Blaser R8 missfire

[whinfell]

Sorted now............................

[stokesrj]

I suspect the issue is not your neck sizing but that the bullet is seated out to long for that particular bullet's ogive design. Try seating deeper to see if that remedies the situation. This condition would fit both situations you described.
Bob

[DanielNadal]

Did you mean the firing pin don't touch the primer??
If so are you sure the headspace on this brass is correct? Sounds like the case head is far from bolt face.

[Corjack]

Did you mean the firing pin don't touch the primer??
If so are you sure the headspace on this brass is correct? Sounds like the case head is far from bolt face.

I agree. Had this issue once before with some new 9.3 brass. Try setting your die up to where it only does a partial resize. Sizing only the body, and most of the neck. Leaving the shoulder untouched.

[whinfell]

The firing pin does not touch the primer

[Grumulkin]

1. The only time I had "misfires" with my R 93 was when I thought the bolt was fully closed but it wasn't. Of course, I don't think the trigger even released the fireing pin and I take it that in your rifle the firing pin is being released.

2. If the shellholder and die are made correctly and the chamber on your rifle is correct you shouldn't have headspace issue. Your die may not be made correctly. I once had a 357 Herrett trim die made and it took the company, actually it may have been Forster, 3 tries before they got it right. As good as they are, Blaser barrels are sometimes not made right. In my R 93 300 Weatherby barrel, cases fired in it come out not with two "double radiuses" but with one but it shoot great so I don't care.

3. If your Forster full length sizing die is sizing the case neck enough, then most bullets would be tight enough in the case that one would NEVER be left in the gun when an unfired case was ejected. There would be two possible exceptions to this. One would be if your bullet was seated so far out that it was in hard contact with the lands. The other would be with Barnes TSX bullets which in my experience with cases sized with some dies leaves that particular bullet loose in the neck. I solved the latter problem by useing a Lee Factory Crimp Die to tighten them up.

[stokesrj]

His bullets would not be stuck in the rifling if only the headspace was excessive. I agree that an excessive headspace will result in a click and only very light primer strike or no strike. But, it would not result in a bullet jammed into the throat.
Bob

[UPEgger]

I think you are both right. Excessive headspace AND bullets seated too far out. Carl L.

[DanielNadal]

I missed myself about the bullet jammed in the throat. Didn't readed it.
So looks like the bolt didn't close flully so the safety system don't allow the firing pin touch the primer then.

[UPEgger]

I think DanielN is right, and must revise my original though. Excessive length of case and bullet seated too far out are what I now believe is the culprit. Result is the bolt not closing all the way, and the bullet stuck in the lands. Carl L.

[UPEgger]

Whinfell; How is cartridge feeding from the magazine to the chamber? I have thought about getting a 6mmBRNorma but have held back as some members have had feeding problems. Carl L.

[whinfell]

UPEgger the cartridges feed from the magazine ok, you have to push the bolt forward quickly though, the mag holds 4 rounds, i can load and unload 4 rounds in a matter of seconds.

[whinfell]

I made a batch of bullets using 75g Hornady v max bullets CCI BR4 primers, Varget powder, new Lapua brass blue box, oal gauge, my dies have been set up for previous loads of the same combination with no problems until now. The ones that i have had the missfires with have chambered smoothly with no resistance, the bolt closes perfectly,pull the trigger click, nothing happens, after ejecting the bullet and examinging it the firing pin has not touched the primer, the ones that have resulted in the bullet head sticking in the throat showed a slight resistance when closing the bolt, but whats puzzling me is that other rounds from the same batch have fired and unfired rounds have ejected ok, i even chambered and ejected every round from this batch of bullets prior to use in the field. I have never had a missfire or a bullet stick in the throat of any of my other rifles a Sako and an Anschutz.

[Dom]

I lean towards the bolt is not fully closing. It may close smoothly and "feel" like it is closed . . . it will even click when you pull the trigger, but it will not fire. I have had exactly one misfire when I first got my R93 on the range, and since then I have a new built in closing procedure, where there is no "easy feely" when I close it, I just slam it. If on the bench I even hit the bolt with the palm of my hand. Jusy like seating a scope with EAW swing mounts on, do NOT gently swing closed and apply pressure, it needs to be closed with enough swing force to "set" . . . just one of those German quality things, it will work as advertised and you won't break it.

As far as I know, the only way to get a bullet stuck in the lands is it is loaded too long. If there is excessive headspace, what is pushing it and how can it be forced to stick in the lands? What is puzzling is this only appears to happen to some of the rounds. I'm thinking excessive headspace is there is excess room between the bolt face and the cartridge face, or the shoulder and chamber.

If I am off the mark here, then I'm thinking it is serious and needs to go back to Blaser. Good luck, and keep us posted on the final outcome, Dom.

[stokesrj]

The 75 grain Hornady bullet has an ogive that is much farther forward than most 6mm bullets and requires to be seated deeper, I shoot them in my 6mm Hagarr for 200 yard offhand and sitting rapid events and have to seat them much deeper than the Sierra 70 grain Match King or the Hornady 75 grain hollowpoint. The ogive position on the bullet can vary .005" within a lot, it is not uncommon for Hornady to mix bullets from two forming dies within a lot in which case I've found ogives to vary by up to .010". I know this because I routinely sort my bullets for use in competitions of 600 yards and greater by ogive position and frequently find boxes of bullets with two distinct populations, not just from Hornady, but from Berger, Sierra, and Lapua. Since the tolerance on headspace is only .005" it is absolutely normal to find an accumulation of tolerances that allows the bullet to contact the lands just enough to prevent the bolt from fully closing although it appears to be fully closed, these tolerances are not detectable by the unaided human eye.

I would suggest that you seat your bullets .010" deeper and try again. I suspect the issue will go away, if it persists, then bump the case shoulder back by .003", it will then surely go away, my bet anyway.

I once had my 6.5x55 R93 click like that, turns out the issue was S&B cases with shallow primer pockets. The shoulder was in the correct position but the primers were about .007" high which prevented the bolt from closing on most but not all cases. It took me a while to figure it out, because loading the exact same recipe with no adjustment in the dies but using Lapua cases were 100% reliable. Once I figured out what was happening and cut the primer pockets to proper depth, the problem went away and has never returned.

Bob