# Brand new rifle, light striking



## rubicon_in_ga (Aug 4, 2008)

Well crud.... bought a Mossberg 100ATR in .30-06 on Friday, took it to the range today, and tried with two different boxes of Winchester Super X 180 grain bullets.... Tried 4 from each box, and every one was a light strike and failed to fire.  There's a very tiny impression on the primer cap, but no boom.  Tried the ammo in another guy's gun, and it fired fine.   

So I call Mossberg to see if maybe they'd just ship out a new bolt, under warranty, but no dice.  They said I have to ship if back, and turn around time will be minimum 15 days. 

Academy Sports won't do an exchange on defective firearms (per an agreement you have to sign before they sell you the gun) but they offer to ship it back to the manufacturer for you (not sure if you still have to pay shipping or not).  Even if they'll ship it out free, the store is in Athens, and it'd cost me about $25 in gas round trip, not to mention, I might have to pick it back up in Athens when Mossberg ships it back, so if that's the case, it'd be another $25 in gas.  The other option is to ship it myself via UPS for  $21.45.  Mossberg requires you to pay one way shipping to them, even though the repairs are warranty work.    

So here's my question.  A) what would you do?  And B) is there anything I can do that won't void the warranty, but might fix the problem?  I'm no gunsmith, but I have plenty of tools and have a fair bit of mechanical knowledge.


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## Jim Ammons (Aug 4, 2008)

Make sure bolt is clean and degreased-this may be causing firing pin to malfunction.


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## NOYDB (Aug 4, 2008)

Don't test fire it in the house......


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## stevetarget (Aug 4, 2008)

send it back to the factory. I have seem two this year with excessive headspace. it can be caused by bolt fitment  or a or chamber problem.  don't ever try someone elses bolt in your gun unless you check the headspace first.


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## rubicon_in_ga (Aug 4, 2008)

I lightly oiled it the day I bought it and took it out of the box, but I'll try cleaning it really good before I send it back to the factory.  What's a good degreaser to use?  I don't want to use anything that's too harsh or might cause future problems.  Thanks for the advice guys


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## jkoch (Aug 4, 2008)

Send it back, then make sure you don't buy another Mossburg rifle.
I would sell it as soon as I was sure it was fixed!


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## rubicon_in_ga (Aug 4, 2008)

Well I actually like Mossbergs, I've had a couple of their shotguns and they're as stout as a brick outhouse.  I read alot of reviews of the 100 ATR and heard that it was a good beginner's rifle and very accurate right out of the box.  I'd only found one bad review online about somebody with a broken firingpin and failure to fire, and the guy said he bought the gun in 2006, so I figured if Mossberg had a problem, you'd think they'd have it figured out by now.  

I tried degreaser on the bolt, let it sit for about ten mins, then oiled it and cycled the action a few times.  Tried firing it with live ammo and got the same problem, another light strike.  My dad's gonna talk to a gunsmith friend of his tomorrow and see if there's anything he can suggest before I ship it back to Mossberg.  

Guess in the mean time I'll use my dad's 1976 Winchester 94 with iron sites when I go hog hunting next week.


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## Jack Flynn (Aug 4, 2008)

Send it back or go trade it. The latter would be a loss of money. Call Mossy and tell them how displeased you are and that if they do not pay you back the shipping to them you will post everywhere imaginable on the internet about this brand new gun problem. I'd never buy another though.


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## 12gamag (Aug 4, 2008)

rubicon_in_ga said:


> Well crud.... bought a Mossberg 100ATR in .30-06 on Friday, took it to the range today, and tried with two different boxes of Winchester Super X 180 grain bullets.... Tried 4 from each box, and every one was a light strike and failed to fire.  There's a very tiny impression on the primer cap, but no boom.  Tried the ammo in another guy's gun, and it fired fine.
> 
> So I call Mossberg to see if maybe they'd just ship out a new bolt, under warranty, but no dice.  They said I have to ship if back, and turn around time will be minimum 15 days.
> 
> ...





