Misfires due to cold?

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OldRanger
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Misfires due to cold?

Post by OldRanger »

So I took out my Marlin 39A Sunday on a bright sunny day to try to get some sight readings for it. Did I mention it was 13 degrees at the range? Yeah it was. So I understood the accuracy might not be all that great, and the numbers might actually change due to the cold barrel/rounds/hands etc. but I had cabin fever and had to get some practice in. I had only shot this rifle a couple times before and had 0 misfires. BUT I just put in a JP spring to lighten the trigger. So I understand it could be the new spring, but could the cold cause this too? I shot SK High Velocity round nose and Wolf Target. With both of them I got about 40% failure rate. Most fired when I re-cocked and shot again. Should I put the original spring back in and deal with the heavy trigger pull? Should I go to a Wolf spring and see if it helps? I only shot out to 40 meters then went home frustrated. Well, not that frustrated, from the bags I put all the rounds in the 9-10 range (after adjustments) and offhand I hit 13 out of 15 on a paper chicken. Anyways, your suggestions gentleman?
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Re: Misfires due to cold?

Post by glen ring »

We have experienced the same thing with our SK ammo in our 39s. To see if the temps ( 25 degrees ) had anything to do with it, I warmed the gun and ammo with a hair dryer for several minutes and the ammo was 100% reliable.
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Re: Misfires due to cold?

Post by cslcAl »

Do you use any oil in your bolt/firing pin? You have to remember that these guns don't have springs on the firing pin like a bolt gun has. They work by inertia from the main spring. If you lighten that too much you will have misfires.
Too much oil or lube or lack of cleaning will lead to residue buildup which will slow down the inertia of the firing pin causing light primer strikes.
Cold temps will make this condition worse. We shoot in the cold a lot here in Pa. I only lube my fire control systems with Hornadys dry lube and clean often.
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Re: Misfires due to cold?

Post by OldRanger »

Good thought Al. I didn't consider that. I don't usually use any lube on a firing pin (or anything it touches/rides in) but I didn't specifically check this one. I will when I get home.

Also interesting to note that sk could have cold weather ignition problems.

I think I'll hold off on going back to the original spring until I get to clean the gun up and fire her in some warmer weather. Maybe I can hit the indoor range some day soon.

Thanks guys, I'll let you know what happens.
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Re: Misfires due to cold?

Post by jnyork »

A friend had this exact problem a couple of weeks ago, we had put in a light spring and it worked fine, but on a morning that was quite cool, 38 degrees or so, it simply would not function reliably at all. Took it apart, cleaned the firing pin and channel to dry condition with some brake cleaner and put it back togather, worked perfectly. Doesn't take much oil for this to happen, soldiers in cold weather are instructed to run their firearms completely dry, and hunters have known about this for years. Let us know what happens.
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Re: Misfires due to cold?

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jnyork wrote:A friend had this exact problem a couple of weeks ago, we had put in a light spring and it worked fine, but on a morning that was quite cool, 38 degrees or so, it simply would not function reliably at all. Took it apart, cleaned the firing pin and channel to dry condition with some brake cleaner and put it back togather, worked perfectly. Doesn't take much oil for this to happen, soldiers in cold weather are instructed to run their firearms completely dry, and hunters have known about this for years. Let us know what happens.
Yeah, I ran out of my slip 2000 EWL cold weather lube during elk season. I even have a brand new bottle sitting here in my desk drawer. Does a lot of good here huh? You'd think being from here and used to working in the cold that this would have been my first thought, but its been in the 40's and 50's here and my winter thinking was apparently gone for the spring already. Oh well, hopefully thats all it takes.
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Re: Misfires due to cold?

Post by chuckjordan2 »

I've had no fires and light strikes on my 39A when I first swapped out the spring (3 yrs ago) to a Wolf spring. I put back the factory spring after stoning the ends and removing and sharp edges. Has since worked in all weather with AutoMatch.

And I run the FP dry
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Re: Misfires due to cold?

Post by jnyork »

Another thing that sometimes helps, take the firing pin out, get some 400 and 600 grit wet-or-dry paper. Lay the paper on a hard flat surface, lay the pin on that and polish until all the dark spots are gone, then repeat with the 600, get it nice and shiney on both sides.
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Re: Misfires due to cold?

Post by ppkny »

I had the same problem when a lightened the spring to make the lever easier to cycle. After a few experiments with some filler washers I reached a happy medium with reliable firing.
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Re: Misfires due to cold?

Post by OldRanger »

So yeah, it was the spring. I don't have the time right now to add washers one at a time to figure out where it gets to reliable again. So I just put the original spring back in and deal with the heavy trigger pull. Maybe if I get some time this summer I'll try to adjust it, but for now the stock spring has 0 misfires so thats the route I'm going.

I might get to shoot it in a match this weekend (weather permitting), we'll see how it goes.
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Re: Misfires due to cold?

Post by cslcAl »

Ranger, I've seen this mistake made many times, and that includes by me. Everyone wants that nice light trigger like we have in our bolt guns. Like I said before lever guns are a different animal.
One other thing I didn't mention before is lock time. When you lighten up the main spring in a lever gun you also increase the lock time. Not a good senerio. You are better of doing what you can with the trigger. One area a lot of shooters overlook is the trigger return spring. The resistance on this does add to the overall trigger pull, and if it can be reduced it will help.

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Re: Misfires due to cold?

Post by OldRanger »

Well I got out there today, nice sunny day. It was a balmy 24 F at the range. 0 Misfires. I even had a round that wouldn't fire the other day and used it. No problem.

Now I have a question. Why do we have to use black targets? White ones are so much easier to see (most of the time). Another guy was out there shooting and had painted his PC swinger white. Holy cow! It was so much easier to see. Couldn't there be an option of black or white depending on conditions? Maybe a consensus of the shooters? Just wondering why regular smallbore is white, and these had to be black.
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Re: Misfires due to cold?

Post by cslcAl »

Ranger, target color may be determined by light condition, background, ect. I've shot on lots of ranges that used the wrong color and won't change. At Consolidated Sportsmen of Lycoming Co. Here in Pa we will use either black or white depending on the light conditions on match day.
Now today they would be black with all the &$@/!!! Snow we have here.

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Re: Misfires due to cold?

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Hmm. But does the NRA specify for it to be a certified match (or whatever they call them) to be certified they have to be black? And nationals are always black? Even though at Raton the cracks in the berms make lots of shadows that make the targets hard to pick out some times.

So is white an option at nationals is my question I guess. At our local matches we have one side white and one black and the competitors sort of 'vote' on which way to put them. During practice we put half one way and half the other so folks can shoot both and decide. I'm psyched to shoot my first CLA SB match this weekend. Just figured out how many clicks for each animal on my 39A so I'm all set now. Still not sure how they are going to work it with some of us shooting both CLA SB and both Hunter and Silhouette rifle. And possibly CLA PC. And still be done by noon so we can start HP on time. Glad I'm not running it I guess lol....
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Re: Misfires due to cold?

Post by cslcAl »

Ranger, the program for nationals does have some wording about target color in regard to ligh conditions. That being said don't expect them to use anything but black.
You've already got it figured out why the black targets are hard to see there. (Washed out berms) Now if you want some help with that check out my posting for fiber optic inserts in the marketplace, or email me.

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