I've been pursuing this on huntamerica and have gotten some good input but thought I would come here and get some different perspectives.

I have one of the limited run Ruger MKII 35 Whelens. When I received the gun I put a scope onto it and took it to the range. I fired approximately 5 rounds through it and it shot great. I got it home and cleaned it up and thought hmmm I really don't like the sights(iron) on this rifle so I had them removed and had a Vais muzzle brake installed and the barrel reblued by a more than competent gunsmith.

I get the rifle back and shoot the remaining box of factory ammo. Remington 200 grain PSPCL. I had one round out of 20 that misfired which I did not find surprising because I have had this happen with remington ammo before.

So now I have the barrel broken in and I have 19 rounds of once fired brass. I go ahead and order 20 rounds of new brass to add to the pile. I recieve the new brass and run it through my FL die. Load it up and click...click...click......they don't go off? Probably 3 out of 12 rounds fired. I think man these must be some bad primers or maybe I set the shoulder way back which I don't think I did. Well I get back to the house load up some more of the new brass. This time I adjusted the die to where it definitely did not contact the shoulder...click ...click again...try a different primer..click click. The pin is hitting the primer but not firing?

Now I think something is wrong with these 20 rounds of new brass. I take the five remaining new brass and don't do a thing to them but put primers in..no powder or bullet..drop them in the chamber and all five fire? Hmmmm really puzzled now?

Still scratching my head I load up 12 rounds of the once fired brass that I have thinking all is well now, this is different brass no more problems. Only 9 out of 12 fired?

So now you are caught up to where I am now. A knowledgeable individual on one of the other forums sent me some emails and he seemed to think I was not seating the primers deep enough. I have been using a Hornady hand held priming tool and I have loaded for many different guns and never had a problem with it. There is really nothing on it to wear out that I am aware of?

Maybe it is a weak firing mechanism? Last night I took the bolt out and saturated it with some degreaser cleaner numerous times thinking maybe it had some gunk or trash in it. It was mentioned that maybe I should take the bolt apart and inspect for debris. I am basically a moron when it comes to stuff like that but my father in law could help me do that when he gets back from Alaska if needed.

Someone thought maybe the barrel was not put back on correctly or completely after it was reblued but I checked that and it is tight. They thought maybe there was a headspace problem. Possibly could have been true but I used some once fired brass that was formed to the chamber and has misfires with it too.

OK any ideas?

Thanks

[This message has been edited by Sniper (edited 09-05-2001).]

Simplest thing to do is bring it to the smith that reblued it and have him look at it. Next thing to do would be to look at the misfired primers and see how the indentations are. It sounds like they aren't getting hit hard enough or else maybe the firing pin isn't protruding enough. A trick to check headspace that I have read but haven't tried is to take a factory new round and stick one layer of masking tape over the rim end, the bolt shouldn't close on it.

Primers not seated deep enough would be noticeable to you, you seem pretty aware in your comments. I would definately suggest you take the bolt apart and clean it, as I suspect the problem lies in there.

Sniper
Without seeing the rifle and cartridges in question, any speculation as what was wrong would be just that, speculation. You didn�t say how deep the indentations were in the primers, however if the rifle was mine I would first remove the bolt and rotate the handle to the fired position, and check the firing pin protrusion from the bolt face, it should be at least one to one and a half millimetres. If it is less than that, then your problem lies in the bolt itself.
If all is correct with the bolt, next is to check the primers, are they used in any other firearm, if not, try them and see what ignition is like. If this is not possible, buy some more � a different brand or at least a different lot No.
Next is to check the primer pockets in the cases, primers should seat up against the bottom of the pocket and when seated should be either flush with or slightly below the base of the case.

What we know is that in order for a cartridge to fire, the firing pin must crush the priming compound in the primer. Assuming all of the above is in order, and ignition is still erratic, then the only other possibility is that the cartridge is being moved forward in the chamber by the impact of the firing pin.
What I would then do is to buy a .375 or bigger tapered expander button for your 35 Whelen die set (I know Hornady sell the buttons separate, and they are nicely tapered), screw this onto the stem in your die and open up the necks of 10 cases. Replace the 35 cal. button in your FL die, and turn the die out of the press by about 3 turns, now run a case all the way into the die, it will form a secondary shoulder in the case neck and the case should NOT be able to be chambered in your rifle. Now turn the die into the press one half or quarter turn, and again run the case into the die. Keep doing this, checking each time for fit in the rifle�s chamber, and stop when the bolt handle can just be closed with a slight pressure. This secondary shoulder has now ensured that the cartridge is pressed up against the bolt face and the chamber�s shoulder � perfect headspace. Lock the die down and do all 10 cases, load them up with a start load and fireform them in the rifle. To re-load these cases back the FL die out one to one and a half turns and lock it down, this will leave a small portion of the neck un-sized (which I see as a good thing as it acts as a spigot for aligning the case in the barrel � promoting better accuracy) and it will prevent any possibility of pushing the shoulder back.
I see no reason why this shouldn�t solve your problem, if it does; your problem was incorrect headspacing.
You could leave it as is, but this would mean going through this procedure each time, and that factory ammo would be un-reliable in your rifle, also your cartridges would not fit a standard chamber.
This is just what I would do, hope it helps, let us know � it was an interesting problem.
Bush baby

Since you've had problems with factory ammo, one thing I would check first is that the bolt is closing completely. I have seen a few rifles from reputable manufacturers that had a poor bolt handle inletting job. You should be able to slide a business card between the bolt handle and the stock.

I had a very similiar problem with my T/C. Sometimes as high as 50% failure rate. I sent loaded rounds to Remington for evaluation and they claimed that the primers were not as deep as factory but actually found no problems. Their suggestion was to use only their primers with their brass. When finally solved, the problem ended up as a weak hammer spring.

MFH

Thanks for all the replies. After thoroughly saturating the bolt with cleaner and letting it sit over night. I removed the excess liquid and went to the range with a box of factory ammo. Due to time and heat I was only able to fire 8 rounds and all 8 fired perfectly. I ordered a primer pocket uniformer and an impact bullet puller. The next step I am going to take is to pull bullets and dump powder on the misfires, resize, uniform pockets and give it another go.

I'll keep ya posted

[This message has been edited by Sniper (edited 09-07-2001).]