This rifle has the non rebounding hammer. It originally had the inertial firing pin mechanisim. It has always had FTF issues. I have unitized the firing pin and removed the lever and spring in the pin. I added enough length to the back of the original pin to eliminate the inertia feature. Still 2 in 10 FTF.

Has anyone solved this problem?

Will and original style Winchester 86 replacement pin work in the Browning? I can fit it if needed I do not expect drop in.

I would suggest that you might want to contact Browning/Winchester's technical/service and parts department and discuss it with them.

Even though you added material to to the rear of the pin, that is not the problem; the pin is stopped in forward movement by a shoulder; look at the pin and remove metal there to allow the pin to move forward until it protrudes .055 or so. If you already did that, then get a stiffer main spring.

The pin is stopped by the lever cam surface. It protrudes a bunch if the lever is not attached to the bolt. It originally had a spring around the firing pin tip to retract it. I discarded the little spring. The original design by JM Browning was changed on the modern rifle. The firing pin does not stop on an internal shoulder on the modern one. It stops against the cam surface on the lever, or the primer. Today I removed a tiny amount of material from the retraction cam surface on the firing pin and smoothed it up a bit more. I fired a dozen primed cases first hit.

A stronger mainspring is not the the issue. It makes a full depth impression in the primer 90% of the time. When it fails to fire the strike is light, like a chambered but unfired cartridge from a garand. Something is stopping the firing pin from full movement. It is not binding, something is catching, sometimes.

Upon further research the modern 1886 firing pin and hammer modifications cause reliability issues. It is a common problem. Nice to see that lawyers know more about rifle design than JM Browning. It is common sense safety practice to never load the chamber until time to shoot. They successfully solved a non issue and made the rifle useless for hunting.

If this persists I will make an original style firing pin from scratch.

I had one cartridge fail to fire recently in My Winchester/Miroku .45-70 and, looking at other cases, wonder if the firing pin is not striking quite as deeply as it originally did. I do seat the primers quite deeply but have never had a misfire problem before.

Though I am a cautious reloader, I wondered if some loads from the bottom of the manual's table had nevertheless been too much (having flattened primers and given more than usual expansion of the case body in front of the solid head), and that this may have induced excess head space.

The action does not want to close with a four-thou shim behind a new case - what do you guys think?

.004 is nothing; carry on. But if you are having mis fires, read on.
I have a Browning 86 and never had any issues, but it does seem to be common.
So, as I said, make your firing pin protrude farther, as scott said he did. For some reason, some modern rifles have shallow firing pin protrusion.
Also, the bolt has to be completely closed for the FP to fall completely check that. A thick rim, or dirt, will prevent that. Another safety feature.

Thanks dpcd,
that's a relief. Should I try not seating the primers quite so deep?

Though I was hoping to eventually get a load that Ray might consider up to elk, I don't really need an extra rifle for sambar so might go back to Trapdoor loads and just use it for pigs and plinking.

Sambarman some of the Miroku made O/U shotguns gave misfiring problems due to too short firing pin protrusion and there are aftermarket slightly longer pins available for these guns to cure this. Perhaps Miroku have a propensity to have only minimum pin protrusion although my own Miroku O/U shotgun has never had a problem.

Seating a primer shallow risks misfires too as some of the momentum of the pin is absorbed in seating the primer to the bottom of the primer pocket. I seat primers firmly into the case pocket which helps sensitise them as the anvil legs bottom out and preload the anvil.

Perhaps different primers may help.

Check the firing pin tip, some can develop small craters in the tip which can cause misfires because although the pin protrusion looks okay the crater bottom corresponds with the tip of the primer anvil hence does not compress the priming compound to provide ignition, some hardened shotgun pins are susceptible to this phenomenon.

No do not seat primers shallowly. I have used the Speer 350 grain which is made with a thicker jacket; on bears, over a lot of 3031, and it works.

Thanks Eagle,
I'll keep those things in mind. I wonder if the 86 firing pin is hard to replace? If not my fitter/turner buddy might be able to make a longer one.

Thanks dpcd, too.
Do you have ESP or are, perhaps, cross-referencing threads? I suppose you recall my mentioning elsewhere that the 350-grain Speer is the bullet that gave the perceived pressure problems.

I like the shape of it, imagining it might carry better than the stumpier Hornady bullet. Despite that the meplat seems to be exactly the same on both bullets - hardly wider than the primer, I'm sorry to say.

Seems like the Browning 1886 has a lot of problems. FTF issues aside, mine has several other things I don't like. The chamber is visually crooked in the throat section when viewed by with a bore scope. This explains why it only shoot jacketed bullets well. The action is really stiff. I have tuned the heck out of it. I even made a copy of the Winchester bolt contour where the hammer rides. IT only made it operate worse. The crown is stupid looking, like a funnel. I do not think that the Browning is worth the price.

I read the Winchester repro and Chiappa are even worse.

I have an original Winchester that Bubba messed with. I un-bubbaed what I could. IT is a much better rifle in every respect. I got it for $400 recently. IF a guy wanted an '86 I would not recommend any of the reproductions. Get a non noncollectable original.

No, I didn't read your other thread; I do, in fact, have ESP.
As for the Miroku rifles, both Browning and Winchester came from the same place, I have not had them as bad as Scota has. And I have had several 95s and two 86s; no issues at all.
I have not seen a Chiappa one. But

When my Miroku Winchester 1886 .45-90 was new, it failed to fire a few times. I mentioned this to a friend who is a very experienced Cowboy action shooter and he has tuned his and his sons rifles. So, for $100 , he did a trigger job(11 pounds down to 4 pounds), slicked the action, and best of all told me to use only Federal ammo and primers. He told me the Federal primers ignite with the least force AND the Fed mag primers are the best for full case and compressed loads.

Best $100 I have spent!. Never another failure to fire!

His son won the state CAS top gun award the following year!

I have no idea what may be the problems with the OP Browning, but an experienced levergun smith may be able to help.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
No, I didn't read your other thread; I do, in fact, have ESP.