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Bad primers?

mike992mike992 Member Posts: 62 ✭✭
I am reloading for a Colt Official Police .38 and a
M28 S&W Highway Patrolman 357.
I bought a brick of magnum small pistol Win. primers and a brick
of Std. Remington small pistol primers for loading.
The Remington primers snapped on a cylinder full of 38s all 6 times in the Colt.
The Rems will go off if hit by the hammer a second time.
The Winchesters gave me no trouble until today.

In the 357, the Winchesters in .38 cases (1-2 times reloaded) go off fine, but not in the 357 (fired once) cases.

Both pistols have never failed with factory ammo. The Colt doesnt strike the primers all that hard but the S&W hits them HARD.
I bought these primers from seperate places and it just seems strange. I have reloaded for several years now and this is the first time this happened.

Interestingly the Rem primers also get used for my Colt SAA 32-20 which has an EXTREMELY light action job, but it has not failed with those primers for over 150 loads? It just doesnt make sense, especially since the S&W 357 hits the cases so hard and the Colt SAA has little hammer tension. Any suggestions would be appreciated Thanks.

Comments

  • mike992mike992 Member Posts: 62 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    About 1 in 100 rounds I reload doesn't go bang . I use CCI BR2 large rifle. Has anyone else had a problem with these or could it be something else. Thanks
  • Mr. GunzMr. Gunz Member Posts: 1,621 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    What gun are you using?
  • perry shooterperry shooter Member Posts: 17,390
    edited November -1
    Hello Mike when I first started loading I was using a single station press RCBS and had to lube the cases I put some case lube on my finger tips and then at the primer stroke had to pick up the primer This got case lube on the inside ANVIL area and killed the primer on over 50% of them as soon as I started useing an auto primer feed I got 100% good primer performance. Just a thought either that or you migh not be fully seating them and the firing pin just seats the primer but does not set it off. Cheers Karl.
  • HandLoadHandLoad Member Posts: 15,998
    edited November -1
    Yep,as a follow-up to PerryShooter - Primers HATE oilfumes, oil of any kind, and moisture - it kills them.

    Don't store your primers anywhere near oil - if your reloading rig is in the garage, store them elsewhere. If you store oiled guns in a safe, store the primers and ammo elsewhere.

    Safest place in the house=sock drawer!!! NO OIL!
  • mike992mike992 Member Posts: 62 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I appreciate your help. The rifle is a savage 110 in 30-06. I store the primers in the gun safe with a "Golden Rod" dehumidifier. After i size the cases I wash them and left them dry totaly dry. Also I use a hand held auto primer and I spill the primers into the tray to avoid touching them.. Maybe they been sittin on the shelf at the store for ever.
  • je2140je2140 Member Posts: 225 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I'd try them with a different rifle.
  • bpostbpost Member Posts: 32,664 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I would check the firing pin strike first. If you have a bit of head space on your cases from pushing the shoulder back a bit too far and some gunk inside the bolt slowing the firing pin you can get that type of misfire.
  • JustCJustC Member Posts: 16,056 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I'm thinking more like a weak firing pin spring, too short of a pin, or something dragging inside the bolt body. Other than that,..maybe excessive case sizing resulting in too much headspace causing the case to float fwd during firing pin strike, cause it to incompletely crush the anvil.

    It is harder to kill a primer than you think.
  • mike992mike992 Member Posts: 62 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Yeah but 1 in a 100? Should I reload that case with a new primer and see if it just happens to that case?
  • bpostbpost Member Posts: 32,664 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by mike992
    Yeah but 1 in a 100? Should I reload that case with a new primer and see if it just happens to that case?


    That will work if you screw the decapping pin all the way down so you know you are doing no sizing on the case as you deprime. Be careful; that primer is now rather sensitive. Does it fire if you try to fire it for the second time?

    The next primer that fires in THAT case does not mean the problems we suspect are not present. The primer hit is light enough to fail ONLY 1% of the time. So you would have to so a statistical analysis to determine if it was that case causing the problem.

    I would look for a busted or hanging spring, junk and gunk in the bolt binding the spring or pin or cases with tons of headspace caused by shoving the shoulder back way too far during resizing..
  • OdawgpOdawgp Member Posts: 5,380 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    How do you store your rifle?
    Do you take the compression off of the main spring?

    I have a ruger m77 that did this. i suspected the primes as well. but only because the rifle was band new. i worked with the gunshop i bought it from and we decided that it had a bad sprg. Ruger first replaced the sprg. this decreased the number of times that it wouldn't go BOOM. but didn't fix it 100%. then they took the whole gun back and reworked the saftey. since then it has gone BOOM everytime since.
    I was told cci primers have the hardest primer cup of all. and a weak main sprg will not have enough inertia to crush it sufficiatly enough to ignite.
  • mike992mike992 Member Posts: 62 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I don't take the compression off. I was always told not to dry fire the gun. Is this an urban legend or is is better to relieve the pressure on it?
  • JustCJustC Member Posts: 16,056 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    you release the firing pin spring by rotating the bolt into battery while you pull the trigger at the same time. The firing pin spring will release and you will not dry fire it. This works on most all bolt rifles. Always take the pressure off the springs.
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