Howa 1500 misfire

[Rathie]

Before I race off to a gunsmith I’ll ask the brains trust.

Just picked up a used Howa mini in 6.5 Grendel.

Put about 20 shots through it last weekend to site her in using factory ammo (that came with the rifle)

Had three miss fires and on safely waiting to extract the round after each Miss fire noticed that the firing pin indentation on the primer was very shallow.

The rounds that fired successfully had good primer indentation from the pin.

Any thoughts?

Cheers,

[wrenchman]

pull the bolt apart and clean it and check the pin i have seen a ruger that was packed with grease cousing light strikes

[animalpest]

Yep, dismantle and clean the firing pin and spring. Old grease can cause issues. If it continues after cleaning, it's time for a new spring

[deye243]

And there is not an easier rifle than a howa to remove the firing pin one twist and your all done

[bladeracer]

Before I race off to a gunsmith I’ll ask the brains trust.

Just picked up a used Howa mini in 6.5 Grendel.

Put about 20 shots through it last weekend to site her in using factory ammo (that came with the rifle)

Had three miss fires and on safely waiting to extract the round after each Miss fire noticed that the firing pin indentation on the primer was very shallow.

The rounds that fired successfully had good primer indentation from the pin.

Any thoughts?

Cheers,

First thing to do is strip the striker out of the bolt and make sure it and the spring are clean and can freely move. Also check there are no dags in the hole in the bolt face that might cause it to bind.

[madang55]

And...when you get it back in action. Mine loves the 90g and 95g proj. 123 are good. Fallow don't like the 123gr, but the 90/95s hit harder. Anything heavier starts becoming a non ballistic house brick.

[in2anity]

Common problem. Seen many a 1500 light strike particularly on ammo with hard primers, like milsurp. Try different ammo, or handload

[No1_49er]

Make sure that the rear action retainer screw/bolt is not protruding into the race-way and fouling the striker in its forward travel.
I've had that happen to me with an over-torqued screw. Backed it out maybe a quarter turn - problem solved.

[TuskerOrd]

Hey Rathie.

Free advice from a gunsmith. Can you by any chance measure how much the cases that fires have expanded compared to some of the one's that misfired? I basically want you to measure the distance from the bottom to the datum line? If it is more than 0.1mm the new cases are most probably under size causing the misfires.

[Oldbloke]

Hey Rathie.

Free advice from a gunsmith. Can you by any chance measure how much the cases that fires have expanded compared to some of the one's that misfired? I basically want you to measure the distance from the bottom to the datum line? If it is more than 0.1mm the new cases are most probably under size causing the misfires.