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Posted: 5/15/2011 7:45:53 AM EDT
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I received my Brand New M1A a Week ago, so I went to the Range to fire it, out of a Box of 20 Sellier & Bellot .308 147gr. Fmj. I had 15 rounds not Fire, I looked at the Primers they were never touched by the Firing Pin. The Bolt was all the way forward. I called Springfield Armory and the Lady I talked to said it was because I need to use 167gr. Bullets. Is this true? What am I doing wrong? Was it just Bad Ammo? Thanks! |
I think we can discount the comment about the bullet weight for the moment. 
Did any of it fire? The simple act of chambering a round on an M1A should leave at least a tiny firing pin mark on the primer face. First, I would examine the bolt and make sure that there is firing pin protrusion from the bolt face as you move the firing pin. If not, the firing pin may be broken or its channel mismachined in the bolt. There are a couple of features on the rifle that prevent out of battery misfires and I would check those as well. If the bolt is not fully rotated to the closed position, the tang of the firing pin is prevented from moving forward by the firing pin bridge (helical cut part on the receiver bottom). When looking at bottom of the barreled receiver, the bridge should not interfere with the firing pin travel with the bolt fully closed. Excessive headspace would be another cause. If you have headspace gauges, you could check that as well. Tight headspace and/or out of spec ammo could cause the bolt to close but not fully rotate shut, engaging the safety features noted above. That's all I can think of at the moment. |
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Quoted: That lady's answer is full of excrement. Sounds like a bad bolt or bad firing pin as already mentioned. Even a short firing pin should leave some amount of dimple. To not do so would be extremely short! I agree with you, her answer made No sense at all. It left No mark whats so ever and I checked that the Bolt was fully forward. |
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I will bet the firing pin channel has a small piece of debris that it floating around and interferes with the firing pin.
I am saying this from experience. I had the same thing happen with a Mini 14. Took the bolt apart all the way, cleaned and put it back together. Problem was solved. |
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Talked to someone other then the female I talked to earlier, this guy at least acted like he knew his stuff, he Emailed me a Return Label from Fed Ex, he told me they would make it right, he said it would be 4 to 6 weeks. Now to wait and see if they make it Right! Thanks Everyone! |
I did have this same thing happen to me with a SKS, operator error, didn't de-cosmoline enough.
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