Gunsmithing Which firing pin for Stiller Tac 30 should I get?

[Ultraman550]

I've come up with Tubb, PTG and Gre-Tan on Midway's site. Do any of you have a Stiller Tac 30 action that you have changed out firing pins and springs for?

Will these even work in a Stiller action?

 

[FN in MT]

As I recall...Stiller uses PTG bolts. So anything that will fit one of their bolts should work. I believe they are simply Rem 700 clones.

 

[Ultraman550]

Nice, thank you very much.

 

[19Scout77]

Why are you changing out the spring it came with? Is this an attempt to cure your problem identified in your too aggressively sized brass thread? Aftermarket springs are often a cure to a nonexistent problem. As your rifle had no issue with proper factory ammo, your fp spring is not your problem. If Mr. Stiller thought his action needed a different spring...it would have a different spring.

 

[Ultraman550]

I loaded 30 rounds to the exact specifications of factory ammo and SW ammo and I still had a few hang fires today. I don't get it. I bumped the shoulders to 1.569 by FL sizing (bad batch was 1.564 and below), COAL was 2.805 but I measure from the ogive to the case base anyway. There were about 4 that didn't fire the first time but the second time I single fed them they ignited. I read somewhere it could be a trigger issue maybe? I opened up the bolt and the firing pin and spring were clean.

 

[Sonic Crack]

I loaded 30 rounds to the exact specifications of factory ammo and SW ammo and I still had a few hang fires today. I don't get it. I bumped the shoulders to 1.569 by FL sizing (bad batch was 1.564 and below), COAL was 2.805 but I measure from the ogive to the case base anyway. There were about 4 that didn't fire the first time but the second time I single fed them they ignited. I read somewhere it could be a trigger issue maybe? I opened up the bolt and the firing pin and spring were clean.

A few things. First your terminology of "hang fire" is not correct. you had miss fires or failure to fire. hang fire is when the round doesn't ignite right away.

if your loading new brass you should not need to bump the shoulder, the brass that you bumped to far back, try loading a bullet longer so it jams in the lands and holds the case head against the bolt head, you may want to lower your powder charge weight some if your loading hot

 

[JBNj]

What primers are you using? Could they have been possibly contaminated? You agressively bumped your shoulder back on your brass. So maybe you contaminated your primers Without realizing. I doubt it would be an expensive action bolt problem but i guess still possible. I mean afterall dont people buy these expensive actions cause they are suppose to be oh so much better? I'd contact the maker of the action and gun builder and see what they have to say.

 

[avidflyer]

I'll jump in here not knowing any of the background....I've had several Stillers built, what trigger are you using....I had a problem with my last tac 30 getting light primer strikes using a Timney trigger, they do make a trigger for Stiller with a longer sear. We switched to it and it still didnt fix the problem....rifle was shiped back and fourth and still no luck. Timney blamed the firing pin spring...Replaced updated Timney trigger with a factory remington no issues. Never could get the timney to work...I do have Timney's on other tac 30's....Ordered a rifle basix and problems went away....no rhyme or reason

 

[maclowry]

There are issues with the sear.
I just sent mine in to timney for an upgraded sear. The U sear is longer.

 

[maclowry]

I have a stiller tac30 with a timney 517. I would light primer strikes.

 

[avidflyer]

There are issues with the sear.
I just sent mine in to timney for an upgraded sear. The U sear is longer.

correct, but that is not always the fix...."TBone" had mine on and off a dozen times with no work around. I'd try the longer sear first.... Spoke with Jerry about this at shot show again and we just couldn't figure it out.

 

[Ultraman550]

I'm using Tulammo 7.62 LR primers and CCI 200. The shoulders on this last 30 were all bumped to 1.569 which is exactly what FGMM, SW ammo, Privi are so I made sure that wasn't a cause. Primers were seated on my Hornady Single stage through the primer tube feeder. I'm using LC 11 brass that is Redding Die FL sized w/ a .336 bushing. I swage the primer pockets on a Dillon 600. What I did notice on the last batch and the one before it was that the primers were seated a little lower compared to factory ammo. Did I swage too much? I made sure that the swager didn't need a lot of pressure (I could push it down with 3 fingers). I mean I checked every internal dimension possible in my rifle with every different tool possible so I am giving myself the benefit of the doubt and saying that my measurement were correct.

