My friend has a Browning A-bolt 300WM and if the bolt handle is up slightly when the trigger is pulled, it will mis-fire. The firing pin sear hits the cocking ramp on the bolt body(not sure what to call it) and snaps the bolt handle back down in to place, but it must soak up alot of the energy from the firing pin and leaves a light primer strike. Is this a common problem or is something unusually worn? Thanks.
Weak primer strike if bolt handle is lifted slightly while firing
- Thread starter mod7rem
- Start date
He first noticed it this fall when he was elk hunting. He had a bull coming in so he had the gun loaded with safety on. When it was time to shoot he slipped the safety off but there is enough movement with the safety on that the bolt handle was lifted slightly and it misfired. Im not talking about alot of movement, just the small amount that is capable while the safety is on. If he was chambering a round then shooting right away then the handle would be completely down.
I checked the pin from the safety that locks the bolt and it doesnt look bent or worn and the slot it goes into on the bolt itself looks normal as well. Like you said it must be just the nature of the design. He's a little concerned now that if he had to slip the safety off and make a quick shot in an emergency, there's a chance the bolt handle could be a little high and misfire. Thanks for the info Dennis.
There is another possibility.When I worked at Wholesale the old on on 97th st a couple A bolts came in with weak primer strikes. I both cases the firing pin/bolt shroud had not been screwed all the way into the bolt body. I won a nice bottle of wine on a bet about this with a fellow employee. I may have seen 3 or 4 and the owners claimed they never changed anything.
Neil
Neil
I'll take a closer look at that thanks.
From the sounds of it I'm guessing that this is a #### on opening bolt? If so I'm further guessing that because the handle is being driven back down that the cocking piece on the firing pin is hitting the cocking ramp on the bolt. If so then it's no wonder that the bolt handle is driven back into place and the pin is hitting softly.
If this is the case then I don't see any way around it. It's inherent in the design. He just needs to learn to cycle the bolt differently or at least get into the habit of checking it to ensure it's fully down.
If this is the case then I don't see any way around it. It's inherent in the design. He just needs to learn to cycle the bolt differently or at least get into the habit of checking it to ensure it's fully down.
When the safety is on and the bolt locked in place, there is still enough movement that the handle can move up just enough to have a misfire once you slip the safety off and pull the trigger. I dont know how many shooters would think to check the bolt handle position before sliding the safety off(bolt locking safety) and pulling the trigger.
That's exactly whats happening, it just seems odd that there is enough movement while the safety is on to allow this to happen. I think mabye youre right about an inherent design issue.
