Bolt Gun Trigger Lockup, please help.

[BigBear]

So I took the .308 out to shoot some Tannerite to celebrate the 4th of July... It was a big dissapointment as my gun was malfunctioning, so please help.

I don't know what info you need but I'll explain as much as possible.

.308 bolt gun with a 5 round drop box magazine.

The gun will cycle empty. As soon as I fire a live round, the trigger does not reset and locks up. The only way to unlock the trigger is to take the gun apart... I have no idea what is happening. It's not getting caught on the bottom metal as there is plenty of room.

Any ideas would be greatly apreciated. If all else fails, I'll take it to Bravo Arms on Monday. (I've been in there a few times and they seem to have their stuff together)

And I'm on a friends computer so I may not respond until Sunday night or Monday at work.

[BigBear]

no ideas huh... grrrr

[spencerhenry]

more info would be helpful. what make is it? if you dry fire it does it lock up? what exactly do you mean by "locks up"? most modern bolt rifles cock with the opening of the bolt, does the firing pin not come back at all, or does it come back and then drop again? has someone done a "trigger job" on it?

[BigBear]

what make is it? Howa 1500, .308

if you dry fire it does it lock up? No, only locks up with after firing a live round.

what exactly do you mean by "locks up"? Once the trigger is pulled, it will not reset or budge in any way, in essence - it is locked up until dissasembly.

most modern bolt rifles cock with the opening of the bolt, does the firing pin not come back at all, or does it come back and then drop again? Firing pin is operating as it should be, the trigger is just not resetting.

has someone done a "trigger job" on it? No.

[spencerhenry]

never seen a howa up close. on all the bolt rifles i have, remingtons, winchesters, kimbers, as the bolt handle lifts, it retracts the firing pin and it stays cocked. if the trigger is grossly out of adjustment the firing pin will drop as soon as the bolt is closed.
i still do not understand what you mean by "locks up", do you mean that the trigger is completely immobilized, or is it more than that. if it is just the trigger, what happens to free it up when the rifle is disassembled? seems like a simple thing to figure out what happens, is the trigger pivot seized, or does some part of the safety get dislodged under recoil.
any competent gunsmith should be able to figure out your problem quickly.

[BigBear]

never seen a howa up close. on all the bolt rifles i have, remingtons, winchesters, kimbers, as the bolt handle lifts, it retracts the firing pin and it stays cocked. if the trigger is grossly out of adjustment the firing pin will drop as soon as the bolt is closed.
i still do not understand what you mean by "locks up", do you mean that the trigger is completely immobilized, or is it more than that. if it is just the trigger, what happens to free it up when the rifle is disassembled? seems like a simple thing to figure out what happens, is the trigger pivot seized, or does some part of the safety get dislodged under recoil.
any competent gunsmith should be able to figure out your problem quickly.


Rgr, Howa is pretty darn similiar to the Remington system. What I mean by "lockup" is that the trigger is completely immobilized once it breaks on the first shot. It will not move after that. Bolt guns are very easy to work on and I've dissassembled it and tried to figure it out but I can't seem to figure out what is wrong as everything is lining up, no clearance issues, etc... But I'm not a gunsmith by any stretch of the immagination.... Anyways, I took it to a smithy this morning so we shall see what may become.

[BigBear]

Got it. The bottom metal was making contact with the trigger which didn't allow the trigger to complete reset.... A little dremmel work was all she needed.

A big thanks to Bravo Arms for doing the work.