Defective primers ???

CALIFORNIA

CALIFORNIA

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I brought about 35 rounds of reloaded .45 to the range. About five rounds fired normally, the other 30 or so did not fire.

The primers had the usual hammer pin marks, no different from the fired rounds.

Came home, used the bullet puller to open all the cases. All had the usual powder charge.

Deprimed the cartridges, the primers were the usual copper color on the inside, there was no ignition.

Took a couple of these primers to the garage, lay them on the concrete floor, and gave them a good hammer blow. No ignition !

These were Winchester large pistol primers bought at Le Baron. Has anyone out there ever had an similar experience with defective primers?
 
my guess is that you set the primers to high. the firing pin moved them forward but with nothing to hold them in place not enough power for ignition.

depending on how you hit them on the floor it is possible that they will not go off.
 
Depriming live primers is not a good idea to begin with :)

Do you know how primers and ammo were stored ? Might be just moisture (yes, with enough moisture absorbed by primer it will not go off) or +1 on sitting primers too high. I assume you are pretty sure it is not the firing pin issue.
 
Two possibilities - they were reloaded with dirty primer pockets, the residue didn't let the primer seat into the pocket. Second possibility is that the primers were contaminated by either lube/oil/moisture. It is pretty unlikely that 30 primers in a package of 100 were duds.
 
Third and 4th possibilities,defective firing pin or spring.Light firing pin strike for either reason.
I think it is almost impossible that 30 out of 35 primers were duds.
 
Did you try firing any of the duds a second time? Light strikes usually fire on the second try, especially if the primer is seated too high. Misfires are almost always caused by either an insufficient firing pin blow or seating the primer too high. It seems highly unlikely that you got a box of defective primers.

I don't think dirty primer pockets are a problem; I only clean my brass before resizing/depriming it and I have no problems. Depriming live primers is OK as long as you do it gently. Priming compounds are ignited by sudden blows.
 
tjhaile said:
.I don't think dirty primer pockets are a problem; I only clean my brass before resizing/depriming it and I have no problems. Depriming live primers is OK as long as you do it gently. Priming compounds are ignited by sudden blows.
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I agree with the above quote, I have never cleaned primer pockets in handgun brass and have never had a problem with the last 30 years reloading them, same as depriming live primers, just be gentle; I have deprimed many crimped in military brass primers with no problems.
 
iskubits said:
Depriming live primers is not a good idea to begin with :)
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:eek::eek: I wish you would have told me that sooner!!!:eek::eek:




About 2,000 deprimings ago..........:p

the primers were the usual copper color on the inside, there was no ignition
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This may sound like a stupid question: can you actually see the priming compound between the cup and anvil? Copper colored cup or compound? Reason I ask is I've never heard the color of Winchester primers described as "copper" before.:)

After that, I'm siding with the primers-seated-too-high crowd.

Or maybe notso's theory^^^^^^^^^^^
 
Hazmat Suit - Check
Triple layer safety goggles - Check
3 pairs of work gloves - Check
Earplugs and Muffs - Check
Decapping die - Check
Case with live Primer - Check
Primer came out, still have all 9 fingers and 11 toes - Check


:D
 
It's possible you got a bad batch or something else happen to them in storage. Moisture was already mention but there could of been residue inside the case too. What method did you used to clean your brass.


Driller
 
piccolig said:
I brought about 35 rounds of reloaded .45 to the range. About five rounds fired normally, the other 30 or so did not fire.

The primers had the usual hammer pin marks, no different from the fired rounds.

Came home, used the bullet puller to open all the cases. All had the usual powder charge.

Deprimed the cartridges, the primers were the usual copper color on the inside, there was no ignition.

Took a couple of these primers to the garage, lay them on the concrete floor, and gave them a good hammer blow. No ignition !

These were Winchester large pistol primers bought at Le Baron. Has anyone out there ever had an similar experience with defective primers?
Click to expand...

Most probably contamination from case lube/cleaning liquid , gun oil or the ammo got wet at one time.

Factory ammo is sealed around the primer and the bullet preventing water and oils from entering the case. Commercially reloaded ammo is most likely not sealed so should be kept dry and oil free.

I shot an IPSC match a LONG time ago at Guelph Ont about half way through it began to rain then it poured. We kept on with the match and got completely soaked (once you are wet who cares and it was summer) my ammo , .38 super, was in 100rd boxes nose down and was getting wet when opened loading magazines. It worked fine for the match but later in the week I wanted to use the remainder of that match ammo to re-zero my gun after altering something and had several not go off due to dead primers.

Primer sealant is available to reloaders to use on ammo they plan on using for anything serious to prevent that problem. To totally seal the round it must be applied around the case mouth as well.

I would bet that something killed your primers either before, during or after you loaded them.
 
Joe: Winchester Primers are all copper/brass colored it is one of the few primers on the market that aren't silver in color. What he is describing is normal, as it doesn't have any funny colored compounds (like Red glossy stuff on the Federal Regular Series Primers) easily visible in the primers.
 
An acquaintance thought he was being very thorough by cleaning primer pockets with q-tips and paint thinner, this dries very slowly and may leave a residue, caused several misfires. Aside from that, consider high priimers or slide not closing completely(was flare removed?)
 
Glock4ever said:
Joe: Winchester Primers are all copper/brass colored it is one of the few primers on the market that aren't silver in color. What he is describing is normal, as it doesn't have any funny colored compounds (like Red glossy stuff on the Federal Regular Series Primers) easily visible in the primers.
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No, but you can still plainly see the priming compound if you look. Reason I'm asking is, the one defective primer I've had in 16+years has been a primer than had an empty cup, just the cup and anvil, no priming compound.

BTW, I have winchester primers that are silver colored. And plenty of them too........;)
 
Joe - I agree but you pretty much hit it on the head ("the one defective primer") I am not saying it is impossible that he got 30 bad primers but to have some that work and some that don't in one box isn't highly likely, just my 2 pennies. I am leaning towards some sort of contamination/poor aging.
 
I can tell you that it wasn't the seating of the primer, because when I deprimed them afterwards, they would not ignite with a hammer blow on a concrete floor.

They only think I can think of is that my reloads and reloading components are stored in a safe in the basement. Is it possible that humidity caused the primers to fail?
 
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