Penetrated Primer Problem

[dusty_dragon]

dear friends,
need your help for a little moment.
i own a ruger mini 14 ranch rifle 195 prefix, made in the middle of 1998.
i'm the first owner and own it from 1999 on.
it always performed very well, never had any issues.

in the last time i encounter some probs with penetrated primers. all factory loads, PMC and Sellier&Bellot, no reloaded ammo.

every 20 or so rds i have a cartridge on which the primer seems to be penetrated by the firing pin and after the round is fired there is more smoke than usual coming out of the bolt. still the gun performs perfect, no issues at all.

the only thing i changed the last weeks is a stronger xtra power wolff recoil spring an 2 wilson combat 1911 buffers on front and rear of the spring guide rod/gas pipe.

i can't see how that changes have an effect on the primers.

is it a ammo related problem, a firing pin related problem, too strong hammer spring (factory spec)?

best regards
dusty

 

[blume357]

Why did you change those things out? Was there a problem before?
(marketing is a wondrous thing)
I'd suggest, which you might have already done, change one item back to factory and see what happens... probably the wolf recoil spring first...

sounds like the firing pin to me.... possibly chipped... but this is beyond my limited expertise.

 

[dusty_dragon]

i can't tell about a problem existing before the changesm, the rifle wasn't fired some good time.
but i can't really remember any probs before that, but it's hard to tell, 'cause the last time firing the rifle before the chnages was a very long time ago.

i did the changes in order to give the rifle some more life time, due to less recoil effect on receiver and mounted optics, but i now think it wasn't the best idea, but i read a lot of posts telling me that thiese 2 changes were the best to do to a mini 14.
now i think somehow different.

i'll put the rifle back to factory specs and will try again (after a close look at the FP also) and will report back here, but it can last some days/weeks 'cause i have a lot of work to do at the moment and can't drive to the range as often as i would like to.

 

[dusty_dragon]

is the correct method to measure firing pin protrusion that the FP has to be flush with the rear of the bolt or has it to be pushed all the way in the bolt to measure the right FP protrusion?

 

[dusty_dragon]

checked the FP, it has a significant dent and it seems that some material is chipped off on the lower half of the FP tip.

my ruger mini 14 ranch rifle was produced in 1998 and has the serial number prefix 195, does anyone know if there are different FPs for different production years/modells of the mini 14 available or will a replacement FP fit all modells?

 

[Sugar River]

Pretty sure that's a factory fitted part.

Pete

 

[dusty_dragon]

they are, but only concerning the OAL / length of the tip, they are always too long and have to be fitted to the specific rifle.

but are there different FP models for different mini 14 production years / serial numbers?
the bolts of the early minis had the ejector spring loaded in the bolt not in the receiver, do they also have the same FP?

what about the current models, do they have the same FP as the "after 180" series minis?