Box of bad primers or - UPDATE

[4570]

Finally got around to this - took a unmarked mag primer from package - put it on anvil and hit with hammer, drastic but it worked primer went off sooo box OK. Took grips off of S&W turned spring screw all the way in then backed it out 1/2 turn. DA trigger pull now stiffer but OK. Loaded 6 cases with CCI primers (no powder/bullets) put into revolver and pulled trigger 6 times - lo and behold 6 loud cracks. Success I now have 988 good CCI magnum primers and a revolver that can fire them Thanks for the tip about the tension spring it did the trick.

Loaded 100 cartridges for my S&W mod 66-2 357mag. I had bought a box of 1000 CCI Magnum Primers (#550 Small Pistol) from WSS last spring and wanted to try them out for target loads. Big surprise - out of 100 rounds exactly 12 fired. All the rest showed the hammer strike on the primer but no bang. Back to the shop and loaded up 20 more rounds but used some 20 year old Winchester Small Pistol primers. Worked like a charm. I usually used regular small pistol primers for all 357 loads.

I'm puzzled - Is it simply a bad bunch of primers or is the cup metal thicker on the magnum primers then on regular small pistol primers and possibly my hammer spring is too weak or ????

I now have 88 catridges to take apart and possibly 900 CCI small pistol magnum primers to get rid of

 

[Cerdan]

Yeah, CCI are harder than most, and mags probably more so. Did you try firing them again or did you just give up on them when they didn't fire?

With about half of my revolvers I can only use soft Federals or they don't fire. I sometimes had to fire the same cartridge three four times before it finally went bang. Switched to Federals and never had a problem since.

 

[brnolvr]

CCI are harder, so you need to make sure your strain screw for your mainspring is screwed in all the way, this will give the hammer maximum oomph.

 

[tjhaile]

I don't think there is anything wrong with your primers or your reloads. First of all, check to make sure that the strain screw in the front of the grip is screwed all the way down. If it is or that doesn't fix it, you likely need a new mainspring. I would also try shooting the ammunition again that didn't fire the first time.

CCI primers are generally considered the hardest to ignite of any brand and magnum primers will exacerbrate the situation. It could be that your mainspring has just enough strength to ignite the Winchester primers, but not the CCI ones.

 

[Cerdan]

It's not necessarily a "problem" with the mainspring. The Wolff spring kit I installed in my 610-3 not only made the trigger-pull feathery lite, it also made the gun unable to ignite anything but Federal primers.

Brand new, my 686-8 had problems igniting Winchester and CCI primers.

 

[tjhaile]

Something's not right with the gun if it can't ignite any commercially available primer with a standard weight mainspring. I would insist that it be fixed under warranty in a new gun.

Given the difficulty of finding any particular brand of primers, I prefer not to limit myself to Federal primers only. In Calgary, at least, I have found that Winchester and/or CCI primers are more readily available.

 

[ajax]

i also would suggest to check the spring tension, if it has lowered for lighter trigger pull it wont ignite some primers(put somemore tension on it) worth a try.

 

[4570]

thanks for the input guys. I would go around the cylinder two or three times and nothing would happen. I'm going to see if I can increase the spring tension on the hammer fall and try the 88 duds again. I'll let you know how it turns out. I really don't want to have to take apart 88 rounds with an inertia hammer - I also put a slight crimp in the LSWC's.

 

[9x25]

I would say it's CCI primers their harder. The same thing happen to me but on the 1911

 

[B]

FWIW it's relatively hard to spoil primers.

 

[JohnC]

are the primers seated below flush?

 

[4570]

are the primers seated below flush?

I wondered about that too so as soon as I returned from the range I put a steel straight edge on the case bottoms - probably checked about 15 or so - all primers were flush.

 

[cement head]

cci primers

I've loaded CCI primers and have never had a problem with either the 586 smith I had or the ruger GP 100 I use them in now . it must be your hammer on your smith and if you can improve that and it still does'nt work then I would contact CCI and let them know .

 

[joe-nwt]

I wondered about that too so as soon as I returned from the range I put a steel straight edge on the case bottoms - probably checked about 15 or so - all primers were flush.

If they are still flush after being hit by the firing pin, They may have been seated out too far. They should have been seated slightly below flush off the start.

 

[4570]

Update

 

[Ganderite]

I load up asome cases with small rifle primers and adjust the spring on a S&W so it just fires them (any lighter and I get misfires). That is the tension I use for pistol primers.

This gives me a known standard of fudge factor.