Hang fire on a centerfire rifle?

[Dougfirtree]

I had this happen today. I was shooting a friend's rifle and had 3 hang fires, where I could hear the firing pin strike, then the gun went off half a second later. The dimple on the primers looks kind of shallow to me. I'm guessing it's a firing pin issue, but have any of you ever experienced this? The primers in question were pretty new CCI 200's. The rifle is a 1969 Rem 700 ADL. All advice welcome. Thanks!

 

[MThuntr]

Yes I've had that issue...possibly a dirty or weak firing pin spring and hard primers. Many youtube videos on how to strip the bolt. Clean it first if that doesn't help then replace the spring. Cheap and easy

 

[glass eye]

I had that happen after crawling through grass to shoot an antelope. Short delay almost like a slow muzzleloader. However, later on I shot at a fox and it hung up for several seconds. Glad I waited, it could have been disastrous if I worked open the bolt AND then have it go off.

 

[Bigjay73]

Firing pin, or primers not fully seated if they're hand loads.

 

[cahunter805]

As stated above remove the firing pin assembly from the bolt body and give it a good cleaning. Clean out the entire bolt body and flush it out with solvent. Then clean the firing pin and spring. Apply a coat of grease to the firing pin spring and the threads on the bolt shroud and reassemble. This most likely will cure your issue. If it doesn’t try another brand of primer and then a new firing pin spring after that.
Also be sure the firing pin tip is clean with no rust. Seems as if this rifle is pretty old. I’d also suggest pulling the barreled action out of the stock and flushing out the trigger assembly with brake cleaner or lighter fluid and reassemble.

 

[noharleyyet]

^^^this

 

[bonedogg]

Remington?

 

[Dougfirtree]

As stated above remove the firing pin assembly from the bolt body and give it a good cleaning. Clean out the entire bolt body and flush it out with solvent. Then clean the firing pin and spring. Apply a coat of grease to the firing pin spring and the threads on the bolt shroud and reassemble. This most likely will cure your issue. If it doesn’t try another brand of primer and then a new firing pin spring after that.
Also be sure the firing pin tip is clean with no rust. Seems as if this rifle is pretty old. I’d also suggest pulling the barreled action out of the stock and flushing out the trigger assembly with brake cleaner or lighter fluid and reassemble.

Thanks to all for the answers. The trigger is actually new; my friend took advantage of the recall a few years back. I'll try cleaning the pin, spring and bolt.

 

[Idahoarcheryhunter]

primer seating possibly could be an issue.

 

[mtmuley]

Thanks to all for the answers. The trigger is actually new; my friend took advantage of the recall a few years back. I'll try cleaning the pin, spring and bolt.

He shoulda had the Walker tuned instead. mtmuley

 

[Redman]

Just get a new spring and pin. They are a cheap piece of mind. Midway or Brownells probably has over 30K different ones to choose from.

 

[EastTNHunter]

Reduced load by any chance? I had this issue out of a youth load with H4895. Went to rl7 and the problem went away

 

[BrentD]

If the Dent in the primer looks normal replacing firing INS and Springs will not get you where you want to go.

 

[Bluejeep]

If you have a few rounds left, try them in a different gun, but be careful. My first guess would be a sticky firing pin / weak firing pin spring. If the rounds are hand loads, then make sure the primer sits flush to slightly below flush in the primer pocket. I have seen a few hang fires, but they were all related to the trigger or firing pin components. I am an avid reloader with nearly 20 years in the hobby, and truly believe primers either fire or fail completely. With the rifle being so old, I would say it's time for some basic maintenance and replacement of the springs. Might as well replace the extractor while you're at it.

 

[Laelkhunter]

If you can, pull a bullet on one of the rounds and check the weight of the powder charge. Might have underloaded (accidents happen). Or/and as others have stated, strip and clean the bolt. Could have some grease or something retarding the movement of the firing pin.

 

[tom338]

I had this happen on a gun of mine this year. For the life of me I don't know why. Firing pin puts a very nice dent into the primer. You can't tell that spent load from the next. It has not happened in a while and am thinking it was a bad batch of primers

 

[OhHeyThereBen]

I have very limited experience, but I've had problems with CCI small pistol primers requiring a harder primer strike than others in colder weather. Usually my glock will eat through anything I put in it, but it seemed to not be able to hit the CCI primers hard enough for them to go off when it got cold out. No problems whatsoever when it's warm.

My guess is that the CCIs have thicker metal on them which caused this, but I also never got any hangfires. May be related though.

 

[Laelkhunter]

I have very limited experience, but I've had problems with CCI small pistol primers requiring a harder primer strike than others in colder weather. Usually my glock will eat through anything I put in it, but it seemed to not be able to hit the CCI primers hard enough for them to go off when it got cold out. No problems whatsoever when it's warm.

My guess is that the CCIs have thicker metal on them which caused this, but I also never got any hangfires. May be related though.

Or could be you have lube in the firing pin channel that is thickening up during cold weather causing the "striker" to be slowed enough to result in a soft strike on the primer. Make sure you only lube the rails on the slide. All other areas should be dry. If you remove the backplate and remove the striker assembly, use a quality Q-tip to clean the channel. Might help your soft strike on the primers. We have used CCI/Speer ammo at our range for S.O. Requal, and experience no problems with our Glocks (17, 19, and 34).

 

[OhHeyThereBen]

Or could be you have lube in the firing pin channel that is thickening up during cold weather causing the "striker" to be slowed enough to result in a soft strike on the primer. Make sure you only lube the rails on the slide. All other areas should be dry. If you remove the backplate and remove the striker assembly, use a quality Q-tip to clean the channel. Might help your soft strike on the primers. We have used CCI/Speer ammo at our range for S.O. Requal, and experience no problems with our Glocks (17, 19, and 34).

I haven't cleaned back there in a while, so that definitely could be it. They were some of my first hand loads as well so I'm sure I could have done something there. Sorry for the thread sidetrack!

 

[devon deer]

I thought I had one yesterday whilst zeroing my rifle, click, so I kept the rifle pointed in a safe direction and waited, then had a thought, nope I hadn't chambered a round!
Cheers
Richard