I recommend reading this article.
http://www.shootersjournal.com/Features/Haps/ItDidn'tGoBang.pdf
A potential reason your primers are not igniting may be an inadequate firing pin strike. (Which may be by design. I can imagine that the firearm maker used the lightest mainspring, to give the lightest trigger pull) Or an offcenter strike, because of poor manufacturing processes and control.
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I find this very frustrating because it becomes a race to the bottom.
In 1999 Winchester changed their nickel plated WLR, WSR, heck their entire product line, to "increase primer sensitivity and combat off center strikes".
What happened is that the new "brass" WSR primers pierce at loads that never bothered the old wonderful nickel plated primers.
So why are primer manufacturers making their primers so sensitive? : because they don’t like people claiming their primers are garbage because they won't fire off in "ole Betsy". The fact that Ole Betsy may have old mainsprings, a poorly designed firing mechanism with insufficient ignition power, and the owner may have installed reduced power mainsprings, is unlikely to be assigned as a cause on the internet.
Nope, it is all the primers fault.
As long as you reload, you can find primers that are ultra sensitive. Federal primers come to mind. They are proud that their primers are the most sensitive on the market. However, don’t use one in a military mechanism, like a Garand. They are so sensitive that I had two slamfires in Garands, one that blew the back of the receiver off.
In fact, don’t use factory ammo. You have no control of the primers the factory uses. It might be a cold day, you might have a little oil around the firing pin, your firing pin strike may already be off center, the primer cup might be thicker than normal, and when you need your pistol, it may not go bang.