I just loaded up 30 rounds in Privi Brass with 15 CCI and 15 Tula primers. Primers I can tell were seated at the proper depth with the primer being even with the flat surface of the case head. I did not need to swage the Privi brass as there is no crimp. Shoulders were set back to 1.569 as well, cases were FL sized with a .336 bushing.

I just cleaned the chamber thoroughly and took out the firing pin and everything is clean. Any suggestions how I can measure how much of the firing pin is protruding without having to buy a tool for it?


I really didn't want to hear that about the Timney by the way. Fuck me man. If all else fails I'll try a different trigger and call Stiller tomorrow but I'm going out to today to test these new rounds and I'll report back.

 

[Ultraman550]

I'll jump in here not knowing any of the background....I've had several Stillers built, what trigger are you using....I had a problem with my last tac 30 getting light primer strikes using a Timney trigger, they do make a trigger for Stiller with a longer sear. We switched to it and it still didnt fix the problem....rifle was shiped back and fourth and still no luck. Timney blamed the firing pin spring...Replaced updated Timney trigger with a factory remington no issues. Never could get the timney to work...I do have Timney's on other tac 30's....Ordered a rifle basix and problems went away....no rhyme or reason

Im using a Remington Straight Trigger w/safety #518 (lefty). To be honest, I suspect there is either something I am doing wrong or it's the primers but I hate to think that I have 2 bad batches. I have about 900 more of the CCI and 3900 of the Tulammo. Factory ammo has no problem firing, SW never had a problem (1 didn't fire yesterday though).

The Tulammo primers are very thick but I have always read great reviews of them when people use them in their bolt actions.

 

[rlr]

Not knowing any of the background, if you haven't measured it already, check the total firing pin travel. With the long sear, it should be around .285. If it is significantly shorter than that, you may have a short sear, which will be around .240 to .235, which may cause too light of strike for the primers you are using.

 

[Ultraman550]

Update:

It's the primers........Tulammo 7.62 Nato. They're too thick.

I tested another 30 rounds, FL sized the case to 1.569 (shoulder to base) with a .336 bushing. COAL of bullets were 2.810, ogive to base was 2.215. This time I loaded 20 rounds with CCI 200 and 10 with the Tula. The CCI all went bang, 5 of the Tula wouldn't even fire because of soft primer strike, other five ignited but only 1 went on the first firing. The other four fired the second time I single fed them. It's the primers......fuck. I have 3900 of these goddamn things. I can see a Semi-Auto in my future so I guess I'll use them for that.

 

[Ultraman550]

Not knowing any of the background, if you haven't measured it already, check the total firing pin travel. With the long sear, it should be around .285. If it is significantly shorter than that, you may have a short sear, which will be around .240 to .235, which may cause too light of strike for the primers you are using.

rlr, do I need a special tool for this?

 

[vonbalkenbush]

Those 7.62 Tula's are not designed for bolt guns. If you didn't have any problems with factory ammo firing, that answers your question 100%, it ain't the gun, it's your handloads, simple as that. With all the measurements you've been giving it seems pretty clear that you're a novice handloader, so just make sure the primers are not seated too deep and stick to non-military grade primers and you'll be good to go.

-VB

 

[gewehr]

That's interesting, I had no clue that timneys could cause trouble with a stiller

 

[Aeon1]

That's interesting, I had no clue that timneys could cause trouble with a stiller

A standard Timney (non U-sear) can potentially cause a problem in any Remington or Remington clone. As stated above in another post a standard Timney sear is ~.045-.050" shorter than a factory trigger or the U-sear Timney. Some may disagree but if you let the pin fall get much less than .260" in a Remington type action you may be headed for ignition problems. Remington's were originally designed to have ~.260-.280"+ pin fall. Many people love the shorter sears or shorten the cocking piece to improve sear to lug hand-off (to lessen or eliminate cock on close) but ignition may suffer. After doing this some have ignition problems some don't. The U-sear came about because of ignition problems being blamed on a custom action that in reality was not their fault but the fault of a new trigger with a short sear which shortened pin fall which caused ignition problems.