Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger American misfire?

I was not present when it happened. My mom had a misfire, barely dimpled primer. She was able to rack another shell and fill her tag. I was able to duplicate it by lifting the bolt handle 10* or so. If it’s not 100 % down it will misfire. Has anyone else encountered this?

What caliber? My 300blk was prone to misfires until I adjusted the headspace.

Yep. I know two people that had misfires with them in 300 BO.
Both had to go back to Ruger.

I haven’t had any misfires with any of mine.

It’s a muddy girl youth .243. I was able to simulate it while dry firing my predator .243 also. I’ll have to wait until I can find more shells for further tests.

Excuse my confusion, but how does one simulate a misfire while dry firing?

Yep. WTH ???

Did it the same as the problem rifle but without a shell in it. Lift your bolt up 10-15*, depress trigger and watch and listen. The offending rifle and my rifle acted the same but I don’t have any shells left for live fire with mine.

No surprise if bolt isn't down.

Exactly how I do my bolt action guns when ready to store. Lift bolt, pull trigger and bolt shuts as firing pin falls.

Lots of reports of that in hunting situations. Not just the Ruger. Any bolt that does not lock with the safety can be bumped up unnoticed.
Someone on Facebook was overcomplicating looking for the cause on a custom 280AI.
If the bolt isn't down, the energy will be directed there before the primer.

As per Kenmi the spring energy to the primer is decreased when the bolt is not fully closed. You can duplicate the same thing using practically any bolt action rifle.
The other thing to consider is that you do not want the cartridge the fire with the bolt only partially closed - consequences could be diastrous. It doesn't seem to be as much a rifle problem as it is a user error.

drover

@KenMi @drover

That is the same conclusion I was coming to. Loss of firing pin energy as it’s camming the bolt into battery. This is the first I’ve come across this. Basically a safety feature. I’m most familiar with 700 type bolts and triggers.

I’ve somehow acquired the habit of using my trigger finger to check that the bolt is fully closed, plus I often use the Indian carry, which is the rifle cradled in the crook of my left arm, with my thumb crooked over the bolt knob. That carry method leaves my right hand free while permitting me to pivot the rifle to avoid stuff in the way. Does get tiring with a heavy one.

My Mom didn’t hunt. Lucky you!

The non locking 700s work the same as do Ruger, Winchester, Savage, Ruger and many others if bolt doesn't lock or is on fire.

Another pat on the Tikka's back.
Never messed with a Ruger American, but have experienced it with
other rifles, and no of others who have also.

My interest now is only guns that lock the bolt.
Sure there are wirkaronds. Techniques, to accomadate bad design.



PS. Always hated the need to go off safe to unload,
untill I bought a 700 that didn't unlock the bolt.

Some use a rubber band to keep the bolt down. If a quick reload is needed the band will easily snap when operating the bolt

I’m gonna be 69 years old in about a month and have never had this problem. When stand hunting I never fully close the bolt until ready to shoot. I don’t trust safeties. Guns are not supposed to fire unless bolt is fully down. Edk

I would think, that at some point the shooter has some responsibility to be competent to load, chamber a live round into battery, and fire. Difficult, yes, but do-able. Otherwise we will end up like the auto industry, with seat belts, full airbags, auto collision avoidance programs, back-up cameras, roll over protection, auto on and off headlights, anti skid , anti tailgating and so on.

I just bought one in 300 BO for $10 bucks at a LGS. 😁 I had gotten a nice gift certificate when I retired so I used that and it was on the Second Amendment sales tax holiday weekend so saved another 7% there too.
I’ve loaded some ammo but haven’t shot it yet so I’ll have to be alert for that problem.

Yup... One guy brought in his Ruger sayin' he's getting misfires... I checked it out.. All good. He comes back, sez the same thing.. I got a box of rounds, sat him down at my shooting bench and watched how he worked the rifle.. I noticed his hand rode up a bit on the wrist of the stock and the hand came into contact with the bolt handle and moved it up just a hair...

I showed him what that does, and he was plenty embarrassed...

My cousin had two misfires on deer this month. Same day even. He is way more patient than me because I would have wrapped that sumbitch around a tree.

I will ask if he fugged up and didn't have the handle all the way down.

Weird though that lots of people are having the same issue with the same gun.