Lighter, or lighter hammer strikes vs. ignition

.22LRGUY

.22LRGUY

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Hey guys, sitting here having just done a complete tear-down/clean-up of my Norinco Backpacker and Marlin 795...the Hoppe's No. 9 smell still fresh in my nostrils. :) Anyhow, I observed something today that I thought I might run by you all.

Last week, took the Marlin 795 out to do some plinking...check the zero on the scope at a paced-off 100 yards...have a little fun. Brought some CCI "SUB-SONIC LR HP", the ammo my Norinco likes most, some Federal Gold Medal target, the best econo ammo my Anschutz likes and some cheap-o Remington Subsonic HP. Since my daughter's new-found love of semi-autos, the stock of Federal and CCI has been going down fast so I figured I'd try some Remington out~a cheaper plinking ammo @ $2.50 a box.

Well, since I only had the Marlin with me..I loaded a mag with the Remington and the first 3 shots cycled fine (POI was all over the place) but then had a FTF. After waiting a few moments, I cleared that round and observed that the firing pin had struck it. One more shot, then another FTF...and this cycle repeated itself a number of times before giving-up on this ammo. Switched to the CCI~zero FTF/FTE and OK accuracy. Federal~zero FTF/FTE and great accuracy.

Flash forward to today, both rifles in hand. Loaded the Marlin mag with 3 rounds, it shot the first then a FTF. Took that round out, loaded it into the Norinco and it shot. Shot the Marlin again until I had 5 rounds that had been hit by the pin and repeated~the Norinco shot them all. (not consistent POI) So this got me wondering~does my 795 have a lighter-than-normal hammer/firing pin strike? Based on how this Remington ammo shoots, I don't care that all my guns don't like it, but the fact that the Norinco could shoot it and the Marlin couldn't makes me wonder a little. I think I've given-up on econo ammo. altogether now, so the fact that the Marlin will only shoot slightly better quality ammo. isn't a strike against it I don't think. Just curious to see if anyone has any similar experiences with a 795.
 
My papoose misfired remington the only time i've ever used it about one out of every box of 50. But it was dirty stinky junk that wasnt very acurate. It has never misfired any other ammunition i have ever tried in it in over 3000 rounds... just the remington. It's crap.

And by virtue of design, the bolt action firing pin will strike harder compared to the internal hammer on the 795.
 
Thanks for the response Mikey. Yes, I should have mentioned...the Remington was filthy stuff. 1 box of it fouled the Norinco more than 250 rounds of CCI ever has. Even the shell casings come-out dirty.

Not worried about the Marlin, just won't try to feed it that garbage anymore.
 
I've been having a miserable time with this current brick of Win Dynapoints and my marlin 60. The firing pin seemed to be hitting hard enough but to make sure, I put an even heavier spring in it...now the strikes are deeeep...but they just arent' going bang. Getting a fail to fire on pretty well every tube. Switched over to cci blazers and only had 1 ftf in over 100 rounds. But the cci blazer is crazy inconsistent. You could hear the difference in sound from shot to shot and on several rounds it was so mild, it didn't cycle the action and I had to check to ensure that the bullet actually came out. Guess I'll try federal bulk next (and maybe put the stock firing pin spring back in).
 
You should try the Federal Gold Medal Target, so far...it's the winner in my Marlin 795. Not a single FTF/FTE in almost 400 rounds. Accurate too. I try to be very honest about accuracy claims (sure I'm not impressing anyone :) ) but with the Federal and the gun's wretched-heavy stock trigger, I can get them all in the 2" ring without too much effort, the odd flyer finding it's way into the 1" ring. :p My steady-handed 10 yr. old daughter can put 7/10 in the 1" ring off a rest at that distance. The Remington garbage, same distance, off a rest, scope untouched, a 6" group about 5" left of center, 1" low, zero wind. Granted, lots of ammo-clearing of FTF rounds.
 
Cci standard velocity is my go to round for both my stock Papoose and my 60ss that has had the full action job tune up. Both cycle it flawlessly and it is very accurate in both. Sometimes 1/2" at 50m accurate. Federal cycled ok for me, but the accuracy wasn't as good as CCI SV.
 
My marlin 60ss has light strikes all the time. I've changed the hammer spring even. I think it might be the actual length of the firing pin. Mine shoots wichester bulk 555 very well. I think more action tuning required.
 
I use federal bulk. The stuff that's just loose in the box. I've gone through 3 or 4 boxes of it in my 10/22 in the last few months and never had an issue. I had one double load, but that was due to a dirty gun/mag.
 
