Had a mis-fire/dud with my 357 today

[gonoles_1980]

first one ever with my own loads. I tried firing it 3 times, no luck, the primer had a nice dimple in the middle. just pulled the bullet, plenty of Vih N320 inside, so I'm guessing it's just a bad primary, a CCI 500. I guess the only real loss it the boom and the primer.

 

[WestKentucky]

Yep. It happens. Recap and retry.

 

[gonoles_1980]

I guess one in every 2700 rounds is acceptable . My first dud in the 357 was factory ammo, that was last year.

 

[lauderdale]

When I first read your post I though about Rain Dodgers thread (CCI primer issue)? But one in 2700?

 

[joem1945]

I have found CCI primers with no anvil in the cup. Very rare but I use a lot of primers.

 

[billybob44]

I have found CCI primers with no anvil in the cup. Very rare but I use a lot of primers.

^^^+1
I saw this same thing noted in a different thread on Wolf primers..I NOW check every anvil before I turn over my primer flip tray..Bill.

 

[243winxb]

A weak firing pin spring may be the cause in an older firearm. The velocity of the pin is what counts.

 

[moxie]

Yup, weak spring, OR, primer not fully bottomed out. What priming method are you using? Are you checking EACH primer with your finger to see if it's recessed a bit? Are you checking for presence of anvil?

IMO, one dud in 2700 is not acceptable. Far from it.

 

[TexasDon]

I've had more problems with factory ammo than with reloads. Especially with factory 22 lr ammo back when it was available EVERYWHERE, like feed stores and Western Auto and the small Mom & Pop country stores around the country..!!

Actually I've had 2 primer issues in many years with reloads, they were Win primers mainly because thats what I always bought.
And out of the two misfires, I never did investigate WHY they did not fire??
But it wasn't the gun......
TxD

 

[rcmodel]

I can recall two misfires in the last 50 years.

Both were with GI issue 5.56 ammo in a GI issue M-16 in 1969.

Neither LC-68 case had a flash hole in it.

As for recent reports of non- firing primers?

No idea, except maybe some corners were cut trying to keep up production in the last two years.

I have never had a CCI primer misfire in my life.
And never seen one without an anvil.

(Which would be quickly spotted and weeded out in the primer flipper tray before loading them in the first place.)

rc

 

[gonoles_1980]

When I pop out the primer, I'll look to see if there is a missing anvil. Guess that's something else I should check for in future reloading sessions.

For those saying weak firing pin, I don't think it's that, this gun will fire the mis-fires I get from my charter arms 38spl, it's probably only had just under 3000 rounds in it. I'm firing a Ruger LCR357, seems like a pretty sturdy gun.

 

[Jesse Heywood]

I would assume the primer wasn't fully seated. But that's just my WAG. I've had more than a couple. About 3 weren't fully seated. 3-4 due to a light mainspring, and one I never figured out..

 

[gonoles_1980]

This is what the primer looks like. It looks like a good firing pin strike to me. I'll pop out the primer tomorrow and check for the anvil. Then I'll take a hammer to it and see if I can make it explode.

 

[Joea132]

I wouldn't take a hammer to it. If you are really curious, find a friend with a 357 and try it in theirs. But chalk it up to a primer failure and move on.

 

[joneb]

Here is a pic of a F-150 with no primer compound http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=86879&d=1224995983
Recently I found a CCI 350 with no anvil.
I inspect my primers before seating.

 

[gonoles_1980]

One more step to the reloading process, checking the primers. Part of the continuous process improvement. Here's a picture of the primers. The one on the left is the one that failed, the two on the right (next to the 41) are unused primers. It's hard to tell in the picture, but the one on the left does look different, but that could be due to it have gunpowder sitting on it. Though I was using N320 which would be less likely for the powder to make it dark.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

so I'm guessing it's just a bad primary, a Win CCI 500.

Am I the only one in 16 posts who thinks it's strange the OP said the primer was a win CCI 500 primer? Was it a Winchester or a CCI primer?

 

[gonoles_1980]

Fixed it ArchAngelCD, it was a CCI 500 primer and Winchester brass.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I'm surprised you had a bad CCI primer. Are these new production primers since the shortage or pre-shortage primers? I'm wondering if the increased production pressure is going to start to manifest itself in poor QC across the board???

 

[Rule3]

Plus the OP said he stuck it 3 times so it is not likely a high primer.

Stuff happens. Calculate how many gazillion primers are produced there may be a bad one every so often.

 

[Slamfire]

I bought a very used M586, the previous owned shot PPC with it, said he fired about 40K of 148 LSWC with 2.7 Bullseye and Federal primers.

Federal primers are the most sensitive primer on the market, thin cups and special sensitive priming compound.

I took the thing out in 40ish weather and shot a 158 LSWC with 12.0 grains AA#9 (a ball powder) with WSP. The weather was cold, there were snow flakes in the air, it was overcast and the wind was blowing. The ammunition had been overnight in the bed of the truck.

I had misfires, no hangfires, and I had squibs with a load I tested in 103 F weather. I had rounds that were anywhere between full power and squib. My load was with a 158 LRN with 12.0 grains AA#9. I used WSP primers. AA#9 is a very fine ball powder. It shot just fine in warm weather.

One round left a bullet in the throat of the 586. The bullet stuck in the 586 throat had a column of crusty/clumped ball powder behind it. Ball powder was all over the mechanism, I had to get a paper towel and wipe it out from under the extractor star, cylinder recess. Luckily I had a long shafted screwdriver and was able to knock the lead bullet out of the throat and continue shooting.

As you can see, the primer looks fairly well smacked.

What I did was change to a factory new mainspring. Next time I took it out, the weather was 50ish and I had positive ignition and no squibs!

So, if you have a used pistol, I recommend changing mainsprings. CCI primers have thicker cups than other brands, that can be an aggravating factor. I am of the opinion that with a light or shallow firing pin strike you can break the primer cake in the primer without the primer going off. I have taken rifle primers that were well hit but would not ignite, put a primer on a stove burner and the primer went off. (It was under a frying pan). If your pistol is new, look to federal primers and stay away from ball powder.

M586

 

[gamestalker]

Wow, this has me wondering also. I have been working off my stash that is at least 6 or 7 yrs. old for the most part, but I just recently bought 5k of CCI-500's a couple weeks ago. Sure hope it's not a QC issue the result of the drastic increase in production. I'm rather concerned, as this isn't the first, but a recent rash of CCI mis fires.

And personally, in the 30+ yrs. of reloading I've yet to experience a single mis-fire, CCI and Winchester have been the only one's I use.

GS

 

[Stormin.40]

I had a CCI500 primer fail a few months ago. I expect is was the gun though, I tried 3 times in double action and it would not fire, 4th try single action and it fired.

This was my first primer failure in >6000 primers.

 

[Old Squid]

I had a cci fail on me a couple of weeks ago. I stripped the round and couldn't find anything obvious. I'm going to chalk it up to an improperly seated primer and move on.

 

[TBJK]

I've had several FTF with factory loads. Come to think of it I think they were all Winchester 40 S&W