2002 youth rossi single shot rifle in 223

[ehs]

Just picked up a 2002 Rossi youth rifle single shot in 223 for my oldest. The gun is in great shape. From the previous owner (guy I know) said that problably had 25 shots thru it. It sure looks like it. But I had a issue that I need to figure out. I was using monarch 223 steel and had serveral failure to fires, seemed to happen more the more we shot. Basically I just recocked the the hammer and it fired just fine on the second time always. It also was hard to open serveral times. Can the ammo be that much problem. I have shot the same ammo in another rossi single shot with no problems. When I got home and torn it down as much as possible and cleaned it very good. Any thoughts?

 

[Rabies]

Here's an anecdote. I had a New England Firearms shotgun that absolutely hated Winchester ammo. It would fail to fire on it so much that playing Russian roulette with a single shot shotgun was a game I stood a good chance of winning. But load Federal and it shot every time. Every-single-time.

I looked at the primers on the two. Winchester was flush and flat. Federal was rounded and stood up some. Maybe the firing pin couldn't make a good strike on the Winchester. My buddy with a Mossberg could shoot the same shell that failed to fire in my gun and it'd fire just fine. I have a Mossberg now and it does fine on Winchester and everything else I've tried.

As for being hard to open, maybe it's not locking together right all the time and that could affect how the firing pin strikes the primer. I'm just guessing.