Stevens 15A - light primer strikes

[Quoheleth]

I am trying to rehab the 15A that's been in my family for 3 generations (my grandfather -> Dad -> Me). It had been giving very light primer strikes, sometimes requiring 3 or 4 hits of the firing pin to light off. Thinking it was either a firing pin or firing pin spring, I ordered those both as parts from Numrich. I cleaned the paint off and then stoned the firing pin so it slides freely in its channel in the bolt. I reassembled the bolt and its parts with a new spring, lubed the firing pin, and took it out to try to pop a few .22 primers (pulled bullet, dumped powder).

Sadly, it still took three hits of the hammer to get the primer to pop. After the first whack, it barely dented the primer area.

Any ideas as to what the problem might be? New firing pin, cleaned and lubed; new spring. The other parts didn't look worn so I didn't replace them. I am certain I reassembled in the right order.

Q

 

[rcmodel]

I would suspect excess headspace.
With a new spring, it should work, but only if the FP can reach the cartridge rim.

With that specific model, I'm not sure what you can do about it, as I'm not sure how the barrel is attached to the receiver.

If it proves to be excess headspace from bolt set-back, a new bolt is in order.
If the locking notch in the receiver is the culprit, about the only fix is to set the barrel back closer to the bolt face.


rc