DENTED PRIMER

Discussion: 

From Jerry Alfaro 

Does anyone have a phone number for customer service at TC? I need to have them check my .35 Remington barrel to see why it only fires about 50% of the time. Always dents the primer but half don't go off. Seems I had this problem with my 7TCU. The problem wasn't with the barrel but with the safety bar under the hammer not retracting fully. This safety bar is a plate that sits under the hammer to keep the gun from firing unless the trigger is pulled. So you don't shoot yourself if you drop the gun. Same system as a Colt Anaconda. Seems those components aren't finished really well and the safety bar that trips down as the trigger is pulled was hanging up a bit. Nothing a little cleaning and polishing didn't fix. 

From Guido Lepore glepore@direct.ca 

I believe this is a common problem with the .35. I have heard various explanations including that factory loaded .35's have "hard" primers because they are used in tube magazines. I have just as much trouble with handloads in this barrel, however. I am thinking of trying pistol primers instead of rifle but don't know for sure if this will help. So far this has only happened at the bench, but this is my main deer hunting gun and I am very nervous about it happening at the wrong time. If TC can help please post. Good Luck 

From jpkelly1@oeonline.com 

Do you do your own reloading? I've had similar problems myself and it was because I hadn't set the primer properly. Do they fire the second time? If they do, its usually an indication that the seating wasn't right in the first place. 

From alfaro@tidcompo.llnl.gov jerry 

After reading some of the threads about 35 Rem misfires, I thought I'd explain how I solved a similar problem with my 30 Herrett not firing on the first snap. One of the problems was the trigger adjustment was set to light not allowing the safety sear bar to drop when the frame was closed. And second I was full length resizing my brass every time. I backed my sizer die off .040" and what that did was to drive the base of the case back so the head space was eliminated. To date I have yet to have a misfire. Hope I've helped. 

From Joel H. Blatt joelblatt@aol.com 

MISFIRING PROBLEMS. I would suspect several things, most probably (1) a weak hammer spring, (2) crud in the safety block channel or (3) a worn, bent, or broken firing pin or a small buildup of residue around the firing pin inside the housing that "buffered" it and cause misfires (from Rick - ricpit@atl.mindspring.com). Less probable would be (4) a bad adjustment on the safety block-trigger group or (5) the barrel not locking up sufficiently to operate the interlock safety (butterfly). An indication of problems (2), (4), or (5) are marks on the safety block where it has stopped the hammer fall. Further diagnosis requires a close examination of the hammer position and the unfired cartridge immediately after the misfire. If the hammer is resting against the safety block then the safety caused the misfire (there may also be a very shallow dent in the primer). If the hammer is resting against the firing pin and the primer or rimfire cartridge rim is dented then the problem is probably a weak hammer spring. To test, compare the force necessary to cock the hammer with that in another frame, or remove the hammer spring and compare it with a new one - the "set" in a weak spring will be obvious. It also might be very hard primers (CCI?) - try different primers, a case insufficiently sized, a barrel chambered too deeply, a rimless cartridge either sized too much, or failure to reliably fire military ammo in the T/C's SAAMI commercial sized chamber. You could check the chambering with a different barrel in the same caliber and a depth gage, or try commercial (not military) ammunition. 

Disclaimer:  I am not responsible for the use or misuse of this information.  I probably didn't even write this. These opinions are my own and are not the opinions of my employer.  He wouldn't write it either.

From alfaro@tidcompo.llnl.gov Jerry Alfaro 

Another thing you can try is to seat your bullet out until the ogive touches the groves of the barrel. This will also force the case base back into the frame. Full length re-sizing will, over a number of reloads stretch the case and worst scenario, cause case separation. If you have backed your sizing die off .040" you should feel a little resistance when snapping your frame closed. That will indicate to you the shoulder is forcing the case back. I suggest you try doing this first before buying a neck sizer die. I recommend that you keep a log of exactly what changes you make when working your brass and loads. I have found by doing this you can refer back to your notes and find where one change has made the difference. 

RCBS will make neck sizing dies for any cartridge you need for a price. I purchased a neck sizer die for my 22-250 Ackley Improved from RCBS last year and the cost was around $52.00. 

Hornady makes a neck only sized die that will work for a variety of cartridges of the same caliber. (They won't work on short cases such as 30 & 357 Herrett.) I have one in 22 and 30 caliber and they work pretty well. My only grip about them is the compression adjustment they use for the expander ball. It has a tendency to slip when extracting the case. I use a silicone powder to help the extraction problem. 

Another comment I read was about the firing pins possibly being bad on the frame. Possible, but I don't really think the pin is the problem. The only problem I've only heard about from someone else was a problem with the old style hammer you switch with a screw driver. The pin that drives the firing pin into the primer was to short. This caused the firing pin not to travel far enough forward to make the primmer ignite. 

On your earlier post I believe you said you do not reload, I highly recommend that you consider learning and, purchase equipment even if it's used. 

Hope you can use the information to eliminate those "clicks"...