New Model 70 Firing Pin / Safety Issue

[hunter24605]

My buddy picked up a new Model 70 featherweight 308..He had some Fail to fire with some ammo I loaded for him, at first I thought maybe I mistakenly used primers from the dud batch I mentioned in another post, but turns out I didn't use the bad ones..Anyway, he's getting fail to fire, it dimples the primers but nothing to write home about, and the second issue is the safety works fine going from on-mid-fire positions, but it is really difficult to get it to go from the fire position to mid posistion..Mid to safe position works fine..I can't help but think the two issues are related..I broke down the bolt, removed the spring and slid the firing pin out..My model 70 is a little older and has a retainer at the rear of the spring and a "C" clip at the front of the spring that locks in a groove on the pin..His only has the "C" clip at the front of the spring and when it's removed., the pin will slide right out the back of the bolt..Is that little C clip the only thing that keeps the firing pin from flying out the back of the bolt when its fired?? Anyway I reassembled the bolt, pin, spring and now the safety works fine??? I can only assume something was bound up in the bolt..But A little concerned about firing it until I lean if the newer ones only have the one C-clip on the spring/ firing pin..Seems I read somewhere they all don't have the back "washer" under the spring.

 

[DrMike]

A common problem on new rifles, even on the FN produced Winchesters, is debris in the firing pin hole. Often, a quick disassembly and clean will resolve the issue. I did replace the spring in one of my newer FN rifles, but it was a decision dictated by something other than a product failure. The springs in these rifles are a good product, generally. There is always the possibility of a flaw with any product, unfortunately.

 

[hunter24605]

Yep, all I did was take it apart, clean it and reassemble and the safety works fine now.