Riddle me this!

[daniel2013]

Saturday I went out to shoot a new barrel for my Contender.  It was a 14 inch 35 Rem.  I was using a G2 frame on it.  Out of two boxes of shells  a box and a half of them misfired.  The primers were being dented slightly but not a lot.  Now grant you these shells are fairly old as is some of my other ammo. that I haven't had any problems with.  Today I went out shooting again.  I put the G2 frame on a 222 Rem barrel and put the 35 Rem. on an older Contender frame.  I didn't have a bit of problem with any misfires from either pistol.  After I got done sighting both barrels in I took some of the same 35 Ammo. that misfired Saturday and shot it in the same barrel but with the older frame.  Every shell went off.  I am confused??
Danny

[jbj-displays]

Headspace. The case moved forward into the chamber when the firing pin struck the primer. Now that all the cases have been fired do not full size them by pushing the shoulder back. They all will fire using each frame. I had the same thing happen with factory ammo. I got around it by pulling the bullets then resetting them to give an oal being longer.

[mcwoodduck]

Are you sure you had the selector switch fully on Center fire? 
 

[twoshooter]

35 Rem has a very small shoulder and soft brass. It may have allowed the cartridge to be driven slightly forward into the chamber on the one frame, and that frame may have a slightly shorter firing pin, or slightly lighter hammer strike. The other frame had the oomph to fire the cartridge, while the 222 would fire even in the lighter/ shorter pin frame. This is not a unique situation with this cartridge in these type of weapons.

[daniel2013]

I appreciate all of the good answers and yes I did have the selector switch all of the way to center fire.  Your answers all make a lot of good sense.  At 72 I am still not to old to learn a few things. LOL  Usually I can figure out any problems, but this one had me baffled.  Thanks guys.

[shot1]

Your problem with the frame and barrel that misfired is that the locking lugs/bolts on the barrel did not mate up correctly with those of the frame. This will not let the barrel lock up totally and allow the the built in safety device in the frame to drop out all the way out of the way allowing the firing pin to travel far enough forward to set off the primer. You can coat the bolts on the barrel with a magic marker and close up the action a few times and it will rub off some of the marker. This is where it needs to be slightly stoned. You need it to rub off the marker evenly when the action is closed a few times. There are places on the internet that will show you how to do this. Do a search.

[SHOOTALL]

Contenders lock up with two bolts at the bottom of the barrel block. As much as people want to believe the barrels are interchangeable they are not always so. There are different bolts and springs aval. for Contender barrels to allow for adjustment . An easy way to check is take a magic marker or pencil and color the bolt faces then close the action do it with both of your frames and the barrel in question. On one frame the bolts won't show as much contact as the other which means it is not locking up proper. Often when someone accumulates several barrels they will send them to be fitted to a frame. Others order several replacement bolts and do it themselves ( match the bolts that work).

[SHOOTALL]

Sorry shot1 I  posted just after you.
 I would caution stoning too much as angle is critical. The bolt should show marks a bit over half way  as should be seen on a barrel that is working .

[daniel2013]

I guess this is why my favorite is the Encore, I have never had a problem with what ever barrel I throw on it, firing, or locking up.  I thought maybe the G2 was going to be as reliable as the Encore as it has a lot of the same features, but apparently not.  It doesn't seem to bother me that the Encore has a little more weight which I think helps to absorb some recoil.  I noticed the other day when I was having the misfires with the G2, I was having a small problem with flinching.  Once that ever happens and I become aware of it I start shooting one of my 22 caliber barrels like the 22 Jet or the 223 and it soon works its self out, then I can go back to the larger calibers again. When I go shooting I always take a couple of lighter calibers along with the larger calibers for that reason. So far the worse recoil I have encountered is in the 30/06 pistol barrel.  That isn't too bad.  I have a 460 S & W I haven't taken out as of yet so we will see how that is.  Thanks again guy's.