Still getting unfired primers

C

Chago

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I had a thread about 3 months ago discussing how I kept getting 2-3 duds out of 60-70 rounds at the rsnge almost every time. I don't think I have ever come home from the range without a few duds in my ammo box. I keep hearing how rare this is. Now I bought my reloading gear at the same time I bought my new savage 10 fcp sr

Although I was pretty OCD about my reloading techniques. People suggested in my last thread it was because I was using sonic cleaner and possibly water was still in the brass. Well I haven't shot for almost 1.5 months. Been so damn busy. I had brass clean and sized in ammo racks upside down for 1.5 months.

I reloaded 90 bullets last week I was going to the range. I came home with 4 duds that day.

I have used cci and Winchester primers. I have installed the primers using the attachment on the hornady press, and I have used the hand held hornady primer tool.

I have sized pre clean and post clean. I have pretty much changed every variable in my reloading each time I went to see if I could figure it out. And I still have duds.

So now I've turned my attention to the gun. The primers are always dented pretty deep. And I always try to fire the round a second time to see if it will go off and it never does. So if it was weak primer strike the second hit would have worked.

I'm running out of ideas. Anyone know what it could be? The duds are in no particular order. I had it happen once 3 rounds in a row. But normally it's just random ones throughout my day.

Please if anyone can figure this mystery out please advise.
 
How old are the primers and how are you storing them?
I've never had a dud reload and up until a couple months ago I just stored them in a drawer in my reloading desk. Now they are in a humidity controlled environment (top shelf of the gun safe)
Even in the drawer though, I always keep a couple of the small descant packs just in case.

Very strange.
Where do you live? If you're close enough you can try your loads in my Savage model 10. I've never pulled the trigger without it going boom.
 
what calibre? if there is no issue with factory ammo, then i'm gonna take a shot in the dark and guess that's it's S&B brass and the primers are deep enough.
 
I haven't had this happen in my rifle reloads for my .223 or .300Winmag on my single stage press but it has happened on my 9mm handgun bullets off my progressive.
In that case it was when I failed to seat the primer deep enough. The firing pin merely shoves the primer in further.
Not sure if this may be happening in your case, but perhaps worth checking.
 
I remember your previous post. If I were you, I'd pick a factory load (say Remington, so you can reuse its relatively decent brass), buy 100 rounds, and try again. You need to figure out if your problem is the rifle or your reloads. I have a feeling it's the rifle, though. Is the pin moving too slow? Strip down the bolt and clean everything. I know you say the primer dents are pretty deep, but it might still be a slow strike.
 
Just a thought as I had a similar problem with a Model 70 Winchester chambered in 375 H&H. It would shoot a box, miss 2 or three and shoot another string. Problem was a dirty bolt. Firing pin has a tapered keeper that it runs in. There was micro grit in the keeper which caused the firing pin to soft stroke the primer. I field stripped the bolt, soaked in cleaner and cleaned the keeper with some long medical q tips effectively ending the problem.
 
One possible cause of duds is a FL sized case and bullets seated long to engage the rifling. This cushions the firing pin strike since the case is not bearing on the chamber shoulder.

Do your bullets engage the rifling?
 
haffordite2 said:
Just a thought as I had a similar problem with a Model 70 Winchester chambered in 375 H&H. It would shoot a box, miss 2 or three and shoot another string. Problem was a dirty bolt. Firing pin has a tapered keeper that it runs in. There was micro grit in the keeper which caused the firing pin to soft stroke the primer. I field stripped the bolt, soaked in cleaner and cleaned the keeper with some long medical q tips effectively ending the problem.
Click to expand...

that would be a big problem if that rifle was used for what that round was intended :eek:
 
Ever notice that when one of these chronic misfire threads shows up there's usually a CCI primer or a Savage rifle involved?

The fastest check is to pick up a box of Federal primers and try that.

Some Savage specific things that you can check revolve around the multi-piece monstrosity that they call a firing pin. The firing pin protrusion is adjustable, and anything that can be "adjusted" can be assembled wrong. The other thing is go to the other end and make sure that whatever they call that cam riding pin has free-play and doesn't bottom out in the cam. You can also get the heaviest striker spring that Brownells will sell you. If nothing else, it will eliminate light hits from the list of possibilities. It goes wthout saying that you will clean everything while its apart.
 
Surprised this was not mentioned, and if it was sorry, if you are reloading, are you using any kind of case lube for sizing? Some Lubes cause some undesirable effects on primers... just putting that out there.
 
cr5 said:
What's wrong with S&B brass? I have hundreds of them and have never had any problems with my reloads.
Click to expand...

In pistol cal's the primer pockets are generally very tight and can cause issues. The only s&b rifle brass I have is 7.62x54r which was normal.
 
Spawn-Inc said:
In pistol cal's the primer pockets are generally very tight and can cause issues. The only s&b rifle brass I have is 7.62x54r which was normal.
Click to expand...

Oh, I've loaded hundreds of S&B 308 brass and never had any issues. The primer pocket is a little more square cut which makes getting the primer in a little tricky but it hasn't been a problem.
 
Just went through the very same issue with my 308. One in ten would be duds. Went over my entire reloading process several times. Finally tracked it down to me setting the shoulder back too far during the resizing stage. This was barely noticeable on my case gauge but quite obvious when I closed the bolt now that I had an idea what to look for. With the shoulder set back too far, the case is now too short and the firing pin won't get a solid enough hit to set off the primer. See you at the Precision match this weekend.
 
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