Prologue to dud primers

[illinoisburt]

A while back I posted that I had run into some reloaded rounds that did not fire. I was suspect of the primers, though a bunch of folks were sure I must have inadvertently got spent ones mixed into my process somewhere.

Well I set the rest of that brick aside and moved on. Had some loading to do tonight and thought maybe I was worried about nothing, after all I've been at this a long time and it must have been contaminated or something. So put the rest of the last sleeve into in a tray and took a gander.

Three of these are not like the others! Looks like most of the priming compound is missing and the anvil is sitting a bit off. I think we have a definitive answer. I got a bad batch!

 

[2ndtimer]

Hmmm, Winchester, no big surprise there. Hope they don’t leak around the edge and engrave your bolt face in addition to the duds.

 

[illinoisburt]

FYI Lot number is HKL689G.

 

[Blue68f100]

Depending on how many you have it may be worth the effort to contact Winchester. Send them the lot number along with some close up views of the 3 primers in question. They normally do a replacement 2 for1 if they determine there is a problem. So it's a way to increase your primer stock free of charge.

 

[Lennyjoe]

I ran into the same issue a few years back in Arizona (around 2011) with 1K brick of Winchester large pistol primers that I used on .45 ACP loads. Had about 10% that took an extra strike to fire or didn’t fire at all. I set that can aside and eventually used them up on the range. Haven’t had a problem since.

 

[illinoisburt]

Depending on how many you have it may be worth the effort to contact Winchester. Send them the lot number along with some close up views of the 3 primers in question. They normally do a replacement 2 for1 if they determine there is a problem. So it's a way to increase your primer stock free of charge.

I've got about 700 of this box left. No issues with the first 2 flats. This one had 8 total duds. I think for now I will simply inspect all of them with a strong light and pull any which look suspect as I work through the others. Will need to check receipts, think this was purchased in 2018.