Kimber misfiring

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Yak

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Hi guys, hoping to get some help/opinion on what to do with my kimber 84M in 7-08.

Bought the gun used off of a member here a long time back and have fired it very little. I never had a misfire with the approx 3 boxes of factory ammo i fired through it.

Just started handloading this year. Worked up a great load in my 30-06 and have now moved onto the kimber.

Started out with brand new win brass that I FL resized, then loaded imr4064 in small increasing increments to fire some ttsx's.

Took the gun to the range, pulled the trigger and click... tried another one, one step up from there, click... one more time, new shell, click....

Primer strikes seemed fine when compared to my 30-06

Talked to a fellow reloader about it and he said to keep hitting a few of those rounds until they fire. I did that at the next trip to the range and it would take between 2 and 8 strikes for a round to fire..

Has anyone else ever experienced something like this?

What should I do to figure out whats going on?

I live in a city now (gotta fix that...) and its a long drive to anywhere I can shoot so hoping I can diagnose this problem with as few range trips as possible.

Was hoping to give this gun to my old man for deer, he likes how light it is for his worn out shoulders to carry.

Thanks guys, as always really appreciate the help.

Yak
 
What brand of primers?
Are you seating them all the way?
How old are the primers?
Try another brand or newer primers.
Is the bolt/firing pin channel free of dirt/oil etc?

Those are my immediate thoughts.
 
CCI primers by any chance? Clean the striker assembly, try Federal primers, then if that doesn't work get a new spring. Wolf has an extra power spring available.

You don't have to go to the range to test, all you need is primed cases.
 
Spawn-Inc said:
What brand of primers?
Are you seating them all the way?
How old are the primers?
Try another brand or newer primers.
Is the bolt/firing pin channel free of dirt/oil etc?

CCI Large rifle primers - same ones ive been using in my 30-06 reloading and not had a single problem with them yet in that gun
Primers were purchased 6 months ago from a store that sells a lot
Primer seating depth is the same as for my 30-06, all seemed fine
Bolt/firing pin channel was the first thing I checked and cleaned, making sure not to overlube. Went back to the range the 2nd time with the same result

Thanks for the thoughts, any other ideas?
Click to expand...
 
Dogleg said:
CCI primers by any chance? Clean the striker assembly, try Federal primers, then if that doesn't work get a new spring. Wolf has an extra power spring available.

You don't have to go to the range to test, all you need is primed cases.
Click to expand...

Thanks Dogleg, your right CCI primers... The indent in the primer seemed fine each time which is why I am so stumped... Will try another primer make and then I guess go the new spring route like you suggested.

Thanks you!

Yak
 
Yak said:
Thanks Dogleg, your right CCI primers... The indent in the primer seemed fine each time which is why I am so stumped... Will try another primer make and then I guess go the new spring route like you suggested.

Thanks you!

Yak
Click to expand...

I had 6 misfires out of 200 shots and they were CCI 200 primers. Went back to Federal. It's kinda unnerving when you get that first misfire.
 
I had the same problem also using cci. Make sure they are fully seated (this was my problem). After I figured out the seating problem I haven thad a misfire in thousands of rounds.
 
The thing that gets my attention is the that you said you used new unfired brass that you also FL resized. Even though the firing pin strikes look adequate, I would say its a headspace issue. Some rounds are firing and some aren't with new unfired brass, that tells me headspace. I bet your brass is a little too short and you're getting inconsistent strikes. My fix with new brass if I think its short, is to use a bigger expander ball to open up the neck, then only resize part of the neck back down to proper size. Resize it to the point that you get a slight crush fit when you chamber the brass. Then you'll get consistent primer strike and fireform the brass to chamber size.
 
Thanks for the replies guys,

I necksized and primed a few factory once fired federal brass last night. All the primers went bang so Im thinking mod7rem is right, its either the win brass or maybe even my FL resize die?

More tinkering to do yet, but at least i can get my primer reloads to go boom!

Big relief, i was really worried my most expensive gun was just an expensive club unless i shot factory ammo.

Thanks again!

Yak
 
With a vernier calliper measure the length of your full length resized case from the base to the case mouth and write it down.

Next take a fired spent primer and just using your fingers start this used primer in the primer pocket.

Now slowly chamber this case using the bolt face to seat the primer and eject.

Now measure the case again from the base of the primer to the case mouth and write it down.

Now subtract the first case measurement from the second and the answer you get is your head clearance. Meaning the answer is the "air space" between the rear of the case and the bolt face and how much shorter the case is than chamber headspace to the shoulder.

Example, I have a Lee 223 full length die that will push the case shoulder back .011 shorter than the chamber. This is when the die is set up per the dies instructions and making hard contact with the shell holder. This is where it is nice and having a set of competition shell holders that will keep from pushing the shoulder back too far.
 
Yak said:
Thanks for the replies guys,

I necksized and primed a few factory once fired federal brass last night. All the primers went bang

Yak
Click to expand...
If the once fired brass was not fl resized it will be fire formed to another rifle's chamber. You may want to rethink your process. I am sure a more knowledgeable member will chime in on this shortly.
 
bigedp51 said:
With a vernier calliper measure the length of your full length resized case from the base to the case mouth and write it down.

Next take a fired spent primer and just using your fingers start this used primer in the primer pocket.

Now slowly chamber this case using the bolt face to seat the primer and eject.

Now measure the case again from the base of the primer to the case mouth and write it down.

Now subtract the first case measurement from the second and the answer you get is your head clearance. Meaning the answer is the "air space" between the rear of the case and the bolt face and how much shorter the case is than chamber headspace to the shoulder.

Example, I have a Lee 223 full length die that will push the case shoulder back .011 shorter than the chamber. This is when the die is set up per the dies instructions and making hard contact with the shell holder. This is where it is nice and having a set of competition shell holders that will keep from pushing the shoulder back too far.
Click to expand...

If the brass once fire formed measures off spec To the ogive you should be able to return it . I would want it to fire any factory ammo
 
new210/22 said:
If the once fired brass was not fl resized it will be fire formed to another rifle's chamber. You may want to rethink your process. I am sure a more knowledgeable member will chime in on this shortly.
Click to expand...

Hi new210/22,

The once fired factory brass i was referring too was actually fire formed in my kimber, the rifle i am having trouble with.
 
So tonight I fired some reloads using once fired in my rifle factory brass (fed cases). The first 2 went bang, and I should mention I fired 5 or 6 primed only cases at home all went bang.

Unfortunately the 3rd and 4th reloads tonight misfired... primer's were seated all the way, indent seemed normal... wtf?!?

I had a box of factory rounds that I brought along and I shot 6 or 7 of them without a misfire.

Any ideas? Im at a loss

Thanks

Yak
 
Everything about a Kimber is tiny and light. The firing pin is light, and the striker spring is tiny. That's fine when it works, but there's not a lot of margin for a soft spring or hard primer.
 
Yak said:
So tonight I fired some reloads using once fired in my rifle factory brass (fed cases). The first 2 went bang, and I should mention I fired 5 or 6 primed only cases at home all went bang.

Unfortunately the 3rd and 4th reloads tonight misfired... primer's were seated all the way, indent seemed normal... wtf?!?

I had a box of factory rounds that I brought along and I shot 6 or 7 of them without a misfire.

Any ideas? Im at a loss

Thanks

Yak
Click to expand...

Did you full length resize the once fired brass or partial full length resize or neck size?
 
It's got to be the primers if it dents the primer(deep enough) it should go boom

On a side note that buisness about Kimbers being light and tiny is enough to talk me out of one
 
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