I had a mosseberg 835 that had the same problem when I bought it!! only mine would fire every other time....
took it back to acadamy and had them ship it too mosseberg and they had it fixed and sent back to me in about 4 weeks...


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## jkoch (Aug 4, 2008)

Shotguns yes, Rifles no. Stay away from the Remington 710 also.


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## BookHound (Aug 5, 2008)

rubicon_in_ga said:


> I tried degreaser on the bolt, let it sit for about ten mins, then oiled it and cycled the action a few times.



Did you try cleaning out the firing pin channel in the bolt?  I am not familiar with the Mossy rifles.  Is there a way to strip the bolt to get the firing pin out?  It is in there you need to clean.

Mark


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## rubicon_in_ga (Aug 5, 2008)

Well I'm not real familiar with the mechanics of how a bolt would take apart, and I'm worried if I tried, they might not honor the warranty.  Anybody know of any instructions on how to take apart the bolt?


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## stevetarget (Aug 5, 2008)

Mossbergs factory manual says disassembly by gunsmith only.  I still would send it back.


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## rubicon_in_ga (Aug 5, 2008)

I'll probably ship it out tomorrow.  Dang shame to buy a brand new rifle and have it not work a week before I'm supposed to go hog and yote hunting.  Nuts.


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## bighonkinjeep (Aug 5, 2008)

Send it back. You can't just swap a bolt without checking the headspace. This is why they won't just send you the bolt.Please don't try swapping the bolt on any bolt action rifle without checking the headspace with the proper gauge before firing it.


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## SWbowhunter (Aug 5, 2008)

Will they actually ship it back to your house or to a FFl licensed dealer? May want to check. I am not sure they can ship it directly to you. I had that isssue with a mossberg shotgun several years ago.


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## stevetarget (Aug 5, 2008)

*yes*



SWbowhunter said:


> Will they actually ship it back to your house or to a FFA licensed dealer? May want to check. I am not sure they can ship it directly to you. I had that isssue with a mossberg shotgun several years ago.



yes they can ship it back to you.


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## Broncoxlt (Aug 11, 2008)

*Mossberg 100 atr*

My  first centerfire rifle was a 100ATR had no problems with it bought it because of how reliable my 500 pump is and the rifle is no different


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## rubicon_in_ga (Aug 13, 2008)

Took it to the local UPS store in Covington, only to find out they won't ship firearms from a UPS store, you have to go directly to the local UPS Hub.... which is Athens.... So I figured since I had to drive to Athens to ship the thing anyway, might as well get Academy Sports to do their part and ship it for me, since they're in Athens too.  I was hoping they might make an exception and go ahead and exchange it, but no luck.  They're supposed to ship it out this afternoon and will call me when they get it back from Mossberg.

Unfortunately, this means yet another trip to Athens to pick it up once it's repaired.  I'm gonna write a letter to Academy Sports customer service and corporate and let them know the trouble I've had, and the headache of having to drive out there three times because of a defective rifle they sold me, and see what comes out of it.


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## Twenty five ought six (Aug 13, 2008)

You can ship it through any post office.

You actually can ship it from your house via the postal service if you want to calculate the postage and insurance online.

Mossberg can ship it back to you at your home any way it chooses.


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## DYI hunting (Aug 13, 2008)

Alright, even after reading your thread, I purchased a Mossberg 100ATR in 30-06 yesterday from Academy, figuring you had a lemon.  For the cost, you can't beat it.  Plus I had several Academy gift cards from my birthday and needed a new gun.

I ran a box of 220 grain and a box of 180 grain Remington Corelok through it today.  I had no misfires or any other problems.  Accuracy was impressive for a rifle under $400.  I was getting right around 1 inch groups at 100 yards.  It did kick a little harder than my Savage 30-06, probably because of the butt-pad is not as good.

