Mis-fires or Weak/Broken Spring.

[camodog]

Morning All.
I own a Tikka T3 .223, owned from new. I am guessing the 'round-count' to not be in exceed 2000. For a number of years I've been using Hornady Superformance 53gr V-Max through it.
Recently I have experienced 5 mis-fires, two last Saturday evening out of 5 'shots'. I asked a friend and his suggestion was maybe a weak or broken spring.
I cannot be certain whether these mis-fires were all from the same batch, though the last two deffinatly were.
Just asking the collective wisdom of members of 'SD' what their thoughts may be.
I have attached a photo of fired cases and mis-fired cases to indicate the impression on the primer of the 'strike'. I might add, I re-tried a previous mis-fire on one occasion and a successful outcome was 'performed', on another occasion a failure to fire was the result.
Thanks in advance on any thoughts.

'Camodog'.

 

[finnbear270]

Strikes don't look light to me, duff ammuniton I reckon.

 

[Heym SR20]

I would first of all give the rifle a good clean. Strip down the bolt, check the spring - springs can a do break, but also over time any oil, dust, sweat, rust and other gunk can get into the action. Enough to cause a bit of drag on the firing pin.

Looks very simple to do - much easier than a Mauser, Rem 700 or Heym SR20



As regards the ammo - is it all factory and is reasonably fresh. Or has it been around for years. Ditto with homeloads, especially primers. Primers are pretty easy to contaminate and a bit of oil or moisture can kill them - it’s why they suggest using a priming tool and avoid handling them if at all.

 

[Malxwal]

When I've experienced this, a simple strip of the bolt and a thorough clean sorted it. Allows you to inspect spring and pin at same time.

 

[Donkey Basher]

Stripping a T3 bolt isn't difficult & takes but a few seconds. Worth a strip & clean even if there's nothing visibly wrong.

Have got a M595 Tikka rifle that has shot 15 - 20,000 rounds over 20+ years & still on the original firing pin spring with no misfire issues.

 

[finnbear270]

Even the best regarded ammunition names can have misfires, My own experiences have included Lapua .223.

 

[HonestJohn]

Same ammo lot?

 

[Danny Fireblade]

I had the same not long after getting my T3. I had 4 out of 5 misfires, all factory ammunition.

I stripped the bolt, reassembled and never had another in about 1000 rounds.

Sometimes a little bit of dirt will be enough to prevent the pin striking firm enough. Cleaning the bolt would be my first step, plenty of vids on youtube showing how to do it.

 

[Bowland blades]

Suspect its contaminated or mis made primers . the strike looks fine enough , though the picture is a bit blury as i enlarge it . what i should do is shoot another brand and see what happens , if its fine - return the other lot , preferably with the boxes they came in so the fault can be sourced and that batch removed from the dealer networks shelves

 

[Bowland blades]

I would first of all give the rifle a good clean. Strip down the bolt, check the spring - springs can a do break, but also over time any oil, dust, sweat, rust and other gunk can get into the action. Enough to cause a bit of drag on the firing pin.

Looks very simple to do - much easier than a Mauser, Rem 700 or Heym SR20



As regards the ammo - is it all factory and is reasonably fresh. Or has it been around for years. Ditto with homeloads, especially primers. Primers are pretty easy to contaminate and a bit of oil or moisture can kill them - it’s why they suggest using a priming tool and avoid handling them if at all.

I once tried to kill some primers just for an experiment , i failed ! Apparently they only fail when you least need it

 

[HonestJohn]

I once tried to kill some primers just for an experiment , i failed ! Apparently they only fail when you least need it

Chuck them in the fireplace for extra new years fanfare

 

[User00040]

Morning All.
I own a Tikka T3 .223, owned from new. I am guessing the 'round-count' to not be in exceed 2000. For a number of years I've been using Hornady Superformance 53gr V-Max through it.
Recently I have experienced 5 mis-fires, two last Saturday evening out of 5 'shots'. I asked a friend and his suggestion was maybe a weak or broken spring.
I cannot be certain whether these mis-fires were all from the same batch, though the last two deffinatly were.
Just asking the collective wisdom of members of 'SD' what their thoughts may be.
I have attached a photo of fired cases and mis-fired cases to indicate the impression on the primer of the 'strike'. I might add, I re-tried a previous mis-fire on one occasion and a successful outcome was 'performed', on another occasion a failure to fire was the result.
Thanks in advance on any thoughts.

'Camodog'.

Suspect the ammo has been made with 223 brass that is severely undersize.

If you had a case gauge, it would be a simple matter of dropping a round in to verify.

 

[Smellydog]

The ammo. The strike looks fine.

 

[camodog]

Same ammo lot?

The last two mis-fires from the same box, unsure of the previous three.

 

[gonzo]

Ammo with excess headspace could be an issue.
Also hard primers. I had a few boxes of what looked like ex-mil stuff. Primers so hard that it took 7 strikes from a perfectly good rifle to get the primers to fire. And broke two decapping pins on them.

 

[camodog]

Thank-you everyone for your helpful replies. My first course of action will be to strip down the bolt assembly to clean and inspect. I shall update on progress in due course.
Thanks again all for offering your thoughts.

'Camodog'.

 

[Foxyboy43]

Hmmm.
A pal has had quite a few of these giving bother recently.

 

[User00040]

Thank-you everyone for your helpful replies. My first course of action will be to strip down the bolt assembly to clean and inspect. I shall update on progress in due course.
Thanks again all for offering your thoughts.

'Camodog'.

Put a single strip of masking tape over the back (primer end) of the rounds that won't fire, remove firing pin first to avoid accidents.

If the bolt closes, you have your answer (excess headspace on brass).

 

[Tommy2bucks]

Morning All.
I own a Tikka T3 .223, owned from new. I am guessing the 'round-count' to not be in exceed 2000. For a number of years I've been using Hornady Superformance 53gr V-Max through it.
Recently I have experienced 5 mis-fires, two last Saturday evening out of 5 'shots'. I asked a friend and his suggestion was maybe a weak or broken spring.
I cannot be certain whether these mis-fires were all from the same batch, though the last two deffinatly were.
Just asking the collective wisdom of members of 'SD' what their thoughts may be.
I have attached a photo of fired cases and mis-fired cases to indicate the impression on the primer of the 'strike'. I might add, I re-tried a previous mis-fire on one occasion and a successful outcome was 'performed', on another occasion a failure to fire was the result.
Thanks in advance on any thoughts.

'Camodog'.

I’ve literally just had the exact same issue tonight while out foxing with sane gun and same ammunition resulting in 4 foxes running away am gutted feel like throwing the rifle on the skip it’s only 6 months old

 

[User00040]

I’ve literally just had the exact same issue tonight while out foxing with sane gun and same ammunition resulting in 4 foxes running away am gutted feel like throwing the rifle on the skip it’s only 6 months old

Try another make of ammunution?