Does this look like a light primer strike due to...?

EL34/6L6

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Next to an unfired round....does this look like a light primer strike due to the rifle or is this ammo fault related? (The strike looks pretty deep to me)

My thought is that it could be new rifle quirks, because it was happening fairly often with this ammo for it to be that bad of an ammo batch. But then again, the strike looks sufficient so might be the ammo?
Also, as time went on it was happening a bit less.
Interested in opinions, as always...

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Did the casing with the firing pin impact fire as expected?

Sometimes there may be grease or other "gunk" in the bolt that can interfere with how the firing pin strikes. Consistent "light strikes" on a range of different ammo makes can suggest that there's a mechanical issue.
 
I had about 5 pails of the Federal BYOB (1375 round pails)

They were so horrible that I sold them off.

What gun are you using?
 
Try another gun, I don't use Federal as I got a wack of miss fires from them.

Another test is spin them around, so they get struck somewheres else.
 
Another test is spin them around, so they get struck somewheres else.

Yep, sometimes the primer isn't evenly applied or has separated from the rim for some reason (rough shipping/handling?). The strike looks good, most rounds will go off if rechambered 180 degrees from the previous impact.
 
Pull some bullets . . .

I had some FTF that had good strikes like that this Spring. I pulled the bullets out and the primer was fragmented and loosely mixed with the powder. Strike marks looked good but didn't fire after 2-3 rotated re-tries. Both Fed Auto-match 40g RNL and Herters 36G HV-HP bulk boxed, prob mis-handled in 'supply chain'. Boxes were only 3-4 years old.
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Thanks everyone,

This was Federal black pack ammo.
The primer strikes on the successfully fired casings looked near identical.
The rifle was a Kriss Vector 22lr CRB, and the issue was also occurring with my second Vector 22lr.

I also tried some Federal Blue box value pack and occurrences were less often but still present occasionally.
The rounds with light strikes would sometimes fire when I rechambered them, other times not.
Sometimes the initial strike would bend the rim enough for it not to seat properly again against the face of the chamber.

These rifles were essentially fired out of the box, so after two straight days of shooting them I stripped and cleaned and oiled them.
I'm looking to go out Monday to see what day three with the rifles and this ammo brings.
I'm also going to bring some polymer coated CCI rounds to try.

I do appreciate and I'm now leaning towards the cause of this being a primer integrity issue thanks to fellow gunner Buck1950. A very likely scenario I think.
 
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There are some surprising number of gun problems that somehow go away when you clean and lubricate them. Doesn't solve everything, but it's one of the first things to try.
 
There are some surprising number of gun problems that somehow go away when you clean and lubricate them. Doesn't solve everything, but it's one of the first things to try.
Absolutely! Although, I like to see how a brand new gun performs out of the box just for curiosity's sake.
But I don't recommend doing it as standard procedure because lots of people prefer to strip and inspect/oil before firing...which is perfectly understandable.
Disclaimer!
(Of course always go over a firearm before you fire it...the bore, chamber, action, mag, safety, etc I'm only referring to not taking it down and oiling)
 
One more thing El34, re your last post about cleaning. When I bought my A22 I looked inside the ejection port. I found oodles of debris, so checked everywhere including inside the trigger group. So I stripped the rifle completely, cleaned all and re-lubed with synth-grease. Some bits were metal shavings and some were plastic from the stock. Also cleaned the barrel for good measure, had 'old' lube there as well. Not what you'd expect from a $400+ tx-in purchase. My B22 last Fall wasn't a bit sullied, tho I cleaned the heck out of it anyway. Just my fiddly nature. I want to know what's there and what's not.
 
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