Hi all, need some help. I have a Tikka T3 that started life as a .270. I had it rebarreled by Pac-nor to 7x57 (maybe Too much info?) I reload and have a couple of loads that group well using Win brass and WLR primers but have issues with (i guess what are called) "light strikes" on the primers. I only experience this with this rifle only. I've removed the firing pin from the bolt and cleaned it, insured there is no dirt or gunk the firing pin hole and used dry slide on the spring and firing pin shaft. I shot around 40 rounds at the range after cleaning it and it didn't experience any issue. BUT this morning, raised the rifle to shoot a doe, 'click', raise the bolt handle and re-engage the firing pin... 'click' again. I eject the round and bolt another round 'click'. Both primers have normal pin depressions. After this deer moved off. I remove that round, drop the magazine, insert another mag (same batch of this load). Another doe walks up and bang/flop. I got back to the truck, pull my Heym 7x57. Load the two rounds that didn't fire in the Tikka and they both fired in the Heym. The Tikka firing pin doesn't look damaged, it's clean, etc. I don't know what to do at this point. Any experiences or suggestions to resolve? Please advise. Thank you

Don't know about Tikkas but I had one light strike with my Rem XCR II in 375 H&H. That was enough, I took it to my gunsmith, he put in a heavier firing pin spring and firing pin. Haven't had a problem since.

Sounds like the Tikka may have a little more headspace. I'm assuming you are FL sizing your cases. If you neck size or partial size the cases that did fire in the Tikka and use them only in the Tikka I think your problem will disappear.

quote:

Originally posted by snowman:
Sounds like the Tikka may have a little more headspace. I'm assuming you are FL sizing your cases. If you neck size or partial size the cases that did fire in the Tikka and use them only in the Tikka I think your problem will disappear.

Yes, I've been FL sizing so I can use the brass for both the Tikka and the Heym. I've been operating under the idea that FL sizing was the best way to go? Can you educate me on why some pieces are firing and others not? How sizing would influence it. Not challenging, just trying to understand. thanks

quote:

Originally posted by chuck375:
Don't know about Tikkas but I had one light strike with my Rem XCR II in 375 H&H. That was enough, I took it to my gunsmith, he put in a heavier firing pin spring and firing pin. Haven't had a problem since.

thanks for the suggestion. I'll call a smith and find out what is avaialble for the Tikka. It wouldn't surprise me to learn a stainless steel firing pin would be hard to find (that wasn't OEM).

gunsrgood If you have a rifle with some headspace and ammunition that is full length sized it is not uncommon to have some misfires. Headspace is the space between the head of the cartridge and the bolt face when the bolt is fully closed.Normally this is only a few thousands of an inch. If you have slightly more headspace than normal when the firing pin hits the primer it pushes the entire cartridge forward until the shoulder of the case contacts the front of the chamber. Moving the case forward consumes some of the energy of the firing pin spring and by moving the case forward the firing pin does not indent the primer as much as it normally would.Both of these things contribute to a light strike on the primer and misfires. I strongly suggest you segregate your ammunition. Any cases you have fired in the Tikka I would suggest you partial size these cases only. Your other option is to have the barrel removed from your Tikka and have it refitted. Hope that helps.

Another possibility might be that the primers haven't been completely seated in their pocket. If that's the case, some of the force of the firing pin might be damped as the firing pin strike pushed the primer home.

Just a thought.

Did you perhaps uniform the primer pockets too deep? (what caused mine. I switched to Federal 210 (they are just a tad thicker)from CCI and that cured the problem.

Have you changed the ring mounts? If you have, a mounting screw that is a smidgeon too long in the rear hole it will keep the bolt from closing completely and will cause a light firing pin strike. I had this happen on my T3 Lite when my son put different mounts and rings on it after giving him the rifle. Hope this helps maybe.

Suggest posting this in the Reloading forum.

Lots of good advice here, but I would start with snowman's suggestions.
There is nothing wrong with FL resizing, but you need to get a comparator and measure case length to the datum line. Then set up your sizing die to set your shoulder length back .001 to .002 at most.
Even if this is not the problem, this is still the way you want to size cases for best accuracy and case life.

thank you all for your input. many things to test. May be a while but I'll post results.

thank you again!!