I had a Problem

[Rockchucker]

And may still have one but, Someone told me that seating primers below flush will cause some misfires. Well my new Sig 232 in 380 cal was doing just that. At least two ftf out of every mag. I took the gun back to the gun shop and had them check it out, and said everything looked fine to them ant took it out to the range and shot 20 rounds thru it with no problems at all. If anyone else has had a similar experience, I'd sure like to hear it. If you need more information just ask please.

[AZ-Stew]

Have you disassembled it and made sure the firing pin hole is thoroughly clean? If not, the firing pin may catch on debris (grease or manufacturing debris, such as metal chips) and not be able to reach the primer. While you have it apart, check the firing pin for defects such as burrs, straightness, etc.

Regards,

Stew

[New Lead Man]

I believe AZ is correct, the problem is with the pistol and not with the ammunition.

That is unless you have them seated more than .005”, then it is a problem with the seating of the primers.

Primers should always be seated under flush, especially if the firearm has a floating firing pin. .003” seems to be the “standard” depth.

I always run my finger across the base of the case after I prime them, you can just feel the difference in height.

My standard finger touch is about .003”[smilie=1:

[M-Tecs]

Primers should be seated to the bottom of the primer pocket. This is the most reliable position. On hard cupped primer like Wolf magnums if they are not seated to the bottom they may misfire. The firing pin energy goes into seating them fully.

If they fire on the second attempt they are not seated deeply enough. If they do not fire on the second or third attempt they may have been seated to deep and crushed.

When seated to deep the anvils can be crushed. The goal is to have the cup just touching the bottom of the primer pocket. No more no less.

[StarMetal]

Primers should be seated to the bottom of the primer pocket. This is the most reliable position. On hard cupped primer like Wolf magnums if they are not seated to the bottom they may misfire. The firing pin energy goes into seating them fully.

If they fire on the second attempt they are not seated deeply enough. If they do not fire on the second or third attempt they may have been seated to deep and crushed.

When seated to deep the anvils can be crushed. The goal is to have the cup just touching the bottom of the primer pocket. No more no less.

Do you mean when seated too deep the pellet can be crushed? Pretty hard to crush the anvil as it will just penetrate into the pellet.

Joe

[M-Tecs]

Do you mean when seated too deep the pellet can be crushed? Pretty hard to crush the anvil as it will just penetrate into the pellet.

Joe

Joe

You are correct. The anvil crushes the priming compound pellet. Thanks for the correction.

[JIMinPHX]

I've been seating primers a few thousandths below flush for over 20 years, with no problems. The only string of misfires that I had came from a batch where I didn't seat the primers all the way to the bottom of the primer pocket.

[anachronism]

If you don't seat your primers deep enough to bottom them out, the firing pin will first drive the primer deeper, until it does bottom out. Only then will the primer "fire". If there is not enough residual energy to fire the primer after the primer is so seated, it may be necessary to drop the hammer on the misfired cartridge a second time to fire it.

This is the number 1 cause of reloaded ammo not firing until it's struck by the hammer/firing pin a second time.

[Rockchucker]

This is the number 1 cause of reloaded ammo not firing until it's struck by the hammer/firing pin a second time.


The rounds do fire the second time, And they are seated just below flush. I still thinking I seated them to far in, although I didn't feel like I was crushing them. In the next couple days I'm gonna seat some barely below flush and see if they'll fire. The gun smith said the firing pin was normal, and he did shoot 20 rounds with no problems. I seat my 9mm, and 40 S&W primers the same way without a hitch. Thanks for all the replies.

[jar-wv]

I noticed a round the other day when reloading that kinda "felt funny" when i primed it with the lee priming tool. Then noted when checking oal the primer was protruding. I nervously ran the loaded round back thru the priming tool. Thought it looked ok and didn't think about it any more till I had a round that didn't go off. Primer was dented. Didn't try to set it off second time. Am betting it was the same one all the way through. Was a .223 not .380, but will be watching for stuff like that in future.

jar

[DLCTEX]

I noticed a round the other day when reloading that kinda "felt funny" when i primed it with the lee priming tool. Then noted when checking oal the primer was protruding. I nervously ran the loaded round back thru the priming tool. Thought it looked ok and didn't think about it any more till I had a round that didn't go off. Primer was dented. Didn't try to set it off second time. Am betting it was the same one all the way through. Was a .223 not .380, but will be watching for stuff like that in future.

jar

Wow! Do you not own a bullet puller? Seating a primer deeper on a loaded round is one risk I will not take. I realize it's not likely to go off if pushed in slowly, but one in ten thousand is too many for me.

[hyoder]

Try backing off your taper crimp die. The case headspaces on the case mouth. Too much crimp will let the case slip too deep into the chamber. Compare how deep one of your reloads sits in the chamber compared to a factory load.

[odoh]

There has been instances of production runs of handgun brass (IIRC 475L & 500S&W) w/the slightly deeper LR primer pockets. When seated in those cases, an LP would be somewhat deeper potentially causing FTF I understand.

[44man]

Primers are made with the anvil sticking up about .010". It is done on purpose so when seated to the cup the anvil is pushed in to sensitize the compound. Primers must be fully seated to the cup.
LR primer pockets are only .010" deeper and if they fail to fire with LP primers in them, something is wrong with the gun, weak mainspring, short firing pin, etc. If the gun is right all LP primers will work in the deeper pockets unless you fail to seat them fully.
Offhand I do not know of any .475 Linebaugh brass that takes a LP primer, all have deep pockets, the parent case is the 45-70. They should be loaded with LP primers however.
Some .500 brass was made for the LP primers, what you never want to do is put LR primers in these. If any stick up they can go off against the frame under recoil. The safe thing to do is to load all .500 brass with LP primers.
It is a good idea to clean all primer pockets.
I don't know why primers are such an item for discussion. In over 55 years of loading I have never had a primer fail to fire or go off by accident.
I have had problems with factory loads, mostly .22's.

[anachronism]

The only primer issues I ever had was when using a LEE Autoprime. They have a soft, cast link in them that wears pretty quickly & it can be impossible to seat a primer fully with one once the link wears to a certain point. I still have two of the damn things packed away in a box somewhere, along with a lot of shell holders. I bought an RCBS priming tool & it's outlasted both Autoprimes by at least a decade & is still in excellent condition.