Ruger American Predator 223 not firing all rounds

[Bilzer]

I just picked up a Ruger American Predator 223 and took it to the range this weekend. Out of 60 rounds of Remington Norinco 223, I had about 8 that did not fire. The primers were struck but the rounds did not go off. The previous weekend I had my Ruger mini 14 fire 60 rounds of the same ammo and ALL fired. Was wondering if the Americans might be prone to "light primer strikes"
I called Ruger and they are sending me a new firing pin and spring to try before I send the gun back to them. I will take the unfired stuff and try it in the mini 14 to see if I can get the ammo to fire in that gun.
Has anyone had the bolt apart to replace anything? Not sure if that will be easy to do if I need to.
Otherwise the gun is plenty accurate and I was pleased with the tight groups I was getting!

 

[Sugar River]

I'd love to see a pic of the box of "Remington Norinco 223".

 

[Bilzer]

How do you uploads pics here.

 

[Kudu m77]

http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=51390

Pieter

 

[ArmedinAZ]

I'd love to see a pic of the box of "Remington Norinco 223".

Probably looks like this:

Doesn't surprise me they all don't go bang. :?

 

[Big Old Boy]

Junk is just that junk. Buy good ammo.

 

[Kanook]

Back when that ammo was $100 a sealed case, I bought 10 cases. Never had a problem with it in the Mini at all.

 

[ArmedinAZ]

Not really a surprise a Mini would fire Norinco with no problems, ruger figured people would be shooting mil surp so it hits pretty hard. A bolt action leaning toward precision shooting might like something a little better. If his Mini fires the light hits I still wouldn't automatically blame the American.

 

[hpman66]

IIRC, almost all military ammo is notorious for hard primers to prevent slam fires in automatic weapons. The Mini-14 and other type surplus military rifles(SKS, AK-47 semiautos, etc.) can handle these hard primers. IMHO, civilian bolt action rifles probably do not have a strong enough spring to give reliable ignition on these hard primers. BTW, I once cleaned an SKS for a guy that fired over 300 rounds of Russian/Chinese ammo at the NRA Whittington Center. The bore was so bad, it took about 2+ days of Butch's Bore Cleaner and constant bore scrubbing to get all of the crud out of the barrel. I also talked to a gunshop owner who said that a customer had brought in a Mini-14 that had the gasport clogged so bad(shooting Russian .223 ammo) that it wouldn't let the operating arm function to cycle the action and fire.

 

[PriseDeFer]

It was that nasty old ComBloc and ChiCom ammo that once sold for 99 bucks a thousand and shooters, as well as dealers, were using handcarts to wheel it out of gunshows. And they fired all of it, every last round and those SKS AK rifles are still around, still shooting.

 

[hpman66]

It was that nasty old ComBloc and ChiCom ammo that once sold for 99 bucks a thousand and shooters, as well as dealers, were using handcarts to wheel it out of gunshows. And they fired all of it, every last round and those SKS AK rifles are still around, still shooting.

I agree with that, but IIRC the SKS either came with or had as an accessory a gasport reaming tool. When I cleaned the SKS that I spoke of earlier, it had a gasport opening/hole that was quite a bit bigger than on other gas operated rifles that I have seen. I can't speak to the gasport hole on an AK as I haven't ever seen one but I assume that they would be very similar to the SKS's since they look to be very much the same and probably required reaming also. And they still had the hard primers that the SKS and AK could easily fire off because they were designed to do just that.

Gasport tool links:
https://www.google.com/search?sourc...78&q=sks,+gasport,+reamer&gws_rd=ssl&tbm=isch

CCI Military Primer Specs:
http://www.cci-ammunition.com/products/primers/primers.aspx?id=30

Midway/CCI Military Primer Specs and Reviews:
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/1301170074/cci-small-rifle-military-primers-41

 

[ArmedinAZ]

It was that nasty old ComBloc and ChiCom ammo that once sold for 99 bucks a thousand and shooters, as well as dealers, were using handcarts to wheel it out of gunshows. And they fired all of it, every last round and those SKS AK rifles are still around, still shooting.

And your point is what? SKSs and AKs are built to fire anything stuffed into them. Ruger designs firearms to SAAMI ammo specs, not Comm bloc mil spec.

 

[robertkirksey]

Many years ago I had one of the first Kimber .223s. It would under no circumstances fire the Malaysian 5.56 ammo I tried in it. Not one, ever. Now that I am wiser and know that .223 and 5.56 is not the same and the chamber specs are different I am glad it didn't fire it.

 

[hollowhunter]

Ya get whatcha pay for.... funny how that works.

 

[Blackmore]

I got nuthin' :roll: