Is this a light strike?

alanmc

Hi,

So last weekend, I had a few "fail to fires" from my .308. I was wondering if I was getting light strikes.

In this image the round on the right is the one that failed to fire. All other shells in the image are from perfectly fired rounds. It looks to me like a good strike, but I dunno.
Image



Here's another image. Not sure if it's clearer or not:
Image



It seems to only be with these rounds though. They're Hornady 168gr Match BTHP. The shoot really really well, but the fail to fires is a little concerning.

I've shot some cheaper stuff (Hornady American Whitetail) without any failures, but they're $hite.

Might just be a bad batch. Happened in 2 boxes so far though. I'm going to put another 40 rounds through this weekend and see how it goes.

What do you guys and gals think?
Thanks,
Al.

LONG DRAG

Hi strip mechanism and do a good cleaning, replace firing pin spring.

alanmc

LONG DRAG wrote: »

Hi strip mechanism and do a good cleaning, replace firing pin spring.

Hi.

Yeah, so I've done a good cleaning of the firing pin and the firing pin "hole". Made sure it was good and dry as well. No burrs or nicks on the firing pin hole/channel either/ All looks kosher. Could be a tired spring as you suggest.

Before I start replacing parts I want to get a few opinions on whether it might be a light strike or not.

Thanks,
Alan.

tac foley

What brand is your '.308'? BTW, your Google images are blank.

For me, anyhow.

It's easy to determine whether a strike is light or not by simple comparison with those that DID go bang. Some primers are known to be hard, and require a good thump.

tac

alanmc

tac foley wrote: »

What brand is your '.308'? BTW, your Google images are blank.

For me, anyhow.

Hmm, they shouldn't be black. Definitely not when I view them anyway. Does anybody else have trouble viewing them?

My rifle is a Unique Alpine TPG-1. Had a bit of trouble with the extractor on the bolt a few weeks back, but all is good now.

tac foley wrote: »

It's easy to determine whether a strike is light or not by simple comparison with those that DID go bang. Some primers are known to be hard, and require a good thump.

tac

So comparatively speaking, I think the dimples are much the same. On the ones that 'did go bang', the primer has deformed a little backwards filling the primer hole a little more. But other than that, the dimple looks very very similar.

Grizzly 45

I see HORNADY written on your cases?
That can explain alot too.. Hornady has been having some problems with their primers.They seem to be making them extra hard these days.I have had some problems with light strikes on Hornady 155 steel match in a semi auto.But I seem not to be the only one.The net is full of people griping about this problem with Hornady match ammo.:)
So I dont think it is your gun,its the ammo.

tac foley

Beat me, Sir.

BTH, OP, I didn't write that your images were 'black', I wrote 'blank', as in white/not there/absent et al.

残念ながらこのファイルに画像を表示することはできません。フォーマットは当社のオペレーティングシステムと互換性がありません。

THAT explains it.

I admit that I don't fully comprehend what you have written about the 'the primer has deformed a little backwards filling the primer hole a little more'.

You should not have a dimple, but an indentation mirroring the shape of the tip of the firing pin.

tac

alanmc

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

I see HORNADY written on your cases?

Yeah, Hornady 168g Match.

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

That can explain alot too.. Hornady has been having some problems with their primers.They seem to be making them extra hard these days.I have had some problems with light strikes on Hornady 155 steel match in a semi auto.But I seem not to be the only one.The net is full of people griping about this problem with Hornady match ammo.:)
So I dont think it is your gun,its the ammo.

So this is both good and bad news. Good that my rifle looks to be OK (which I suspected). Bad that these 168g rounds shoot really really well from my rifle.

Thanks Grizzly.

tac foley

alanmc wrote: »

Bad that these 168g rounds shoot really really well from my rifle.

Actually, they don't. Suppose that you had been shooting in a timed match? Consistency is all - and a light-strike, or slow burn as a result of an incomplete ignition, is a comp killer.

tac

alanmc

tac foley wrote: »

Actually, they don't. Suppose that you had been shooting in a timed match? Consistency is all - and a light-strike, or slow burn as a result of an incomplete ignition, is a comp killer.

tac

Very true. But of course you know what I meant.

alanmc

Sitrep: So it's definitely just the Hornady match ammo that's misbehaving in my rifle. I spent the morning trying out some different types and didn't have a single failure. Also found a few loads that really suit my rifle as well. Result! The Remington 165g Accutips seem particularly potent as well as the Hornady Superperformance 178g. Very happy coming home from the range today.

Thanks for the replies lads. Much appreciated.