First time reloader, why so many misfires?

C

corsara

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Hi,

Last night I had the chance to "test" my first ever reloads. I made 38 rounds of .30-06 with IMR4895 and 150 grain FMJ bullets, and Winchester primers. I made a few rounds of different powder measures, and the conclusion was that 50 grain of powder delivers incredible accuracy through my rifle.

However, 1 in every 3 rounds misfired!!!!! Possible reasons? Here is some info:

1) One reason I can think of is the fact that I didn't use a tumbler to clean the brass, but instead washed it with soap, and left it only 24 hours to dry---hence, some of the cases might have been still wet inside. Can that cause a misfire?

2) To seat the primers, I used the Lee primer thing that attaches to the press, and a few of the rounds would "snap" the primer after considerable force, instead of smoothly seating it. Could that be the reason? I don't think so many primers snapped like that though...

Here is a picture. Left one is the misfired round, right one is one that fired from the same reloads.

IMG_20101122_001256.jpg


Thanks in advance for your opinions and suggestions!
 
soft hit on the primer

seems the left one is sitting deeper, than the one on the right, so the firing pin is not hitting it correctly or with enough force to cause it to fire

just my thought and observation
 
The reason the one on the right looks like a harder primer hit is the fact that it went off, and flattened the primer slightly!

It doesn't look like a light strike to me! Some of my guns hit softer than that and they never misfire!

I would suspect that you did not allow them to dry enough.

Water can remain trapped inside cases for days!

Any wayer in the flash hole will neutralize that primer on contact!

I have had .223 cases hold water for 3-4 days and that was when I decided to buy a tumbler!

If you using soap and water be sure to shake out all the water from every case before you set them out to dry!
 
Whatever's going on, it's a problem with ignition. ftaview might be right, but so might you. If your rifle shoots factory ammunition without misfires, probably it's a priming problem. That could be wet cases, oil contaminated primers, or just a bad bunch of primers. The difference in the impressions on the primers on your two cases is probably caused by the breech pressure of the fired round. Be very careful to keep oil away from primers.
Grouch
 
Thanks everyone! I am almost convinced that the wet cases is the problem. It's definitely not the seating depth of the primers, because as a first time reloader, I carefully checked every single round, and I would have noticed a difference.

I just ordered a cheap tumbler from Cabela's. I think, it's called Cabela's tumbler or something like that, costs about 50 bucks or so. I won't be reloading more than 100-150 cases of 30-06 per month, so I definitely won't need a better tumbler.

Thanks everyone!
 
I used winchester primers for handguns, and Federal for rifle, as I found the Winchester primers a tad on the hard side. Federals seem a bit softer. Try 'em out!
 
Stay away from using water and soap to clean cases. Keep them dry always, no matter what anyone else has told you about cleaning cases. If you don't have a tumbler get a fine peice of (0000) steel wool to clean the outside of your cases. I would put the case holder in my drill, and polish them one at a time. Trim all cases, and clean out primer pocket with a hand tool. Also as I mentioned before, Feds seem to work better in rifle for me anyways. You will be much more productive with a tumbler as well. Pop out your primers, and tumble your cases for a few hours. Much better than washing with soap, or doing them one at a time. For the record, I have never ever had a misfire from any of my relaods, and always used a tumbler, or polished by hand with steel wool. Cheers
 
I don't wash fired cases,and I don't even tumble them unless they are dirty or tarnished.As for the cause of the misfires, it sounds like water is the culprit.
 
You may also have a block between the primer pocket and the main body of the case. If the primers are hard to seat you may want to spend the 20.00 on a primer pocket reamer. They come in large and small primer sizes. You should be able to get one that does both.

When you tumble, don't be skimpy on the time. I tumble for 12 hours and my brass looks brand new. It also helps to show issues with the brass when it is that clean.

Good luck.

T
 
federals are a bit softer in the cup- they will ALSO give more misfires and "funny" pressure signs that you THINK are something else- ie craters and flowbacks-until you switch primers and find out it was the primer- i WON'T use them unless ABSOLUTELY necessary- like the op found out, it was MOISTURE in the case that was the problem- that's why i DRY TUMBLE ONLY- with the spent primer in place, to block the media from entering the flashole- and i use cci first, then winchester, then r/p, then federal absolutely if i can't get anythihg else- and that's 40 years of experience talking
 
federals are a bit softer in the cup- they will ALSO give more misfires and "funny" pressure signs that you THINK are something else-
Click to expand...

In over 30 years of reloading,I have likely loaded 20,000,to 25,000 Federal primers without a single misfire.And I don't try to estimate pressure by the flatness of the primer,primer pocket expansion is a much more reliable method.

i use cci first, then winchester, then r/p, then federal absolutely if i can't get anythihg else- and that's 40 years of experience talking
Click to expand...

I have experienced exactly three primers fail to ignite, and all three were CCI primers.
 
I'll bet its water in the case. I've been washing my brass for years with no problems. Water boils at 212 F, so I put the cases in the oven for 20 minutes at 230F. If you go to higher temperatures, you can discolor the brass...
 
Was it cold out when you were shooting? A friend of mine used regular oil on the bolt of his rifle. It took the consistency of syrup when he took it out hunting in November in Saskatchewan. He missed a buck due to light primer strikes because the thick oil restricted the free movement of the firing pin.
 
When I first switched to a hand priming tool I had a few misfires, it turned out I wasn't seating the primers firmly enough. Once I got a feel for the tool I never had another problem. That being said, I think moisture in your cases is the problem in your situation.
 
Pull the round apart and see if the primer did indeed go off or not.

If the powder is clumped together and damp and the primer is burnt, that should be a pretty good indication that they were still wet.

If there is no powder in the case, then that's pretty self explanatory.

I had a Savage .223 that would fire anywhere from 50-80% of the rounds that I fed into it no matter what primer I used, firing pin was protruding the amount that it should have but we could not figure out why the FTF's were happening.
 
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