In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
CCI Benchrest Primer question
Kari Prager
Member Posts: 67 ✭✭
Hello all,
I got given a batch of CCI Benchrest Primers, both large rifle and small rifle size, to try out. The small ones didn't ignite reliably at all in my Model 40 Savage 22 Hornet or my CZ Hornet, the large ones were more of a "click-bang" than a "bang", and had occasional misfires in several different K31's and Enfields. I cleaned the bolts, there was no grease in there, the firing pin protrusion was fine. I'm puzzled; I thought these were the hot set-up. Any other experiences?
Kari
I got given a batch of CCI Benchrest Primers, both large rifle and small rifle size, to try out. The small ones didn't ignite reliably at all in my Model 40 Savage 22 Hornet or my CZ Hornet, the large ones were more of a "click-bang" than a "bang", and had occasional misfires in several different K31's and Enfields. I cleaned the bolts, there was no grease in there, the firing pin protrusion was fine. I'm puzzled; I thought these were the hot set-up. Any other experiences?
Kari
Comments
Kari
I had the same problem! If you went back to fresh primers and your problem went away you should suspect contaminated primers.
In my case it was WD-40. used by a lot of gun guys, it is a penatrating agent and, if you can smell it in the air, it will ruin primers fast!
I now keep automotive type stuff in a closet on one side of the garage and powders and primers in a sealed closet on the other side. Problem has not returned! Check your area for a spray can of WD-40 or similar product they will all destroy primers at a distance of 5 to 10 feet[8D]
That is a really interesting idea. Half my garage is devoted to reloading, the other half to motorcycles. So there is a lot of WD 40 and various lubricants and cleaners floating around.
I know the provenance of the primers, and they were not old, and were stored according to best practices (the guy is a benchrest shooter). At first I thought it was residual lubricant from the Hornady spray lube I use, but I tried using Imperial die wax, just a smidge, and the problem remained exactly the same. I suppose I could try stronger mainsprings, but first
I'll either switch back to Federals or buy some brandnew CCI to try. It is sort of stupid
anyway, what I am doing, since I am shooting military bolt rifles which group 1.5" to 2.00"
on a good day. The Hornet likes small pistol primers, per recommendation from Hornady (?)
in one of the magazines, and they seem to work fine, even under identical environmental
conditions as the CCi BR primers. This is a great forum! - Kari
I had a feeling you'd have a car or bike hobby! Most guys who reload do cars or bikes at some time in thier life.
My boss asked me once why I didn't do hot rod stuff any more?
Told him pistols were a lot easier to move around the garage!
Figure out a way to seperate your bike stuff and I'll bet you'll find your WD-40 was within 5 or 6 feet of you primers.
I also had another experience but with powder going bad.
At the time I had a large bedroom with a real walk-in closet. This thing was big enough to keep my cloths in and have a small locker and reloading bench in it!
It was in a home in a small group of houses, 4 to be exact, that were all built with in 20 foot of each other. One night the middle house caught fire, it was the only one damaged, and right after that all my ammmo went in the crapper with misfires, bad accuracy, blooper loads, you name it.
Fresh loads did the same thing! I went nuts trying to figure this out. At last I was telling another club member what was going on and he asked if I lived in the same area the fire had been in. When he found out how close I had been to it we pulled the powder from my little storage cabinet and looked at it under a magnifiying glass, careful doing that to, and sure enough we saw the powder was actually breaking down! Oddly I did not get a bad smell from it as I thought you would. I chucked 6 lbs of powder re stocked and found a better way to store my components!
I now use a side by side refrigerator! One side for primers one side for powder! No latch on it so I don't have to worry about pressure buildup in case of a fire, just the standard magnets in the seals. Works great and no need to worry about airbourne things lik WD-40.[8D]
! I stored my primers in a wooden cupboard with the door shut, except for the particular box I was using, which stayed on my reloading bench. That's where the trouble may start. What has me scratching my head is that I treated my Federal and Remington primers exactly the same way and had no problems with them. I thinking of large tupperware boxes to store them in, so I can keep the same arrangement of most in the closet,and a small sampling of brands on the shelf above the bench.
Kari
"Against stupidity the very gods
Themselves contend in vain.'
Friedrich von Schiller
You have a plan and a possible explanation as to where the contamination happened. One of my favorite sayings: forewarned is forearmed!
Tupperware a good idea, suggest a cracker in the container to control moisture from "sweating plastic". this might not be an issue in your area but it gets plenty hot here in L.A.[8D]