Misfires.. bullet or rifle?

[Kawidood]

Hi all,

I'm new to this site, so thanks for having me! I recently took my new Tikka T3x CTR .223 to the range. While firing Hornady Varmint Express ammo I would say that 2 out of 10 rounds didn't fire. There was an indentation on the primer, so I assume the striker hit it, but it didn't fire. I tried some cheaper American eagle .223 rounds and I may have had 1 misfire per every 20 rounds. My question is, what's the problem, the bullet or the rifle?

Thanks!

 

[rustyinbend]

Did the primer indentation look the same in the fired cases, as it did in the unfired cases? Do the unfired primers appear "light"? Did you run them through again to see if they'd fire on a repeat attempt?

 

[rustyinbend]

One sure way to answer the "Ammo vs. Rifle" question is to find a range-buddy with the same caliber rifle, and load up a magazine to see if you can reproduce the problem. That said, if two independent ammo brands did similar things as described ... it's likely the rifle, or as JimmyJr said ... a contact problem or error in technique. My guess is the rifle. Pull the bolt, uncock it, and see if the firing pin seems loose or pushes in easily. Might be an out of spec firing pin issue ... something that's easy to fix.

 

[spamassassin]

Shooter. didn't close the bolt all the way.

 

[Kawidood]

thank You all for your responses. I did not realize that the bolt can be closed only partially?! Do you mean the bolt handle has to be facing down fully?

Rusty, I did run the bullet through the rifle and it didn’t fire the second time either. the Bullet itself looks exactly the same as all the other bullets In the box. Next time I’ll be sure the Bolt is closed all the way.

another possibility: I have three tikkas and maybe I confused magazines? is it possible to load .223 ammo in a 6.5 creedmoor magazine from the TAC A1C? Would the bullets load up and then misfire ? They both use 10 round metallic magazines, so maybe I got them confused?

 

[forthehunt]

Thanks. This post actually helped me.

I had the same issue with a few rimfires. I don't loan out my centerfires but I've noticed I am having to clear misfired rounds for friends on my rimfires. Always thought it strange but chalked it down to lower QC in rimfires rounds. Would have 1 failure in every 10.

Makes sense. Newbies being too gentle on the gun.

 

[spamassassin]

thank You all for your responses. I did not realize that the bolt can be closed only partially?! Do you mean the bolt handle has to be facing down fully?

the bolt handle has to be all the way down or when you press the trigger all it'll do is finish closing the bolt for you.

 

[Kawidood]

Spam, thank you for that info, I had no idea I needed to be so absolute. I can’t wait for the weather to improve so I can try it again, this time making sure to fully seat the bolt!

 

[Shoots 700's]

Did you try shooting them again

 

[Kawidood]

Shoots, yes I did, and it didn’t fire the second time either. I ended up simply throwing the bullet away, thinking it was a dud.