TC Compass fails to fire

BBerguson

BBerguson

Official Pennsyltuckian
I have a TC Compass in 308 that is giving me fits... I had 50 rounds loaded with CCI primers and was getting about 20% fails to fire. These were loads that I primed when I was having trouble with my Lee hand primer and I wasn’t sure if that was the cause of my problems, bad box of primers (would be my first) or a problem with the gun. I had 15 left that I shot in a Savage axis today and they all fired, so much for bad primers theory. I also loaded up 10 rounds each of Rem, Fed and CCI (new box) primers and shot them today. All but one fired and the one that didn’t was a CCI.

I thought maybe the firing pin was gummed up and maybe that was causing light primer strikes. I had it out and saw no apparent problems of dryness or it being gummed up. Sliding the firing pin and spring in and out of the bolt body does have some drag but it doesn’t seem like it would cause the firing pin to move slowly or limit it’s travel. Am I wrong? Should it move inside the body with zero drag? I oiled it when I reassembled it but still had the single ftf today.

I’ve been reloading for 43 years and have never had a ftf with a centerfire before this rifle. I’ve lost confidence in it and wouldn’t dare to use it for hunting. Or, am I all wet on this and should just shoot Rem or Fed primers in it? which I can’t do much until the primer shortage is over because I only have 1 box of each with everything else I have being CCI. Or is the spring dragging in the bolt body the problem and needs to be fixed? What thoughts do you guys have?
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
Any dragging is undesirable but a robust lock design should tolerate some friction. It's part if that 150% thing with guns.

Measure the firing pin protrusion and check the headspace.
 
BBerguson

BBerguson

Official Pennsyltuckian
I looked at the firing pin and it appears to protrude plenty enough but didn’t try to measure it. Reading on the net and with you mentioning it too, I’m beginning to suspect it is a headspace issue. I’m pretty sure though I don’t have the measuring devices to accurately measure it, much less the ability to do anything about it. I thought I’d take it to the shop I bought it from and see if he can deal with TC and get it figured out.
 
CWLONGSHOT

CWLONGSHOT

Well-Known Member
Try a ol School test..

three pieces of "magic tape" on the base if the bullet and see if the bolt will close. Ad a additional piece a d try again untill its difficult to close. This will show ya the HS.


But my first thought was pin protrusion. It shoud protrude alot more then ya first might think.

compair it to another bolt thats in good working order. Same for the tape trick. Compair findings.

Good luck

CW
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
by bullet he means case.

I'm not all that familiar with the TC rifles, but if only one brand of primers is giving you fit's, I'd use another brand of primers.
it's pretty common for pistol shooter to avoid everything but federal primers when they get done slicking things up.

anyway I'd check the depth on the primer pockets, I thought I had a couple of sleeves of mag tech primers that were about 4% defective and it turned out to be some of the cases had deep primer pockets.
who'd have thunk 30-30 cases could be screwed up??
 
RBHarter

RBHarter

West Central AR
Had an Axis do that turned the barrel just far enough to hide the rollstamp . It only did it with new Agulia , not Wolf Gold , RP , Winchester , or reloads in any brass .

3 ways to beat headspace .
Longer head to shoulder brass see fire form for 303 Britt .
Make the chamber shorter/bolt longer . See Savage/Enfield or your local barrel guy .
Send it back and let the maker fix it .

Most of my stuff is way past any hint of warranty .
The Axis I should have sent in but I had the tools in hand and it took all of 15 minutes to make right .
I've taped a wild cat to get square cases , and have had a couple that when sized to spec rattled .....
 
CWLONGSHOT

CWLONGSHOT

Well-Known Member
Apologies, yes Fiver corrected me. ;)

apply tape to the base of the case on top of the primer and brass that encompasses the base of the brass.

You are "lengthing" the distance from the shoulder to the face of the bolt. (This is head space on most calibers in bolt guns.)

It aint scientific but it shows ya quick and easy if the HS is excessive.

CW
 
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Rockydoc

Rockydoc

Well-Known Member
My son has a Kimber 84M that had a problem with failure to fire. I tried a number of things, none of which worked. Kimber denied any knowledge of anyone having such problems. I went to some website and found out that there were a lot of people having that same problem. Their solution to that problem was a stronger firing pin spring. I bought a new spring from Wolf and installed it and that solved the problem.
 
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Ian

Ian

Notorious member
Scotch tape adds .002-3" to the cartridge datum length.

An L.E. Wilson or Hornady cartridge gauge costs about 20 bucks and is useful for setting uo your resizing die for your particular rifle as well as checking finished cartridges to ensure they will fit.
 
BBerguson

BBerguson

Official Pennsyltuckian
fiver said:
by bullet he means case.

I'm not all that familiar with the TC rifles, but if only one brand of primers is giving you fit's, I'd use another brand of primers.
it's pretty common for pistol shooter to avoid everything but federal primers when they get done slicking things up.

anyway I'd check the depth on the primer pockets, I thought I had a couple of sleeves of mag tech primers that were about 4% defective and it turned out to be some of the cases had deep primer pockets.
who'd have thunk 30-30 cases could be screwed up??
Click to expand...
I don’t disagree with using another brand of primers for this gun it’s just that those 2 boxes are all I have and with the shortage of primers, well, that’s all I have. Who knows when they will become available.

It could be a deep primer pocket but it’s only affecting this gun if it is. I’ll have to look at the the ones that have failed to fire and try to measure them. I’m going to try and check headspace too.
 
BBerguson

BBerguson

Official Pennsyltuckian
I took the TC to the shop I bought it from with some of the fired brass and unfired rounds. My buddy looked at the fired brass and said it‘s a headspace problem. I was concentrating so much on looking at the unfired rounds that I failed to notice the primers were backing out of the fired ones. He noticed it immediately. He was going to take it a local gunsmith for confirmation and then we’ll see if TC will take care of it after that.
 
CWLONGSHOT

CWLONGSHOT

Well-Known Member
IINM those use a barrel nut. It should be a cake fix. We assumed HS was possibility. Thats what I suggested the tape trick.

Bottom Line, Glad ya found it!

CW
 
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Ian

Ian

Notorious member
From pictures on the web it does not appear to have a barrel nut. Even if it did, and headspace turns out to be the problem, TC needs a little egg on their face for this and the barrel lettering needs to line up after it's fixed.
 
BBerguson

BBerguson

Official Pennsyltuckian
The gun smith that looked at it said the head spacing is correct. Anyone know if there are specs on how much the firing pin should protrude?
 
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