Stevens 58D bolt action shotgun, wallhanger due to firing pin / striker issue?

[fat tony]

Happy new year fellow forum members, I hope you all had an enjoyable and relaxing Christmas. I got myself a Stevens 58-D bolt action shotgun in 20 gauge. So far I have not been able to get this shotgun to function properly.     For some reason, it will not fire. The striker drops, the firing pin drops, I have tested the firing pin by holding the shotgun vertically and I have been consistently able to shoot a dowel out of the muzzle which tells me the firing pin is dropping fine, at this point I am surmising that the firing pin protrusion is not enough. In short, I need help from the Savage Stevens gunsmithing gods. Best regards, Tony.  

[trotterlg]

That may not be true.  The hammer may be just causing the bolt head to jump forward because there is no cartridge in the chamber so no rim for the bolt to close on.  Do the rounds you have attempted to fire have dents in the primers?  It may also have a lot of excess headspace so the fireing pin will not reach the primer even if it has the proper amount of protrusion.  I don't know how the bolt is built, but you probably can lower the striker/hammer with the bolt out of the gun and then measure the fireing pin protrusion, I would say about .050 to .070?  Larry

[fat tony]

Thanks. I might have a wallhanger until I can get it fixed properly. I will measure the protrusion as you say. The primers had the faintest dimple on them. It would figure that I get a gun with a loosey goosey chamber. Thanks very much my friend.  

Edit: thanks Larry, the bolt has the forward body, the middle which clips onto the 'bolt body'. The middle part incorporates  the locking lug and the operating handle. The rear portion houses the cocking piece, striker, striker spring, and firing pin. Something tells me I should have bought that Lakefield Mossberg 395K I was examining the other day; instead of this one.  

[trotterlg]

You could try putting a primed only hull in the chamber and then holding it to the rear with a long stick down the barrel and see if it fires the primer.  If you cover the primer with the stick it may bust it up some, I would try holding it against a wall or something.  Be careful, could be a science experment.  Larry

[fat tony]

I am intrigued! My physics prof would approve, or maybe just laugh.  I will have to give it a try some time.

[fat tony]

Good news! I diagnosed the problem successfully and I have it working okay now. I have not been able to get out to the range due to all the snow we have been having and my other obligations. What I did was take it down again, and specifically started focusing my attention on the trigger group. I noticed the sear was stuck in the receiver. This was not good. I pried the sear out of the receiver and noticed it was way too tight in there, and there were rough tool marks in the receiver slot for it. I drawfiled the toolmarks out, then stoned as much as I dared, the cocking piece angles and the corresponding surfaces on the sear. I took 3 primed hulls and tried firing them, since I have done this work, it's been firing primed hulls 100 percent. Now I want to sight it in with slugs.