I was shooting some factory Winchester 150g hollow points today out of my g1 contender 30-30 and was getting light primer strikes wonder if it is bad factory primers.

If it's a g1 my first stop would be a new set of springs

That's what I was thinking. But I never had it do that with my 45/70 barrel

+2 on a new hammer spring

It's not the barrel, it's the internal hammer spring in the frame. Just a heads up, don't be suprised if your sight settings are off some, mine where.

My what

What do you mean by sight setting?

Possible that the stronger spring could push the cartridge tighter into the chamber? If the 4570 barrel has slightly long headspace and that's part of why it doesn't set it off

Ok thanks. Thanks for the info

For what it's worth, similar experience with the .35 Rem in the Contender - G1 and G2 frame.

This was likely a headspace issue, wasn't exactly uncommon with the .35 Rem chambered barrels on Contenders. I think the fix for most people was to seat bullets out into the rifling to fireform brass, and neck sizing afterwards. That being said, I never had an issue with the 16.25" .35 Rem barrel I had years ago.

I agree. I bought a used G1 from a pawn shop for cheap and was getting light strikes and misfires. Probably why the old owner sold the gun. Turned out that one leg of the hammer spring was broken. A new spring and all is well.

I picked up a used .30-30 barrel, 23" Springfield made recently. Shot some hand loads I had loaded for another rifle.

Had a 50% failure to fire rate. Found I had a .010 barrel to frame gap. Sent it to Springfield, they sent it back, saying it was "within" specs.

None of my half dozen other rifle barrels have a problem firing on this frame. I'll have to firestorm brass and neck size, but what's a non reloader.

Supposed to do?

This may not be your issue but Ill pass it along. I had similar issue with a new 223 barrel that would close but light primer strikes (cartridges were slightly too long). Found out through Mike Bellm Articles that the cartridge needs to be .001 below the barrel to allow the barrel to fully close for the locking lugs to engage far enough to rotate the part that unlocks the hammer block and allows it to drop when the hammer is cocked. It appeared to me the hammer was striking the firing pin, but when viewed from the side the hammer was hitting the top edge of the hammer block with the impact sending the firing pin forward and tapping the primer.

LostSixgunner:That 0.010" gap has nothing to do with your problem. I had Mike Bellum take 0.050" off my barrel so I could find the actual headspace of the barrel. The gap between the back of the case and the face of the breech should be 0.001" to 0.0015".If you have an exact 0.010" then the base of the case should be sticking 0.009" out the rear of the barrel. The shoulder of the case need to be holding the base to the breech face. Your sizing die needs to be set to do this. To do this would be to run a oversized expander (32/8mm) into the 30/-30 neck and then back out your sizing die and then run the case up into the press and then start turning the sizing die down (in steps) forming a false shoulder on the neck till the base is the proper distance from the breech face. Anyone that has a Contender should go to his web site as he has a ton of info on it for working on and reloading Contenders. He has probably forgot more info on them then T/C has ever known. PS: at one time he worked for P.O.Ackley.

Update. When you brake it down an close it back up when you touch the hammer it barely clicks if you fool with the hammer and get it to click again it will fire if you pull the trigger if it dont click it will just barely indent the primer and not fire. You can re cock the hammer and it will fire

I watched his video on headspace last night. It illustrates that the gap has nothing to do with the headspace, which is strictly as you describe, cartridge head to breechface. With rimmed cases, it appears you're stuck with shimming. MGM has a video on that, and I'd assume Mike does too, somewhere since he makes the shim kits.

Had light primer hits with my G2 in 30-30 with neck sized brass, Called TC and they said remove the hammer spur, I did and it worked. If yours has A hammer spur on try it without, good luck,

Mine does not have a hammer spur on it

Well I just went ahead and ordered a spring kit for it. I hope I can put it all in lol wish me luck.