first failure of my reloaded ammo....

Status
Not open for further replies.
SSN Vet

SSN Vet

Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2006
Messages
6,510
Location
The Dark Side of the Moon
first problem of any kind with my reloaded ammo.

Once fired RP case...tumbled, sized and trimmed
Win small rifle primer
25 gr of H335
Win 55 gr. FMJ BT

I've shot hundreds of these in my AR.

Had a FTF yesterday at range.

pimer looked very normal, with a nice deep firing pin strike indent dead center, but no POP whatsoever.

Bullet was not moved at all, as evidenced by the crimp groove being exactly where I seat to and the same OAL as the rest of the batch.

I loaded it back up and gave it a second tap ......... nothing!

I haven't pulled the bullet yet and inspected. But I'm assuming it is a failed primer.

All other rounds (~150) , before and after, fired as expected.

I've never had a failure of any kind with this rifle after pushing some 700 rounds through it.

Are primer failures rare?
 
45 years of reloading and 10s of thousands of rounds reloaded and never a failed primer on bullet fired in a stock firearm. Now I have missed the powder once or twice in the early years and there is only one person to blame for that. And that would be Chief aka Maxx Load
 
Primer failures have been very rare (not happened yet to me in my reloading hobby experience of about a year and a half and 12,000 rounds). The only primer-related failures I've had weren't primer failures, they were when I didn't seat the primer fully and the first strike didn't set it off. A 2nd strike always has worked so far for me.
 
Almost certainly a dead primer for some reason.

Anvil missing?
Primer compound missing?

I would pull the bullet and de-prime it and see what happened.

BTW: It is so rare that it hasn't happened to me in 48 years of reloading.

I have had several factory loads do it, and in a couple of them, there was no flash hole in the case. But that obviously can't happen with reloads!

In others, it was just very old mil-sup ammo.

rcmodel
 
If the bullet is crimped tightly, it could be a case of no powder is in cartridge, and the primer did not have enough energy to move the bullet.

Since you hit the primer twice, there is a good chance this is what happened.
 
When you consider the millions and millions of primers made each year, statistically, you're bound to run across one that has something wrong with it eventually. I've had two of them in 45 years of reloading, that I can remember, and both were sans priming compound. Stuff happens.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
If the bullet is crimped tightly, it could be a case of no powder is in cartridge, and the primer did not have enough energy to move the bullet.

Since you hit the primer twice, there is a good chance this is what happened.
Click to expand...

One problem with this theory is that I didn't hear anything. And my shooting partner didn't hear anything either.

We were doing "fast reload drills" where we intentionally short loaded mags for each other, varying how many rounds were loaded. So we were paying extra attention to the report and feel of the rifle, finding it very easy to distinguish the last round BHO.

So I was surprised to have no "bang", but figured I had missed the BHO, so I loaded my next mag and cycled the charging handle, and was again surprised to see a "live round" eject.

My shooting partner just completed the USMC marksmanship coach course and says he's seen "duds" on their range. But then again, they shoot a LOT more rounds in a weekend than I do in a year.

I can't imagine that I missed the primer pop, though I guess it's possible.
 
PUleese pull the bullet and tell us what happened.

No powder?
No anvil?
No compound?

Inquiring minds want to know!

rcmodel
 
Inquiring minds want to know!
Click to expand...

I'll yank it tonight and post results.

Needless to say, I will be VERY embarrassed if there's no powder in there.

OBTW, I only have a kinetic bullet puller. Should I be concerned about whacking this "live round" on the concrete floor?

these light bullets with firm crimps don't come out easilly with the "whack it" approach.

Perhaps this merrits the press and vice grips approach.
 
I have never had a FTF in 30+ years from a bad primer until I bragged about it. :banghead:
Next range day I had 1.:uhoh:
 
Sorry guys....

didn't mean to tease...but I gots to get out of work, drive home, pick up daughter at dance class, eat dinner, practice multiplication tables with other daughter, play bedtime police and then......pull the bullet and inspect.

I promise to post pics.... I'll even try to use that fickle macro setting on the digi cam.
 
I'm curious to hear about the results of your pull as well.

In other news, I pulled 10 rounds of .223 the other night, they were crimped. took between 30-40 whacks, each, to get them to come out. I wore safety glasses while doing this, but I have used a kinetic puller on many fully loaded rounds with no issue, so I wouldn't be too concerned. Always wear safety glasses when working with live primers, YMMV, etc., etc.
 
Should I be concerned about whacking this "live round" on the concrete floor?
Click to expand...
Not a big concern but I would strike the puller on the end grain piece of lumber ...saves wear and tear on the puller.
 
I can't remember a bad primer in 30+ years of loading (had to fire twice a few times) A couple of weeks ago I was shooting bulk pack .22 shells and had one that wouldn't discharge in 4 different guns, that's a first for me.
 
I pulled a "no powder charge" error once years ago. Changed my methods since then. With muffs on, it sounded like the hammer fell on an empty chamber. No pop at all. I jacked the empty case out of the chamber and let the slide go. The next round would not chamber because the previous bullet was stuck in the rifling. That was very lucky.

So I would not count on hearing the primer. OTOH, If the primer had fired I would expect the bullet to be moved somewhat if not stuck in the barrel. So I would expect a bad primer. Never had one of those.
 
mystery solved...

left is an unfired reload, center is the culprit, and right is a fired reload....
note that some flattening of the primer did occur, so something happened....

attachment.php

dud1.JPG

saved myself some whacking and sacrificed the bullet by pulling it on the press

dud2.JPG

for the record....there was a full charge of powder in the case....

dud3.JPG

The guilty party is revealed.....Win SRP!
Primer from dud on left, brand new primer on right.
Note that the anvil on the left is blackened, as if there may have been some burn, but the cup is empty. On the right, you can see the greenish primer compound in the cup and the anvil is clean and shiny.

attachment.php

dud4.JPG

I have no reason to think that the powder in this one case is bad so my conclusion....... a bad primer! :(

Maybe I should send it back to Winchester and try to get a freebie out of them?

I'm happy it wasn't a "no charge" as that would really undermine my confidence that I know what the heck I'm doing. :scrutiny:
 
I've had probably a dozen or so dud primers in my reloaded 40 S&W rounds, this is out of about 10,000 total rounds. A second strike with my PT-140 Pro has always set them off, I've been using CCI primers, I've heard that they are a little on the hard side.
 
I don't know bud, but that primer looks fired to me. Is it possible that you loaded a case that already had a fired primer in it, maybe?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

P
  • Locked
Failures to fire
Replies
7
Views
400
prickett
P
C
  • Locked
.223 Reloading Question
2
Replies
39
Views
2K
kcofohio
kcofohio
N
  • Locked
First reloading dud
Replies
6
Views
581
Navy joe
N
2
  • Locked
Issue Reloading .25 ACP
Replies
21
Views
493
Blue68f100
Blue68f100
C
  • Locked
Failure to Chamber / Eject
Replies
8
Views
605
rfwobbly
rfwobbly
Back
Top