Home made rifle problem

[muffler man]

I've been building this rifle off an on for about ten years now, and finally got it to were it will shoot. Before I send the parts out to be hardened, I want to check the firing pin strike. I took a primed case (no powder or bullet) and loaded it. When I pulled the trigger, everything worked correctly, except there was just a dent in the primer, no bang. After looking at the case, I loaded the same case in and tried again, this time it went off. When I pulled the case out, the primer was backing out of the case. I then loaded a second primed case in to the rifle, and the same thing happened. First hammer strike nothing, cocked and fired again and the primer when off and the primer started backing out of the case. I don't know what this means. This is a barrel that I bought and threated and a receiver that I milled not a store bought one. Has anyone heared of this problem? Thank you, Joe

[ARShuter]

Normaly this would be a headspace problem. What type of case are you using? Bottle neck, straight walled?

[muffler man]

It's a bottle neck case. How would I adjust the head space? Joe

[muffler man]

Could this headspace problem be caused by just using a shell with no bullet? Joe

[tonyfac]

to give you an answer, you need to provide more info. what caliber? what kind of action, bolt? milled receiver, how is the barrel installed, threaded, pressed? when you put this together, did you use a set of headspace gauges? etc...

[PA Rifleman]

It's a bottle neck case. How would I adjust the head space? Joe

Joe:

You *must* check headspace before firing for the first time, especially for a home-build. Google headspace meaning & measurement, do a little research.

Your symptom could be caused by excess headspace clearance, also by inadequate firing pin protrusion, incorrect firing pin profile, weak firing pin spring, or a improperly seated primer. Without the ability to examine the firearm or ammunition, we can only guess.

[ARShuter]

It's a bottle neck case. How would I adjust the head space? Joe

PLAN TRUTH IS IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND HEADSPACE YOU SHOULDN'T BE BUILDING A GUN

[elementfreak431]

I had a problem like this on my mosin nagant. Turns out the firing pin wasn't striking out of the bolt far enough. I turned the screw in the back of the bolt to make it come out further and that did the trick

[ar15jules]

PLAN TRUTH IS IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND HEADSPACE YOU SHOULDN'T BE BUILDING A GUN

Not to be a douche, but I agree with this. You could really hurt yourself brother!
Jules

[Tomcat088]

PLAN TRUTH IS IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND HEADSPACE YOU SHOULDN'T BE BUILDING A GUN

Not to be a douche, but I agree with this. You could really hurt yourself brother!
Jules

I agree with both of these people. If you're having to ask some of the questions you are here, you probably don't have any business building a firearm. Even if the parts are "hard enough" or "hardened", if some of the adjustments are wrong that you're asking about, you could still end up severly maimed and/or dead. I am concerned about this project, and I think you should be as well.