primer malfunction x3

[AFDoc]

At the range this morning, of the 24 rounds I chambered, I had three rounds fail to discharge.

Cleaned and resized once-fired Rem 7.62x39 brass.
Hornady 123gr SP over 24.5gr of H4198
CCI 200 seated at appropriate depth by Redding press-mounted primer bar.

Rifle: Savage 10 FCM Scout.

Ideas or thoughts? Or just bad primers?

 

[rcmodel]

I have never had a bad CCI primer in 40 plus years of using them.
So, unless there was obvious water damage or oil, I doubt it was bad primers.

Maybe excess headspace due to sizing the shoulder back too far.
The Savage has little firing pin protrusion so?

How did the dents look?

If dents on the misfires were full depth?
I have no idea, unless they were not seated all the way to seat the anvils in the primer pockets.

Seating is not a measurement you can measure, or take for granted because the press primer arm is supposed to be right.

You want to insure the primer cup bottoms out in the bottom of the primer pocket to seat the anvil into the primer compound and preload it.

rc

 

[greyling22]

my first step would be to find somebody with an sks or ak you can try your rounds in. if they work it's your gun, if they don't it's your ammo. if it's the ammo, follow RC's advice.

 

[AFDoc]

rcmodel, thanks for your thoughts. Let me try to provide more information mixed in with a question or two.

rcmodel: Maybe excess headspace due to sizing the shoulder back too far.

I use the Redding full-length sizing die, and I measure case length. I try to follow the instructions to a "T" for loading and setting the dies. How may I determine if I have set the shoulder back too far?

rcmodel: So, unless there was obvious water damage or oil, I doubt it was bad primers.

I went back and examined the box, and it looks clean and dry. Could the natural oil on my fingers be the culprit? I try to handle the primers as little as possible, but sometimes I find it necessary to flip the primer by gently touching them with my finger tip so that I may load it into the Redding primer tube.

rcmodel: How did the dents look?

The dents look appropriate and very similar to those that ignited. Regarding primer seating, I have my press-mounted primer arm set up to ensure the primer seats flush with the bottom of the case.

What about storage of my ammunition? If my ammunition has been sitting in a warm garage, could that have compromised the primers?

 

[AFDoc]

Greyling22,

My son was shooting with me, and one of the three misfires occurred in his rifle. He was shooting a Ruger M77 Compact.

So I am quite sure it was the ammo, but I want to figure out why it happened and how to avoid it in the future.

 

[TaxPhd]

After loading, did you check to make sure all the primers were properly seated? Your issue really sounds like primers weren't fully seated.

 

[rcmodel]

primer arm set up to ensure the primer seats flush with the bottom of the case.

Flush with the bottom of the case isn't fully seated to the bottom of the primer pocket.

Seat so the primer bottoms out in the pocket and preloads the anvil in the primer pellet.
That will be below flush with the case rim.

The primer cup itself should be the depth stop.
Not the primer arm setting.

Case variation will preclude using the primer arm setting as a guide, as cases vary in primer pocket depth, even in the same lot of cases..

rc

 

[gamestalker]

Myself as well have never had a primer fail to fire, ever 30+ yrs. I use CCI's almost exclusively also. The reason I like CCI is because you can feel them bottom out in the pocket with a very positive feeling. It's almost the same cam over type of feeling as one would feel when the shell holder contacts the die.

As RC stated, unless they were contaminated, it's alomst certain to be the seating depth was too shallow.

Did you try to fire them a second time? If they go bang on the second attempt, they weren't seated completely into the bottom of the pocket.


GS

 

[AFDoc]

rcmodel & gamestalker, I will look at my priming system and tweak as necessary to get the primers seated lower.

Thanks for the help and suggestions everyone.

 

[armoredman]

That's one reason I don't use the Remington brass in 7.62x39mm, had primer issues, but one actually fell apart during ignition.
CCI used to work well for me, but once in a while I'd have a light strike with my CZ 527M on them - restrike usually solved the issue. I use Remington 9.5 primers in 7.62x39mm now, all large primer brass like Winchester, and have no issues with either the SA vz-58 or the CZ 527M.
Completely off to the side - have you tried the Berry's 125 grain plated .311 bullets? My 527M loves them.