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Gunsmithing New build problems

J

jda2631

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Minuteman
Nov 10, 2009
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Mississippi
I put together my first bolt gun, and having super light primer strikes, won't fire.

It's a bighorn tl3 long action. Timney Calvin elite trigger. Local Smith cut and chambered the barrel. And head spaced it. Picked up the barreled action from him, I put on the trigger and put it in the chassis. It cocks fine and dry fires on trigger pull.

Went to the range today to shoot it for the first time. And just clicked each time, no fire. The primers have very light strikes on them.

Is there any trouble shooting I can do at home? Just hoping to not have to take back to the Smith so I can shoot this weekend.

icS32l2.jpg
 
Be best to take it back and have the headspace and firing pin protrusion checked.
 
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Was the TL-3 purchased new ? If so, it's very unlikely there was a problem with the action, striker or spring. I have nothing but Bighorns and their dimensional tolerances, quality and consistency are superb. If you pruchased it used, it should be inspected for firing pin protrusion per what Calhunter says above. There really is no reason to mess with pin protrusion, particularly not on Bighorns. Assuming the action was/is new and the 'smith didn't dick with it, then the next thing I would suspect is he screwed up the chambering by going too deep/long, meaning excessive headspace. Also, you can check at home by taking an empty brass case, priming it (prime it only.....no powder or bullet), loading the primed brass and firing into an old rag or shop towel. Use ear pro.

Granted, it's kind of a stupid question, but did you check to make sure the barrel is properly tightened onto the action ? Is there a gap between the front of the action and the barrel shoulder ? Can you turn the barrel by hand ?
Who was your 'smith (not looking for names, please don't post). Is he a full time 'smith, or part time/hobbyist ? That problem should have never left his shop.
 
I had occasional light strikes with a TL3 and a Calvin Elite 2-stage trigger. I emailed Bighorn to discuss, then replaced the trigger and the situation improved but still not 100%. I sent the bolt to Bighorn and they rebuilt the firing pin ass’y. Turns out the firing pin was slightly bent. In about 200 rounds since then, not a single light strike. Aaron at Bighorn was great to work with and they turned my bolt around in a week including shipping time.
 
It is a brand new action, purchased straight from bighorn. It's a reputable Smith in the area, it's his full time job, has a store front and everything. I have had him do work on other rifles before, but still could have been a mistake on his part. I don't know. But he's not just some dude in his garage. The barrel is torqued down, i can't move it by hand.

I only tried on 2 bullets, I can't remember if I tried to fire a second time on one of the bullets or not. After the second bullet didn't fire, I stopped.
 
jda2631 said:
It is a brand new action, purchased straight from bighorn. It's a reputable Smith in the area, it's his full time job, has a store front and everything. I have had him do work on other rifles before, but still could have been a mistake on his part. I don't know. But he's not just some dude in his garage. The barrel is torqued down, i can't move it by hand.

I only tried on 2 bullets, I can't remember if I tried to fire a second time on one of the bullets or not. After the second bullet didn't fire, I stopped.
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Hmmmm......all sounds copacetic. Sounds like the best plan is to indeed take it back to him. You may want to try firing a few rounds of primered (only) brass before you take it back, just to see what happens.
 
I had this exact same issue on my 308 I recently built. It was on a Rem 700 action with a regular Timney trigger. I guess Remington changed something in their design, either with the firing pin, the cocking piece, or location of the trigger itself, some years ago. So with the Timney installed the cocking piece, and there by the firing pin, wasn't being held as far back. I had read somewhere that you could send your trigger back in to Timney and they would change the sear out for a new design to follow suit with the Remington change. All I did however was change the cocking piece on mine to an old one I had laying around and it solved the problem.

Not sure if any of this applies to your set up or not but it might be worth a call to Timney to see if they've heard of others having this issue with the bighorn/calvin combination.
 
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The Timney Calvin Elite has a crosspin that the trigger shoe pivots on. This crosspin sticks out of the side of the trigger body about 3/32"

In a LOT of DBM's, including a number of chassis the pin sits every so slightly in an interference condition with the floor of the trigger well in the DBM.
Most times it isn't something people even see until a couple dozen rounds are fired and the hardened steel pin rubs a tiny witness mark on the inside to the DBM.

Usually the behavior manifests a rifle that appears to WANT to shoot but throws a random flier that's totally unexplained... until you put a bright light into the triggerwell and find that little rub mark.

In worse cases of interference the upward, offset pressure of torquing the action into the chassis puts enough force into the pin that it binds up the trigger and the sear doesn't disengage from the bolt properly. The drag from the cocking piece dragging on the sear causes light strikes.

I don't see a note what DBM/CHassis is being used by the OP but it's in a LOT of rifles with the Calvin Elite. It's less the Bighorn and more the Calvin Elite. Once you know to look for it you'll find a lot of rifles that have it and the owner doesn't know. A few minutes with a bridgeport and a swiss file to deburr everything can turn a 1/2MOA rifle into a 1 hole rifle.
 
