I recently purchased a new axis in .243 caliber. I worked up some reloads without any misfires. Took it out for whitetail a couple of weeks ago, rattled in a buck, aimed and "click". Tried again as he was leaving and this time it fired but I missed. I found the shell that did not fire and noticed that the firing pin had made a very small dent in the middle of the primer but certainly not enough for it to fire. I continued on and about an hour later, came upon two bucks looking at me at about 60 yards. I lined up and again "click" and they ran away. I was so disgusted I did not look for the shell in the snow.

Any suggestions on what might be going on here?

I live in Saskatchewan so it does get cold but on this day it was not all that cold but was below freezing which I was thinking may be a problem. I have certainly hunted in much colder weather and have not had these problems. In searching the internet it seems there have been some problems with the spring in the bolt which is causing issues engaging the bolt but I could not come up with others with my problem.

I plan to take it back to the gun shop I purchased it at but wanted to see if any of you have ideas on might be going on so I could advise him.

Thanks.