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Widdowmaker Hill and other Marlin Experts...


Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L

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Marlin 20" .45 Colt (JM on barrel) shooting fine till this weekend

 

Sat: ran into some cartridges without powder (my fault). Bullet jams in barrel just far enough to keep from completely lever on next cartridge being loaded. Got to use my squib rod quite a bit. Figure problem is ammo related--shot up all of box to get rid of it.

 

Sunday, now here it comes: I would lever first round in and BANG, just like it's supposed to. Second round would get into chamber but no band or even pop. Recocked hammer by hand and still just a click. Bullet is still in cartridge when levered out.

 

this sequence happened 4 times! first one loads and shoots, second one doesn't. Can't believe that it's ammo as it always is same sequence with rifle.

 

thoughts?

 

cr

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Marlin 20" .45 Colt (JM on barrel) shooting fine till this weekend

 

Sat: ran into some cartridges without powder (my fault). Bullet jams in barrel just far enough to keep from completely lever on next cartridge being loaded. Got to use my squib rod quite a bit. Figure problem is ammo related--shot up all of box to get rid of it.

 

Sunday, now here it comes: I would lever first round in and BANG, just like it's supposed to. Second round would get into chamber but no band or even pop. Recocked hammer by hand and still just a click. Bullet is still in cartridge when levered out.

 

this sequence happened 4 times! first one loads and shoots, second one doesn't. Can't believe that it's ammo as it always is same sequence with rifle.

 

thoughts?

 

cr

Certainly not a Marlin expert... but did you ever load that same unfired 2nd round as the first round? My first check would be the firing pin. Beyond that, I don't have a clue.

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more info:

all screws were tight

one piece firing pin is intact

ammo was only put in rifle once.

did find the plastic magazine follower had a hole worn in it but still worked--new metal one on order

 

did do a complete cleaning of rifle and no problems found.

 

Plan on trying it again next weekend as see what happens

 

cr

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Well when I mess things up I do it in spades

 

I have found the problem and it is me (apologies to Pogo)

 

Turns out the second box of ammo, much like the first, had about 20% without powder! Gotta talk to my ammo supplier about this

 

I pulled 120+ cartridges and 1 in 5 or so were empty. I pulled well into an additional box and found powder in all of them so I am guessing it was a bad batch. On the Dillons there is a failsafe rod that I'm betting I didn't reattach when I changed to the rifle powder measure. I also found some cr@p in the powder that could conceivably have jammed the powder measure but 20% failure rate is above what I believe a few pieces of dry tumbling media would cause.

 

So all is right with the world and now just waiting on Slick to send me a new metal magazine follower

 

cr

Pogo.jpg

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Thanks for sharing, Ranger.

 

I admit, without a firing pin problem, I was sorta stumped.

 

I like a happy ending.

 

P.S. - an Expert (x-spurt) is nothing but a drip under pressure..... :lol::lol::lol:

 

 

..........Widder

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Well when I mess things up I do it in spades

 

I have found the problem and it is me (apologies to Pogo)

 

Turns out the second box of ammo, much like the first, had about 20% without powder! Gotta talk to my ammo supplier about this

 

I pulled 120+ cartridges and 1 in 5 or so were empty. I pulled well into an additional box and found powder in all of them so I am guessing it was a bad batch. On the Dillons there is a failsafe rod that I'm betting I didn't reattach when I changed to the rifle powder measure. I also found some cr@p in the powder that could conceivably have jammed the powder measure but 20% failure rate is above what I believe a few pieces of dry tumbling media would cause.

 

So all is right with the world and now just waiting on Slick to send me a new metal magazine follower

 

cr

Pogo.jpg

About two months ago, at our monthly, I opened a box of my reloads.

 

Went up to the firing line, buzzer went beep, and pistol went pffffttttttttttt.

 

Went to the unloading table, cleared the squib, went back around and tried again.

 

Pfffftttttt.

 

Dayum!

 

Went to unloading table, cleared squib, and went back around again - with ammo from another box (also reloads).

 

BOOM!

 

When I got home I took my stethoscope and shook each round.

 

ONE round of the 100 in that box had powder!

 

And I use Trail Boss on a Dillon 550. Never a bridge before, so I don't know what happened.

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Squibs can happen to the best of us. When you said the firing pin wasn't broke, I was pretty sure you had an ammo problem, couldn't think of anything else that'd cause that trouble. Thanks for getting back & lettin' us know. Takes a mighty big man to admit an error, but if it can make the rest of us ALL keep a closer eye out that such doesn't happen, it's a boon to us all!

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