Now for the important stuff, how to remove the firing pin so you can clean it.  I am no teacher and if you can't follow my instructions, I am sorry.  Remove the bolt from the gun.  You are going to turn the back of the bolt clockwise about half a turn.  To turn it, you have to put pressure on the cocking indicator which is on the back of the bolt, it is a stainless rectangle that sticks out on of bottom side of the the bolt.  It has a point that sits in a grove on the the bolt assembly beside the handle.. 

It sits Take a piece of wood, I use a foot long block of pine 2x4.  Brace the wood in your lap or beside you in a chair.  Hold the bolt by the handle and middle of the bolt.  Push pressure against the cocking indicator by pressing it against the block with a slight counter-clockwise pressure(don't slip).  It will slid back a bit and move from the grove.  Then turn it 1/2 turn and you can then slide out the firing pin assembly.  Watch out, the black round button towards the front of the bolt is actually a pin which is held in place by the firing pin assembly.  Don't loose the pin when pulling out the firing pin.  Once you remove the firing pin assembly, and the black pin that passes through the bolt.  When that is removed, you can remove the front of bolt.  Reassembly is simply replace the front of the bolt, replace the pin ensuring it is turned correctly, then slide the firing pin assembly back into the bolt assembly.  Then put a little pressure on it and turn it counter-clockwise to the first little indention.  If you pass the little indention, it will fall into the big indention and you will have to remove it again.

Check the firing pin assembly and black pin for any burs or other metal damage.  Check the spring to make sure it looks okay.  Also inspect the inside of the bolt end for anything that might have been left during manufacturing.  You may need to clean the inside, but mine only had a light coat of grease.  I wonder if your spring is not strong enough, the pin itself is not machined down enough to pass well through the bolt end, or the bolt end was not machined properly with a big enough hole for the pin to move freely.  Just some random thoughts, good luck man.


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## BookHound (Aug 13, 2008)

rubicon_in_ga said:


> Unfortunately, this means yet another trip to Athens to pick it up once it's repaired.  I'm gonna write a letter to Academy Sports customer service and corporate and let them know the trouble I've had, and the headache of having to drive out there three times because of a defective rifle they sold me, and see what comes out of it.



Put yourself in their shoes.  

They (Academy) are the sales team, not the manufacturer.  This is a manufacturer's problem.  It isn't Academy's fault you shipped through a carrier that makes it a hassle.  Why didn't you just ship through the Post Office?   Read the post by "Twenty five ought six".  You could have shipped from your front porch.

Unfortunately, returning a firearm to a seller isn't as simple as returning a CD player to Best Buy.  If the store has a policy of not taking firearm returns, then you are buying with that understanding.    Academy didn't break the rifle or make a defective product.  They would have no idea the weapon was not 100% functional without testing the weapon.  How do they know the customer didn't accidentally break something and then return the weapon?  And if the manufacturer won't take the weapon back from the retailer the retailer gets screwed and the problem was caused by Mossberg, not them.  I don't see how they (Academy) can be blamed for anything wrong here.  You are mainly upset because YOU made the mistake of not understanding your shipping options.  If you are ticked at anyone, it should be yourself.

I'm not trying to flame you and hope you don't take it that way.  I'm just pointing out that Academy is actually going above and beyond what a lot of dealers would do for you.  I have no affiliation with Academy.  In fact, I've never even been in the store.  

Chances are there was a bur or just some packing grease crud in the firing pin channel.  All this might have been fixed easily by you following DYI hunting's directions.  If only he had posted a few hours earlier.  

Hope everything comes out okay for you.

Mark


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## rubicon_in_ga (Aug 14, 2008)

*You're Right,*

I completely understand what you're saying, and I do agree that Academy is not in any way at fault, I just hate going through the hassle of trying to return the rifle to Mossberg.  I've bought other guns before (brand new) which actually come with the casing of the factory test fired bullet, which helps to assure the purchaser that he's buying a functioning firearm.  I understand Mossberg caters to the lower end market of firearms, but I still think if you're paying $300 for a product, it should at least function out of the box.  What I'm primarily annoyed with, is that Mossberg requires the purchaser to pay the initial shipping costs, even though the gun is warrantied against defects for 1 year from the date of purchase.  My hope was that I could avoid having to waste another half a tank of gas and 45 minutes round trip to Athens, by shipping it to Mossberg myself, only to find out from UPS that you have to take a firearm to their hub to have it shipped (which is in Athens anyway).  I generally trust UPS or FedEx more than I do the USPS, especially since I didn't want to deal with a government agency potentially losing my brand new gun 'in the mail.'  That's my personal opinion however, and nobody's to blame there but me.  

