2007 M14, FAIL TO FIRE PROBLEM, AGAIN!!! & UPDATED with Pic! (first post)

Jay

Jay

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Hey Guys; ***Updated on the bottom of this post.

Quick synopsis of the problem...

Bought a 2007 Marstar M14...

Attended the Hungry Clinic to do minor accurizing...

NEVER FIRED THE GUN, just put it back into the locker...

Bought a Polytech 'plastic' stock of the EE, installed it on the 2007 M14...

Took the rifle out today for it's first range trip...

Load mag, insert & release bolt (NO riding of bolt...)...

Pull trigger... CLICK instead of boom...

Pause, consider issue for 60 or so seconds...

Eject cartridge, inspect, there is a tap on the primer, but not to deep...

Reload with same cartridge in mag, let bolt fly... CLICK...

Wait, eject & inspect... Cartridge now has a deeper strike mark, but still didn't 'go bang'... Unloaded, put the M14 away & started making noise with the Kel-Tec RFB...

Thoughts???

Cheers & Thanks in Advance
Jay

***UPDATE!!!
I took the bolt out of the rifle & poured 2 liters of boiling water over the bolt & let it sit in the boiling water for about 10 mins.

I then removed the bolt & let it cool. I lubed it with some light oil & put grease on the lugs & bottom of the bolt.

I reinstalled it & went to the range... I brought two types of ammo, Federal 150 grain SP and Portugese Nato Ball.

I tried the Federal first, BANG, checked the case for 'issues' & everything looked normal. I noticed the hit on paper was low so I made an adjustment.

I fired the second shot (Federal) and was still low, so I adjusted the sights up some more.

I fired the third shot (Federal) & it was where I wanted to be, just a little low at 25 meters.

Time to see if the Portugese hits 'approximately' where the Federal did so I can then move to 100 meters...

I loaded ONE Portugese Nato Ball round into the mag, inserted it into the rifle & released the bolt. All seemed normal... Until...

CLICK!!! Same friggen problem!!! I ejected the round after waiting 60 seconds & noticed a light primer strike...

I tried with another Portugese round with the same effect... CLICK!!!

I went back to the Federal ammo & fired 4 more shots... BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! They all fed, fired and ejected fine... I checked all the casings for issues & noticed none... And... I WAS OUTTA AMMO!!! At least the Federal that was 'working'... I had planned to shoot the damn PORTUGESE NATO BALL, ugh!!!

I took a pic, the rounds on the left are the fired Federal cases, the firing pin strike seems normal. The two LIVE rounds on right are the unfired Portugese with light stikes on the primers.

So... Here I sit, wondering WHAT THE HELL!!!

Cheers
Jay

photo-332.JPG
 
Last edited:
Ammo was the Portugese Nato ball. Worked no problem in my other M14 rifles in the past, works great in the RFB...

Once I had two fail to fires in a row, I stopped & decided to try & figure out what the heck is going on with the M14...

I did not put the 'dented' round in the RFB, saved it for this conversation... Ammo from the same box went through the M14 no problems...

Cheers
Jay
 
Sounds like the bolt to me too ...Take the bolt out and shake it and you should here the firing pin rattling ...if not quick fix is to get a can of brake cleaner and spray the inside of it with that ..unless you have access to a bolt disassembly tool .
 
The other thing I'd do in a situation like that is to try a different round. Twice FTF with the same round doesn't narrow it down to either the gun or the round. Set that round aside and see what happens with the next. It may be a bad primer as mentioned above and you don't have any problems at all. I'd do this before I started tearing the rifle apart.
 
Claven2 said:
I'm going to guess here:

You've never disassembled the bolt to clean out the cosmolene, have you?
Click to expand...

Aerosol brake cleaner is your friend... this is the expensive (a few bucks from Cambodian Tire) fix. :D

Boiling water poured through over the sink... this is the cheaper approach, air compressor or wife's / gfriend's hair dryer until it's dry, and then some very light oil inside the firing pin channel! :ninja:

Hope this helps! :)

Cheers,
Barney
 
Claven2 said:
I'm going to guess here:

You've never disassembled the bolt to clean out the cosmolene, have you?
Click to expand...

Guilty as charged! :redface: "Somehow" I forgot this critical step! Will advise what happens after I soak the bolt in varsol for a week & retry!

Cheers
Jay
 
OK.. Federal Primers are some of the softest going.. Military primers tend to be very hard... You may have a weak hammer spring.. or a short FP.. the FP or the spring could be binding in the bolt ...

I hate to say it but you may actually have to disassemble the bolt.. Have fun and do it in a confined environment the extractor spring likes to fly away..
 
New guns can also have burrs from the machining process on the inside of the bolt or firing pin hole, that or storage lube would be enough to cause weak firing pin hit.
 
bear.23 said:
OK.. Federal Primers are some of the softest going.. Military primers tend to be very hard... You may have a weak hammer spring.. or a short FP.. the FP or the spring could be binding in the bolt ...

I hate to say it but you may actually have to disassemble the bolt.. Have fun and do it in a confined environment the extractor spring likes to fly away..
Click to expand...

X2

Maybe a hammer spring weak a little.
Commercial ammo have soft primers, military ammo have tougher primers.
You can clean the bolt but you can, in the meantime, swap your hammer spring with a stronger one.
 
I may be all wet, but after the swap between stocks, has anyone considered that the hammer may be dragging or squeezed? Hence slow hammer fall and weak strikes.

If you take the rifle apart and reassemble without the stock, does the hammer sound like it has the same 'snap'?
 
I'm gonna contact Marstar & see what they say... Maybe they will toss the trigger group mainspring & firing pin into the mail to me FREE... If not, I'll buy 'em... Keep in mind that I bought this rifle directly from them & it sat unfired for years!!! I only discovered this problem a couple weeks ago!!!

Cheers
Jay
 
1) DISSASSEMBLE the bolt
2) Throw ALL the part's in a strong solvent and let sit for a couple day's
3) Reassemble WITHOUT any oil and see if the firing pin move's freely
4) If yes oil and test fire. If no dissassemble again and CLEAN out firinpin hole with pipe cleaner's
 
Although I doubt that the restocking is the problem.. You may want to loosen the bolts a little... If you felt like taking a drive out this way We could swap in a spare trigger and see if that is yer problem and if it isn't I also have a spare bolt or 2 we could try and if all else fails I have a bolt dis-assembly tool as well.. Can fire it right here to test.. and I have a decent selection of ammo we can try...
 
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