel pin in the side of the bolt. Does this also need to be removed to acces the firing pin? If so how does one remove it? The pin is flush to the side of the bolt and does not have a through hole.

I'll check the extractor for free movement and the bolt, etc for shavings.

 

[Willamette]

I removed the firing pin today and there is a build up of spent powder residue in there. I will clean all that out and see if that solves the problem I experienced.

A couple of questions about the firing pin now that it's out. It looks like the pin is a stamped out metal part and the edges are pretty rough, is there any harm in filing them flat and smooth or is it just a waste of time with no real positive gain?

Is there any modification I should do to the point that contacts the cartridge, such as making it a sharper point? Again, any benefits to this area.

I know there are aftermarket firing pins, are they worth the investment?

Thanks again,

Will

 

[TEN RING]

I would keep the original firing pin just use a flat hone and do a good deburring job.
Good luck
Ten ring

 

[050]

tenring has the right idea. The stock firing pin, with the edges cleaned up and checked for straightness and binding is probably your best bet. You might even polish it, but I wouldn't change the shape of the point any as long as it isn't badly worn, and I'd doubt that to be the case unless you have literally shot the wheels off of it for years.

Ron

 

[Elkein]

Well you've already started intensive cleaning, but there's some 'red lights' about this ordeal, failure to extract, and the first shot FTF. A major cause of this may be 'riding' the bolt forward, unless the bolt is allowed to fully seat onto the barrel, much of the firing pins impact will be blunted by design to keep the round from blowing up when the bolt isn't fully forward. The second cause is the same problem bolt not fully seated, but is a little more esoteric, that's when the action isn't feeding smoothly. The cartridge is mishandled by the action deforming it as it chamber the round. The deforming makes lead shavings which further foul the action, slow down the bolt (like riding it forward) and keep the bolt from seating causing more FTF's.

 

[Willamette]

Now that the firing pin is removed I discovered that it was bowed enough to cause friction within the channel. I have removed the bow and thoroughly cleaned the firing pin channel and extractor channel. I will reassemble the action and make another range test next weekend to see how it functions.

Thank you to everyone that responded,

Will