Primer Dud

[fishnate]

Went to the range on Saturday and had a CCI primer not go off!  This is the first time this has happened to me.  Just wondering how often this happens.  Would hate to have that happen during a late hunt or somthing!

[cwuwildcat]

Does it look like it was struck?  Doesn't happen too often.

[fishnate]

Oh ya definetly got hit.

[JackOfAllTrades]

CCI's are known for having hardest primer cup.

Personally, I'd really take a look at the rifle/bolt/firing pin to make sure there isn't some gunk in there. Maybe polish the pin and use a thinner lubricant in the firing pin channel. I would also take a look at my reloading process, as a primer that is not seated deep in the cartridge primer pocket may absorb some of the inertia of the firing pin strike. If you use a progressive press with a set depth for primer insert, you might adjust that to make them seat deeper. The one that didn't fire; Take it apart and see if the primer pocket is dirty or malformed. Are you loading all the same type/brand of brass in a batch? There are many reasons why a primer may not have fired.

CCI's have functioned flawlesly for me for near 30 years. I regard them as very reliable primers. Federals are considered the softest and maybe the largest in diameter. Remingtons are hard too. I've probably seen more misfires of Remington reloads than any in all my time at the gun range. I don't use them.

-Steve

[sakoshooter]

CCI's are known for having hardest primer cup.

Personally, I'd really take a look at the rifle/bolt/firing pin to make sure there isn't some gunk in there. Maybe polish the pin and use a thinner lubricant in the firing pin channel. I would also take a look at my reloading process, as a primer that is not seated deep in the cartridge primer pocket may absorb some of the inertia of the firing pin strike. If you use a progressive press with a set depth for primer insert, you might adjust that to make them seat deeper. The one that didn't fire; Take it apart and see if the primer pocket is dirty or malformed. Are you loading all the same type/brand of brass in a batch? There are many reasons why a primer may not have fired.

CCI's have functioned flawlesly for me for near 30 years. I regard them as very reliable primers. Federals are considered the softest and maybe the largest in diameter. Remingtons are hard too. I've probably seen more misfires of Remington reloads than any in all my time at the gun range. I don't use them.

-Steve

I agree with Steve. I've used CCI for just about 30 years also without a hitch. I would also agree that the main reason is usually from not being seated against the bottom of the primer pocket.

[Heredoggydoggy]

Last year, when primers were somewhat scarce, I bought 1,000 Wolf primers.  Built some test loads, and while shooting I had a misfire.  Primer had a good pin indent, but just to be sure, I tried firing it a couple more times.  No dice.  Took the load home, pulled the bullet, dumped the powder and deprimed it gently.  Turned out there was no priming compound in the primer.  Last week I was talking to a couple of guys that do a lot of target shooting, and they both said that they had the same thing happen with CCI's, too.  So it happens to the best of them.  Now I look at the anvil side of my primers when they are in the primer tray to see if they all got the go-juice in them.

[Jamieb]

25 years using almost exclusively CCI and never a dud.

[fishnate]

I have also used CCI for everything i reload with no prob. Guess I got unlucky.

[JackOfAllTrades]

Maybe unlucky, but take a look at the disasembled case and your firing pin/channel if feasable to see if there are signs of what went wrong. Decap the case slowly with adequate eye and hand protection to see if the primer is lacking compound.

-Steve

[Heredoggydoggy]

I shot thousands of rounds using CCI, Winchester, etc. primers for over 40 years and never had a bad primer until that one last year.  That's unusual, because if there's something defective in anything, I'm the one that gets it.  No matter how vigilant a company is, once in a while a defect can slip by QC, I guess.

[Huntboy]

I had something like this happen once, either CCi or Win. I don't remember for sure. Talked to one of the more knowledgable gentlemen at the range, he told me to try it again. The primer had a mark from the firing pin already , ran it through again a fired right off. I can only guess I didn't do a good job seating it.

[JackOfAllTrades]

My nephew pulled up on a buck last fall and had a factory Remington Corelokt fail to fire. He cycled the bolt and still got the buck. He still has the cartridge. I should pull it to see if the primer has any compound in it.

-Steve

[quadrafire]

My nephew pulled up on a buck last fall and had a factory Remington Corelokt fail to fire. He cycled the bolt and still got the buck. He still has the cartridge. I should pull it to see if the primer has any compound in it.

-Steve

I had it happen once with Rem Corelockt, and didn't get the buck.

[sakoshooter]

My nephew pulled up on a buck last fall and had a factory Remington Corelokt fail to fire. He cycled the bolt and still got the buck. He still has the cartridge. I should pull it to see if the primer has any compound in it.

-Steve

It's worth a box of shells if you send it to Remington.

[JackOfAllTrades]

Hazmat fee via UPS would cost more than a box of shells.  I don't know that I want to ship an indented primer/live round anyway.  My luck, the damn thing would fire, hit a postal worker, and my name would be the return address.

I'll have my nephew reloading this summer anyway. He'll be another 'convert' from factory ammo.  (I don't know that I've purchased more than a couple boxes of rifle ammo at all in more than 25 years. Other than rimfire stuff)

I've always regarded Remington ammo to be pretty dependable though, and if I needed to buy ammo, I would reach for the green and yellow box. Second choice would be Winchester Silver tips.

-Steve