I have a .257 Roberts built on a VZ24. Every so often while shooting at the range I will experience a "hang-fire." There will be a loud click and nothing happens for 2-3 seconds, then bang, the round fires. I've disassembled the bolt and there is no fouling or gunk present. There's no indication of light primer strikes. This has happened now with both Remington and Hornady factory loads. I have had 2 separate local smiths look at it and they can find no evidence that anything is working incorrectly. Headspace is fine. This rifle is deadly accurate and my son had planned to use it for steenbok, etc on our next Namibia trip, but it's staying home if we can't get it to be reliable. Soooo........anybody got any ideas on what to look at on this thing?

What trigger does it have? Pull the bolt. Push against the sear with the blade of a screw driver while you pull the trigger and see if the sear drops cleanly through the hole in the receiver. The sear has to be centered in it's hole with zero interference when she drops. Also, make sure that the trigger assy isn't loose.

make sure the bolt handle isn't lifted a little that can soften the firing pin fall

L had Mauser that would hang-fire sometimes like yours and found that trigger guard was causing the problem and if you did not pull trigger just right it would bind on trigger slot in guard, filed out slot a litte to give clearance. worked fine after that

I finally fixed this darn thing by installing a new Timney trigger. It originally had a Huber trigger in it and apparently something is not "quite right" with it that was causing the delay in firing. I may mess with the Huber when I have time, but am just happy that everything is working without problems for now.

I completely agree with malm on this one. It sounds just like an interference problem. Glad you finally got around to solving it.

quote:

Originally posted by Westpac:
I completely agree with malm on this one. It sounds just like an interference problem.

Oh really? roger

quote:

Originally posted by bartsche:

quote:

Originally posted by Westpac:
I completely agree with malm on this one. It sounds just like an interference problem.

Oh really? roger

Yup.

quote:

I completely agree with malm on this one

Does that happen often?

Depends on what brand of coffee I've been drinking and the time of day.

quote:

Originally posted by Westpac:
I completely agree with malm on this one. ...

Isn't that the "Trouble Maker" who used to wear Combat Boots?

Good thing he answered though, cause I would have thought it needed a Coil Spring off a Chevy to add a bit of punch to the Firing Pin.