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Light primer strikes, the fix (for my rifle)

PostPosted: Sat Jun 01, 2019 12:48 pm
by farquward
After running about 500 + - rounds of Remington Thunderbolts, a 100 at a time and thoroughly cleaned in between outings my 597 suddenly stopped working. Rounds would chamber just fine however the firing pin wasn't doing it's job. This happened with the first 10 round magazine of the day, 6 of 10 were FTF. So, I set it aside and ran some more break-in rounds thru my other rifle, the day wasn't a complete loss. When I got home I searched this problem, most likely suspect was a dirty firing pin. I did see some mention of a damaged FP, from dry firing but has I never dry fire I didn't consider that. The pin holding in the FP, it was staked in place and was challenging to get out, but it finally popped thru. The FP was in fact covered in crud, as was the bore of the bolt for it. I tried to find the specified length but had no luck. There was no signs of any damage to the FP, the hammer has a bit of a dimple from hitting the FP. After a through cleaning it went back together. I had thought of using a roll pin but it didn't fit has snug as the factory retaining pin so I used that. I suspect the FP had a generous coating of oil to prevent rust from the factory as I've never oiled it, yet it was the combination of oil and residue causing my problem. The next range visit and it's working flawlessly. I plan on replacing the hammer, just have to decide on which one to get, M. Carbo or Volquartsen.

The Thunderbolts are dirty, but will give fairly good accuracy to 100 yards. My wife's 10/22 didn't mind them, the FP is exposed and easy to keep clean w/o breaking down the bolt.

Oil and dirty ammo don't mix. CCI, Federal and Aguila run cleaner with good accuracy, again at 100 yards.

Pull the FP after every 300 rounds and keep it clean. Do not oil it.

My 597 is almost brand new, a Christmas gift from my wife. The FP measured 2.834" and shows no signs of wear or damage. I've run the mentioned Thunderbolts, the last outing I shot Federal semi auto Match 40gr and had very good results. The stock is a Boyd's Varmint I bought finished. Didn't like the finish and stripped it down and oiled it.


Edit: I tried to attach a photo, where is it? Any help on attaching photos would be welcome.

Re: Light primer strikes, the fix (for my rifle)

PostPosted: Sun Jun 02, 2019 8:30 am
by John A.
I don't know what the spec is on the 597 firing pin, however, most 22 rimfires require a lot of cleaning due to the inherent dirty nature of 22 rimfire.

22's are probably the most dirty running caliber in existence.

This forum is running an older version and is easier to use the [Img] tabs with a photo that is hosted on imgur or other similar website.

If the file is small enough, when you are typing your message, if you scroll down the screen below your text, you'll see a box besides the options that says Upload Attachment. That's where you can upload a small photo.

Re: Light primer strikes, the fix (for my rifle)

PostPosted: Sun Jun 02, 2019 11:34 am
by farquward
Agreed, .22's are dirty running. As a semi auto they are even dirtier.

At one time I had used a service for photo sharing, don't anymore. I suspect that as my photo files are rather large that is the problem thanks for clarifying that John.