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bohem said:
The Timney Calvin Elite has a crosspin that the trigger shoe pivots on. This crosspin sticks out of the side of the trigger body about 3/32"

In a LOT of DBM's, including a number of chassis the pin sits every so slightly in an interference condition with the floor of the trigger well in the DBM.
Most times it isn't something people even see until a couple dozen rounds are fired and the hardened steel pin rubs a tiny witness mark on the inside to the DBM.

Usually the behavior manifests a rifle that appears to WANT to shoot but throws a random flier that's totally unexplained... until you put a bright light into the triggerwell and find that little rub mark.

In worse cases of interference the upward, offset pressure of torquing the action into the chassis puts enough force into the pin that it binds up the trigger and the sear doesn't disengage from the bolt properly. The drag from the cocking piece dragging on the sear causes light strikes.

I don't see a note what DBM/CHassis is being used by the OP but it's in a LOT of rifles with the Calvin Elite. It's less the Bighorn and more the Calvin Elite. Once you know to look for it you'll find a lot of rifles that have it and the owner doesn't know. A few minutes with a bridgeport and a swiss file to deburr everything can turn a 1/2MOA rifle into a 1 hole rifle.
Click to expand...

It's a krg bravo chassis. It's the LA, so it has the whiskey 3 backbone.
 
If you could please answer this to satisfy my curiosity. I would think it would be unusual to have a custom build without a test target. Is there one? If so, what trigger did your gunsmith use? Was this skipped because you were finishing it up yourself?
 
Mike_in_FL said:
If you could please answer this to satisfy my curiosity. I would think it would be unusual to have a custom build without a test target. Is there one? If so, what trigger did your gunsmith use? Was this skipped because you were finishing it up yourself?
Click to expand...

I've never recieved a test target with any custom rifle I've had built. I only know of a few that do.
 
Mike_in_FL said:
If you could please answer this to satisfy my curiosity. I would think it would be unusual to have a custom build without a test target. Is there one? If so, what trigger did your gunsmith use? Was this skipped because you were finishing it up yourself?
Click to expand...

They didn't shoot it. Only attached the barrel to action. I put the trigger on.

I got busy yesterday and haven't had a chance to look at the trigger cross pin bohem was talking about. Hoping to get to it today.
 
jda2631 said:
They didn't shoot it. Only attached the barrel to action. I put the trigger on.

I got busy yesterday and haven't had a chance to look at the trigger cross pin bohem was talking about. Hoping to get to it today.
Click to expand...


Gotcha. I understand they're going to do what the customer asks. I would find it strange if a gunsmith built a complete rifle and didn't at least test fire it, if not provide a target.

I hope that cross pin solves it for you.
 
This is why I test fire almost every rifle I build. There are a few that I build for a select few that I trust them to test fire. But if it’s for someone else I always test fire the rifle. Then they can’t come back at me and say I messed up the headspace or something.
 
We installed a Timney trigger in a Remington and test fired only to have the rifle come back with random misfires . After a sear replacement all was well it never miss fired here.
 
Might try backing off the overtravel screw in that Timney. I've seen several new ones lately where it was set so tight that the internal components didn't have room to move past each other and the firing pin couldn't push the upper sear down far enough for a clean release. Bighorns have been especially problematic because the firing pin fall is less than others to begin with.
And as Bohem said, trigger guard interference is another Timney trouble spot.
 
Talked to bighorn and they said it was a known issue with the Calvin Elite. They can shave a fine amount off of the cocking piece to eliminate the sear dragging. They received my bolt yesterday, got an email and tracking number from them this morning, they fixed it and mailed it back to me the day after receiving it! Huge shout out to @BigHorn / ZAI Team and Ray, they are awesome! Insanely quick turn around and Ray could not have been nicer. I will be buying more from Bighorn!
 
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jda2631 said:
Talked to bighorn and they said it was a known issue with the Calvin Elite. They can shave a fine amount off of the cocking piece to eliminate the sear dragging. They received my bolt yesterday, got an email and tracking number from them this morning, they fixed it and mailed it back to me the day after receiving it! Huge shout out to @BigHorn / ZAI Team and Ray, they are awesome! Insanely quick turn around and Ray could not have been nicer. I will be buying more from Bighorn!
Click to expand...

Got the bolt back yesterday, I received it back from them 8 days after I put it in the mail to them. It fired perfectly! Thank you so much, Ray! That completely took care of the issue! @BigHorn / ZAI Team
 
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I know this is an old thread but it has some good advice. I just put together a bighorn origin build with a Timney Calvin Elite two stage trigger. I was getting light primer strikes on 30% off my shots. After reading @bohem 's advice I checked for interference between the stock/dbm and trigger. Sure enough the was an area where the trigger was forced against the stock. This improved my firing pin impressions on the primers but not significantly. I then followed the instructions on the Timney website for how to adjust the trigger sear engagement and over travel. This last step did the most to resolve the issue of light strikes . I now get solid strikes and reliable ignition of primers.

https://timneytriggers.com/2-stage-calvin-elite-remington-model-700/#tech-tips
 
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