On the other hand, had I disassembled the bolt myself, and (God forbid) broken or lost a part, then I would've completely voided the warranty anyway, and would've had to pay even more money to have a qualified gunsmith repair what was supposed to be a brand new rifle.  

Like I said, I completely understand your point, and no, I don't really blame Academy Sports for doing anything wrong, because you're right, how would they have known?  I'm just frustrated at the whole experience, and I am probably venting in too public a fashion, which again, I have only myself to blame.  

I do generally think Mossberg makes a great product, and I do think I happened to get the one lemon in the bunch, and now it's just a matter of dealing with the situation and getting my rifle working.  

I'm sorry if I put Mossberg or Academy Sports in a bad light in any of my posts.  This is my first negative experience with a firearm purchase, and it was completely unintentional on anyone's part.  Now I just have to play by their rules, get the warranty work done, and hope my 'new' rifle comes back before the season opens.


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## DYI hunting (Aug 14, 2008)

Pretty much any firearm you buy anywhere is going to have to be shipped back to the manufacturer at your cost if you have problems with it.  I equate Academy to Walmart, a low cost retailer.  If you had purchased at your local gun shop (probably paying more), they would have probably looked at it for you.  But Academy doesn't have any gunsmiths or even real competent gun guys or at least not the guy I was dealing with when I purchased mine.  

The bolt disassembly is not that hard.  I would try it before shipping it back to Mossberg.  If you need it, I could post a few pictures to make it easier.

Also, you might want to try another brand of bullets and see if they fire.  You might luck up and find a bullet with a softer primer that your rifle can fire consistantly.  It's not a fix, but it would get you through deer season so you don't have to worry about sending the rifle off so close to deer season.


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## BookHound (Aug 14, 2008)

rubicon_in_ga, first I'm glad you took my post in the spirit it was offered.  So many people have thin skin and are easily offended.  

I understand you being frustrated.  I would be too!  I think I'd be a little more hacked at Mossberg though and would not hesitate to let them know it.

DYI hunting again makes some good points.  I've never been to Academy but if they hire people like Bass Pro and Dick's does, it doesn't surprise me that they might not be skilled enough to help you try to diagnose or resolve the problem.  There are few gun shops around that actually staff knowledgeable people.  One that comes to mind is David's Gun Room.  I bet if you bought the firearm there you might pay a little more but if you had a problem at least Rusty could take a look at it for you.  

Anyway, I hope things work out okay for you.  Best of luck.

Mark


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## Patchpusher (Aug 14, 2008)

You drove past two gunsmith shops on your way to Athens. Colley or I would have looked at your rifle for you.


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## polaris30144 (Aug 15, 2008)

Here is something that I saw at one of the Big Box stores one time. I saw a couple of young guys unpacking rifles to put on display. They took all of the guns out and all of the bolts etc, and laid them on the counter. Then they proceeded to just pick up a rifle and stuff any bolt into it that fit without any regard to the fact that each bolt is for a particular gun. I thought to myself at that point to never buy a gun from a discount store. I bet someone bought a gun there that had the wrong bolt and had similar problems as you if not down right dangerous head spacing issues. It may not be the problem you are having, but it does happen when discount stores hire Nimrods as sales people that have a very limited knowledge about guns.