Re; the light primer strikes...
The firing pin travels in a slot in the bolt and is held in place with a small roll pin. Sometimes the oval shaped cutout in the firing pin that the retaining pin rides in can collect crud and prevent it from coming all the way forward. Also the extractor cutouts can collect buildup which will prevent the bolt fully closing by a thou or two. Worth checking... If anything you could remove the firing pin and open up the rear of the retaining pin slot with a dremel to ensure it can travel far enough forward.
On the 60ss I did the action job on, one of the things I did was remove the firing pin and hone the pin slot so it travels freely and doesnt collect much buildup. I've never had a FTF due to a light strike... But then again neither has my Papoose.
 
Thanks for the reply Mike. I'm a little over-zealous re: gun cleaning, everything was clear/moving freely. Considering everything that happened and didn't with that ammo, it won't ever be used in my guns again.
 
It seems like it is flush on the hammer end and not protruding enough on the shell end. It has side to side play too. Not excessive but its there. Does the hammer drive it into the rim of the shell or does it hit it towards it?
 
aaron v said:
It seems like it is flush on the hammer end and not protruding enough on the shell end. It has side to side play too. Not excessive but its there. Does the hammer drive it into the rim of the shell or does it hit it towards it?
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IIRC it drives it in, but I could be wrong about that. I'll double check when I get home as I'm curious now. Slight side to side play is a good thing, that means it has room to travel freely.

Fwiw, my marlins don't leave super deep strikes either, but deep enough to have had no FTF, outside the Remington ammunition.
 
mikeystew said:
Fwiw, my marlins don't leave super deep strikes either, but deep enough to have had no FTF, outside the Remington ammunition.
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Agreed from what I've seen. Every .22lr I own seems to strike deeper, but it hasn't mattered until trying to run this rubbish through. Still loving this Marlin though. :) Sort of wish the bottom of the bolt didn't have so many sharp edges...getting it out is a little tough on the fingers. :rolleyes:
 
.22LRGUY said:
Agreed from what I've seen. Every .22lr I own seems to strike deeper, but it hasn't mattered until trying to run this rubbish through. Still loving this Marlin though. :) Sort of wish the bottom of the bolt didn't have so many sharp edges...getting it out is a little tough on the fingers. :rolleyes:
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If you include the bolt I'll take care of that problem too ;)
 
The action on my model 60 when new was crazy gritty. The bolt was very rough. I ended up smoothing it out on some 220 grit sandpaper. Now the bolt/action is much smoother.
I had the model 60 up in the woods today and ran over 100 cci blazers through it and only had 1 fail to fire. The firing pin indentation was really deep so I'm content that it was a dud round. Pretty good considering that with the brick of dynapoints I currently have, 100 rounds would give me about a dozen fail to fires. I picked up a brick of federal bulk today to see if they run any better than this brick of dynapoints. I think maybe its just a bad batch as I have had great luck with them in the past.
 
I bought a Marlin 22 WMR from a fellow here on the Exchange.
Nice little rifle, shoots light's out, but about 3-5 FTF in 20 rounds.
This was particularly noticeable when using Dynapoints from Winchester.
In looking at the fired cases, the strike was very light, even on the fired cases.
Took the rifle completely apart, and discovered that the sear was chipped away some right where it contacts the firing pin projection.
The result was the sear still held the firing pin in the "cocked" position, but it was a bit forward of the fully cocked position.
Since the firing pin had a shorter travel, less ability to strike the case properly.
Ordered up a replacement sear from WGP, installed it, and Voila!!
No more FTF. The firing pins sticks out of the rear of the bolt an additional 3/32 of an inch when it is cocked now as well.
While ammo can be a source of grief, it is not always the ammo at fault.
Regards, Eagleye
 
I've been fighting with a FTF issue on one of my semi's (Franchi) also. I found that the firing pin was hitting the rim on the very outside edge because it was worn at an angle. When I compared this gun to the way my other semi's (Remington 597) firing pin strikes I found that the second gun, which is dead reliable, has a round end on the firing pin and hits slightly in from the edge of the rim. I did a couple of things to try to correct it. First I used a dremel to shorten the bolt by .015" on the hammer end. This will allow the firing pin to be pushed further out of the bolt on the front end. The I used a stone and removed the worn taper off the end of the pin and actually made it taper so the inner edge of the firing pin strikes the rim first. I had about 20 bullets that failed to fire in the Franchi so I pulled out the lead and dumped the powder and tried to fire them with the new firing pin set up. All but 1 fired and that 1 seemed to have no primer in it. I found it interesting that some of the empty shells fired with a loud bang and other just a soft puff. There seems to be a big difference in the amount or quality of the primer from shell to shell. I haven't taken the gun to the range yet but I hope it works better now. Here's a couple of pics. The first one shows the same shell with 1 strike mark before the work and 1 from after. The other shows the strike from the Remington.

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