30.30 won't go bang

[Chicken Man]

Hi fellas, I know that someone has brought this up before,but I can't seem to find it.
 The old 30.30 would not fire today on a nice fat doe,pulled the trigger,hammer fell and click, pulled the hammer back again and click, doe took off. I ejected the round and the primer was indented, I went to the pasture set up a target and put a new round in and click, same thing,indented primer, I don't know why but I put the first round back in that I tried to shoot the doe with and it fired,I then fired 3 more new rounds no problem,next 2 went click, same problem as before.
 I was just wondering if any of you fellas could give me any insight on this problem. Thanks so much

  Steve aka Chicken Man

[Jimbo47]

Buy a new box of ammo!

Seriously if the round chambers and sits flush with the breech, and being a rimmed cartridge you shouldn't have any problem there, so does the cartridge have a shallow, or a good deep dent in the primer, and if it's deep it is definately your ammo.

A light strike on the primer would be a problem with the gun.

Try a different brand and then if that still doesn't work get back here, and we'll try to figure it out.

[Cat Whisperer]

Good advice.
I once replaced a firing pin spring on a new CZ.  I should have just tried a different batch of bullets.

[Chicken Man]

Thanks for the replies guys, The ammo was Rem 170s it was part of the same box that I sighted in with and they all fired with no problems.
 I think I still have a box of winchesters that I can try,but I have never had any problems with Rem,not to say that any ammo manfacture can't have a bad batch.

      Thanks
       Steve aka Chicken Man

[Jimbo47]

Sometimes even the ammo manufacturers have problems so it's not unheard of for you go get a bad batch.

Look at the primer when you fire it one time after a missfire and see if the indentation is light or deep.

That will tell you right there 99% of the time what's going on.

[Chicken Man]

Update on the 30.30, went ouy this morning with a new box of Rem 170s and a box of Win 170s, I also took my savage 340 30.30 with me and the first shot out of my Handi went off the next three did not, I checked the indent on the primer and to my naked eye it looked like it should have went off, so I shoot a couple out of the savage and look at those primers and they look like they were a smidge deeper than from the Handi.

     Steve aka Chicken Man

[quickdtoo]

You might try to drop the hammer slowly while holding the trigger back all the way and see how much firing pin is protruding from the breech face, if it's less than about .030", remove a little off the face of the hammer where it stops against the frame and check it again, a good pin projection is anywhere from .040"-.050", depends a lot on how recessed the round is in the chamber, excess headspace. You also need to be sure to pull the trigger all the way to the rear each time to insure that the transfer bar remains up, too light of trigger can cause a problem with this. Hammer springs get weak too, a new spring can be bought from Brownell's or Wolff, trigger work info in the FAQs.

Tim

[bilmac]

I have a 243 that went to misfireing. Everything looked OK. Then I noticed that the indent was somewhat off center. I checked and the indent was always high in relation to the gun, indicating that the barrel was closing too far. I shimmed the hinge point, and then had to dress down the locking shelf to get it to lock up again, but when I finished the firing pin hits almost dead center, and the gun fires every time.

[quickdtoo]

I wouldn't let off center pin strikes bother you, up to a point anyway, many of mine are very off center, my .444 is one of the worst, but it's also one of the best shooting Handis I have. 

Tim

[Chicken Man]

Thanks guys for all the suggestions,I think I'm going to try what Tim had said about replacing the hammer spring,I hope I can find that in the FAQs.
 The reason I'm suspect to the hammer spring is that I have had this rifle for 7 years and until yesterday had never encountered a problem with anything on the rifle,so I figure that it must be wear on the hammer spring, as I checked the firing pin and it seems to be around .040 when I pull the trigger and let the hammer down.
    Thanks again
    Steve aka Chicken Man

[quickdtoo]

Here's a direct link to Perklo's website for the trigger info download, Raynor's info in the FAQs is a very simplified version of the basics. 

Tim

www.perkloafm.com

[Chicken Man]

Thanks Tim, and thanks to everyone else that responded.I guess I'll make some calls tomorrow to get the part,and I'm going to give it a very slow step by step try,as I have never attempted anything like this before.
    Thanks
     Steve aka Chicken Man

[quickdtoo]

Here's Wolff's site, you want the single coil unless yours is an older Topper. 

http://www.gunsprings.com/index.cfm?page=items&cID=2&mID=27

And Brownell's H&R parts...

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=0/sid=676/schematicsdetail/SB2_Handi_Rifle_H_R_Ultra

Numrich also carries them, someone has stated they got new springs from them which I question since all of the parts I've ever got from them were used, including the springs, I just can't see using someone else's worn out springs!! 

Tim