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## DYI hunting (Aug 15, 2008)

polaris30144 said:


> Here is something that I saw at one of the Big Box stores one time. I saw a couple of young guys unpacking rifles to put on display. They took all of the guns out and all of the bolts etc, and laid them on the counter. Then they proceeded to just pick up a rifle and stuff any bolt into it that fit without any regard to the fact that each bolt is for a particular gun. I thought to myself at that point to never buy a gun from a discount store. I bet someone bought a gun there that had the wrong bolt and had similar problems as you if not down right dangerous head spacing issues. It may not be the problem you are having, but it does happen when discount stores hire Nimrods as sales people that have a very limited knowledge about guns.



Possible, rubicon your bolt has "Mossberg" printed on it, right?


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## rubicon_in_ga (Aug 15, 2008)

Yeah, it has Mossberg printed on the bolt.  When I bought it, he  brought it out from a stack of unopened boxes on a shelf behind the counter.  To me, it didn't look like the box had ever been opened, and the bubble paper was still wrapped around the bolt when he took it out, so I don't think the bolt could've gotten mixed up with another gun.


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## rubicon_in_ga (Aug 20, 2008)

*Quick Update*

On the advice of my mom (yes, I'm 29, but I still go to her for advice) and several others, I wrote a very polite letter to Academy Sports explaining my frustration and disappointment with everything I've had to go through to get a rifle that works, and I got a very nice letter back from the store manager today, who apologized for my inconvenience and says she understands fully my frustration in having to deal with this, and she even offered a store gift card to try to help remedy my dissatisfaction.  

So I just want to give big kudo's to Academy for looking out for their customers total satisfaction and I'll definitely be a return customer. 

As far as the rifle itself goes, Academy shipped it out to Mossberg last Wednesday, so now I'm just waiting to get a call from the store saying it's been repaired and shipped back.


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## stevetarget (Aug 20, 2008)

writing a polite letter will do no harm and sometimes helps turn things around your way.


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## Bill Mc (Aug 20, 2008)

I had a similar with a CZ 527. Light strikes on some of the primers.

I called CZ and they shipped me a stronger spring.

 I installed it myself and cured the problem. The replacement spring was sure stronger.


Sending that ATR back to Mossberg was the right thing to do. It's a fine shooting rifle. I shot one last year and put 3 shots inside a nickel sized circle at 100 yards.

The only downside is how you have to load it.


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## rubicon_in_ga (Sep 1, 2008)

*Update!*

Got my rifle back yesterday from Academy!  I also got a chance to talk to the store manager, Andrea, and the firearms manager, Richard, who were very helpful and gave me several other options if this ever were to happen again, so that I wouldn't have to drive all the way back to Athens just to ship something back to the manufacturer.  They also gave me a gift card to cover my gas and expense driving back and forth from Covington twice to get the rifle repaired.  I have to say as nice as they were to get everything right and make sure they had a satisfied customer on their hands, I am definitely a lifelong customer!  Major Kudos to Academy Sports and Outdoors!  

I also got a chance to test the rifle out this morning, and I put 5 rounds of Winchester Super X 180gr .30-06 through it!  Every one fired perfectly!  And to make things even better, I hadn't had a chance to sight in the scope, but it turns out, I was pretty close to dead on from the beginning, and every shot hit nearly the same mark!  I will have to go down to the range later this week and really get it zero'd in, but I have to say this is one awesome rifle!  I'm very happy! 

Thanks for all the help guys!


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## 12gamag (Sep 1, 2008)

glad to hear it turned out all right....


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## BookHound (Sep 1, 2008)

Did they indicate what was the problem and what they fixed?


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## rubicon_in_ga (Sep 1, 2008)

They may have replaced the receiver (I think that's the word), because when I sent it in, I had filed a small bit off the rear scope mount so the scope wouldn't hit, and when it came back to me, there was an un-filed mount on it, and there were no filing scratches on this receiver.  It looked to be the same barrel, and possibly even the same bolt.  I may call Mossberg out of curiousity, and ask them if they have any notes in their system.  I wish they'd included a note saying what was repaired, but hey, it works, and that's what matters!


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## rip2k3 (Sep 12, 2008)

Bookhound, have you ever tried to return a CD player to Best Buy. It's not worth the effort.


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