45-70 G2 carbine set up, need help with light primer strikes

[Doublebass73]

Hi all,

I set up my G2 as a carbine for the 1st time today. I bought a 23" 45-70 barrel off of a member here and bought some new walnut stocks for it. I was going to put  scope on it but once I felt how nicely balanced it was holding it in front of the receiver I decided to get it drilled and tapped for a Williams shorty dovetail ramp with firesight. I put a Williams FP peep with target knobs out back.

I took it to the range for the 1st time today. I've only shot it at 25 yards so far but every group was less than 1". I shot factory jacketed 405's plus 300 grain and 405 grain lead over published Trail Boss loads. The 1st load I shot was the best, 300 grain commercial cast over 14.0 grains of Trail Boss for one ragged hole.

The only problem I had was intermittent light primer strikes. Probably 1 out of 4 rounds didn't go off. I was closing the action hard and pulling the trigger all the way back but that didn't seem to help. It happened with both factory and reloads so it's probably not a primer issue.

I'd like some opinions on where to start troubleshooting. I did a search and it seems like I should probably start at the locking lugs. This makes sense to me since my 45 Colt barrel on this same frame did not have this issue. I there anything else I should look at before I touch the locking lugs?

[Grumulkin]

I don't have a G2 Contender but presume it's pretty much like an Encore.  There is an Allen head screw under where the hammer strikes in an Encore.  If that screw gets loos and starts to back out, it will block the hammer from hitting the primer hard enough; if that's the case, all you have to do is tighten the screw.  Another problem could be a weak hammer spring which would be cured with a new spring.

[Doublebass73]

It looks like the screw you're talking about is a flathead on a G2. It is nice and tight on mine.

I think I may have solved the problem. It looks like it was the locking lugs not fully disengaging the hammer block. I decided to color the top of the lugs with a sharpie marker then closed the action a couple of times and sure enough you could see that the lugs were not extending under the frame all the way.

I took a small whetstone and some honing oil and took some metal off the top of the lugs. I worked slowly and repeatedly checked my work by reinstalling the barrel and using the sharpie check. Once I was satisfied I primed 45 resized cases and started firing away. I only had 1 case fail to fire which was a huge improvement over the 25% failure rate I had before but that's still not acceptable so I took the barrel off and took a little more off the lugs. After that I primed 45 cases again and had a 0% failure rate.

I'm going to load up 100 rounds tomorrow night and hit the range this weekend. Hopefully it will be 100% reliable so I can have confidence using it this deer season.

[hoghunting]

I took a small whetstone and some honing oil and took some metal off the top of the lugs.

 If you run across this problem again, try stoning the flat bottom of the lugs so there isn't a chance of changing the factory angle on the top of the lugs. Glad you fixed the problem.

[Dezynco]

Glad you found the problem.  That set of locking bolts can be an irritating problem occaisionally.  Wouldn't hurt to have a heavy hammer spring installed either.  I replaced all of my hammer springs just for good measure.

[Doublebass73]

I took a small whetstone and some honing oil and took some metal off the top of the lugs.

 If you run across this problem again, try stoning the flat bottom of the lugs so there isn't a chance of changing the factory angle on the top of the lugs. Glad you fixed the problem.

That's interesting, I haven't heard of it being done that way but it sounds like a safer way of doing it.
Dezynco,
What's a good source for the hammer springs? I might change that out to be safe.

Thanks for the replies

[OK hunter]

Glad you found the problem.  That set of locking bolts can be an irritating problem occaisionally.  Wouldn't hurt to have a heavy hammer spring installed either.  I replaced all of my hammer springs just for good measure.

Is this something that those of us with fat fingers can do?

[Dezynco]

You can Google or Bing the source for the "extra powwer hammer springs for G2 Contender" because I can't mention the source here.....
 
It is a bit of a fumbly-fingered task to install the spring in a blue reciever.  You have to completely dissassemble the frame.  If you don't feel confident doing this, then any good gunsmith can do it.
 
On stainless recievers, all you do is unscrew the stud that the grip bolts onto.
 
The extra power spring eliminates the light primer strikes, and also helps crisp up the trigger pull.  The hammer will go "WHACK" instead of "clink" when you pull the trigger!

[Doublebass73]

OK, thanks I know who you mean. I was still having issues so I had to do a little more work to it. I took a little more off of the locking lugs (not much) and I also put a washer in the hammer spring housing. I didn't have any issues last weekend after 100 rounds. I'm going to shoot 90 rounds this weekend just to be sure. Our season starts in 2 weeks so I'm hopeful that I can use this gun, it shoots very accurate. I will order an extra power hammer spring as a good measure.

[HuntinNut]

 I had the same problem with my 6.8 and it ended up being the centerfire/rimfire switch on the hammer was a bit oversized and hitting on the frame. A few minutes with a file and its fine now...Scratch that. My POS still doesnt fire 100%

[Doublebass73]

I think I'm in business now. I changed out the hammer spring for an extra power spring and I also changed the locking lug spring. 120 rounds this weekend with no misfires. Our rifle season starts Wednesday so I'll be using the 45-70 this year

[Elwood]

That is a fine looking little rifle you have. I'm glad that you got your problem ironed out.

[Doublebass73]

Thanks, I figured it out in the nick of time. I'm going hunting with it this weekend.

[Austin from NC]

Good Luck!