gunsmiths help! my 6.8 spc won't shoot

270winforlife · February 12, 2010, 09:12 PM

Hello all, I have a TC Contender G2 single shot rifle. I recently purchased a TC Arms 6.8 rem spc barrel for it. I bought four boxes of Silver State Armory ammo for it (two boxes with military primers and two boxes with commercial primers). I went to the range, loaded the ammo and heard clicking all day. The firing pin would only dent the primers, with the exception of one round that fired. I wrote to SSA and although they admit that my gun usually will not fire military primers (which are designed for AR15 platforms), they seem to believe its something with the firing pin tension or headspace (they don't know what the heck is wrong). EABrown (the company I purchased the barrel from) advised me to try remington ammo and will not allow a trade in for another barrel. Do I keep spending $25.00 a box for ammo that doesn't work?? The round seems to fit nicely in the chamber and there are small dents on the primer. The frame will fire shotgun primers all day long when I use them for muzzeloading ignition on my blackpowder setup. Any suggestions on how I can fix this problem?

DnPRK · February 12, 2010, 09:34 PM

My guess is the chamber was cut too deep or the cartridge shoulder is set back too far. When the firing pin hits the primer, it drives the cartridge deeper into the chamber -- so deep that the firing pin cannot crush the primer mix against the primer anvil and ignite the primer.

Break it open, hold it muzzle down and drop a cartridge into the chamber. Push down on the cartridge with your finger, then place a straight edge across the rear of the barrel over the chambered cartridge. If you see a daylight between the straight edge and base of the cartridge, that shows the deep chamber/shoulder set back problem.

If you find the issue noted above, you'll need a 6.8 SPC NO GO gage to determine if it is the barrel manufacturer's fault or Silver State's fault. Remington might produce longer cartridges that won't have the misfire problem. Or if you reload, you could pull the bullets, fire form the cases and reload using a neck sizing technique.

rbernie · February 12, 2010, 09:37 PM

Did you do a Bellm trigger job on it, or alter any of the springs/lockwork? If you lightened the hammer fall to improve the trigger pull, it will cause ignition problems with harder primers.

plainsman456 · February 12, 2010, 10:58 PM

25 bucks sounds cheap.It could be hard primers.

270winforlife · February 12, 2010, 11:13 PM

I did not alterations, its a stock G2. I guess I could try the Rem ammo. And if that doesn't work, then the chamber is cut too big??? I guess I could send it back to TC arms to look at, but thats another 30.oo or so shipping charge.

February 12, 2010, 09:12 PM	#1
270winforlife Member Join Date: February 1, 2010 Posts: 40	gunsmiths help! my 6.8 spc won't shoot Hello all, I have a TC Contender G2 single shot rifle. I recently purchased a TC Arms 6.8 rem spc barrel for it. I bought four boxes of Silver State Armory ammo for it (two boxes with military primers and two boxes with commercial primers). I went to the range, loaded the ammo and heard clicking all day. The firing pin would only dent the primers, with the exception of one round that fired. I wrote to SSA and although they admit that my gun usually will not fire military primers (which are designed for AR15 platforms), they seem to believe its something with the firing pin tension or headspace (they don't know what the heck is wrong). EABrown (the company I purchased the barrel from) advised me to try remington ammo and will not allow a trade in for another barrel. Do I keep spending $25.00 a box for ammo that doesn't work?? The round seems to fit nicely in the chamber and there are small dents on the primer. The frame will fire shotgun primers all day long when I use them for muzzeloading ignition on my blackpowder setup. Any suggestions on how I can fix this problem?

February 12, 2010, 09:37 PM	#3
rbernie Senior Member Join Date: August 10, 2004 Location: Plain Ol', TX Posts: 713	Did you do a Bellm trigger job on it, or alter any of the springs/lockwork? If you lightened the hammer fall to improve the trigger pull, it will cause ignition problems with harder primers. __________________ -A conclusion is not a destination, it's simply a convenient place to stop thinking.- -Reading a thing doesn't automatically make it so; repeating it doesn't necessarily make it any truer.- -Every Texan should be a member of the Texas State Rifle Association.

February 12, 2010, 09:34 PM	#2
DnPRK Senior Member Join Date: August 24, 2001 Location: LC, Ca Posts: 1,917	My guess is the chamber was cut too deep or the cartridge shoulder is set back too far. When the firing pin hits the primer, it drives the cartridge deeper into the chamber -- so deep that the firing pin cannot crush the primer mix against the primer anvil and ignite the primer. Break it open, hold it muzzle down and drop a cartridge into the chamber. Push down on the cartridge with your finger, then place a straight edge across the rear of the barrel over the chambered cartridge. If you see a daylight between the straight edge and base of the cartridge, that shows the deep chamber/shoulder set back problem. If you find the issue noted above, you'll need a 6.8 SPC NO GO gage to determine if it is the barrel manufacturer's fault or Silver State's fault. Remington might produce longer cartridges that won't have the misfire problem. Or if you reload, you could pull the bullets, fire form the cases and reload using a neck sizing technique.

February 12, 2010, 10:58 PM	#4
plainsman456 Senior Member Join Date: December 31, 2008 Posts: 260	25 bucks sounds cheap.It could be hard primers.

February 12, 2010, 11:13 PM	#5
270winforlife Member Join Date: February 1, 2010 Posts: 40	I did not alterations, its a stock G2. I guess I could try the Rem ammo. And if that doesn't work, then the chamber is cut too big??? I guess I could send it back to TC arms to look at, but thats another 30.oo or so shipping charge.