How to insure reliable priming?

[FergusonTO35]

I've been dealing with some small pistol primer troubles for awhile now. Some CCI primers were very hard and only my Marlin 1894 would set them off. For ammo that just has to work for self defense and hunting I use Remington or Federal. I still get maybe 1 in 200 that fail to fire. They act like they are hard primers with a small pinprick indentation. Sometimes they fire the second time and sometimes they don't. Even in cheap FMJ ammo from these makers a round with a bad primer is quite uncommon in my experience, maybe one in 3,000. The pistols used include an S&W 10-5, Ruger SR9c, Glock 19, and Kel-Tec PF9 and P32. All of them are in good condition and shoot great.

I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong here. My usual procedure is to resize and deprime as usual, then seat the primers with the Lee Auto Prime. Ordinarily I don't clean the primer pockets. I'm thinking that for important ammo maybe I should clean the primer pockets and seat the primers one at a time on the press. Perhaps the crud in the priming pockets is getting inside the primer, making it behave like a hard primer by cushioning the blow from the firing pin. Also, perhaps the Auto Prime is not too consistent about seating the primers square in the pocket. If they are even a little cockeyed maybe this would affect reliability.

Your thoughts and experiences? All my hunting and defense ammo is reloads because I don't like most factory centerfire ammo and don't shoot well with it.

[SOFMatchstaff]

You may not be seating the primers deep enough, they need to be bottomed out and .001 to .003 below flush, depending on the make of the brass.
My shooting buddy was having miss-fires with his M&P 9 with Win SP, I reset his press to seat .002 deeper and the problem went away .
CCI's are sensitive to this error, and will compound the problem in guns with marginal firing pin energy, ie. small pocket rockets and tuned target revolvers.

[upnorthwis]

Could be the gun too. I had a Model 70 Win that would misfire once in a while. Three different gunsmiths told me I didn't know how to reload. Even though none of the other 20 shells I load for had ever had a problem. Sent gun to Win. Came back with note that said: Minor adjustment. Hasn't misfired since.

[ReloaderFred]

Clean primer pockets and seating the primers to .004" below flush will solve all your misfire problems. I've reloaded well over 800,000+ rounds, in 31 different calibers, and I don't ever have misfire problems. Some of my firearms are tuned target guns, and they all go bang.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[lefty o]

primers get seated to bottom out in the primer pocket, this is the only way to insure they will detonate when you pull the trigger. measuring how far below flush they fit is all fine and dandy for consistency, but it does absolutely nothing for reliability.

[Bohica793]

I had the same issue with CCI small primers recently where 15-20% would not fire on first strike in three different weapons. I have never had an issue with Winchester or Federal primers. I won't buy another CCI primer for this reason.

[FergusonTO35]

Thanks guys! I am always amazed at the good responses people give around here. I'm currently prepping some clean once fired brass and cleaning each primer pocket. Most of them look ok but I'm surprised at how much junk is in some of them, even out of the same box of empties. I better redo all my go-to hunting and defense ammo while I'm at it. Considering how little of it you actually need its no big deal.

[ReloaderFred]

FergusonT035,

You can make your own brushes for cleaning primer pockets and chuck them in a cordless drill. I use the 1/8" plastic covered cable they sell at the hardware store and cut it about 1.5" long. Then I skin off about 1/4" of the plastic sheathing and square up the end of the cable on a grinding wheel.

I made myself a stand to hold a drill horizontal to the bench and picked up a variable speed drill for a dollar at a yard sale. I can clean 1,000 primer pockets in about 45 minutes and I don't end up with carpal tunnel syndrome afterwards...........

Hope this helps.

Fred

[44man]

Primers have the anvil sticking up a tad. Seat to bottom the rim and then a little to push the anvil in flush. To make the rim flush actually pushes the anvil in too. If you get a failure it is the hammer or firing pin spring. Get over it, the gun is not right, fix it. All primers should fire.

[roadie]

I would be looking at your primer seating method. If it happens with 5 different guns, it's either bad seating or bad primers. I've always found Remington primers to be on the hard side, Federal and Winchester softer.

Not to be smart here, but are you quite sure they are small pistol and not small rifle primers?

The cartridge in my avatar needs a soft primer, the rifle won't set off a Remington, CCI and Winchester or Federal work fine.

[Small Towner]

I agree with all of the above about seating technique being a main culprit. I have loaded thousands of 45 acp for various 1911 pistols and have never cleaned one of their primer pockets. Seat them until they stop, then give just a tad more pressure to seat the anvil.

[pretzelxx]

I believe if it's a bad primer seat, you strike it with a firing pin or the like and it seats all the way in. Just make sure they're not the softy primers, they might go bang and scare you!

Back to serious-land. Good info here, I'll be taking notes. I've had a couple issues with seating.

[FergusonTO35]

Thanks guys. Yes, they are most certainly small pistol and not small rifle primers.

[Petrol & Powder]

As others have stated, seating the primers fully is a key step. If the firing pin strikes the primer and the primer moves forward before it bottoms out in the primer pocket, most of the energy imparted by the firing pin is disapated by moving the entire primer. If the primer is fully seated, all of the energy from the firing pin is available to deform the primer cup and hopefully set off the priming compound inside.
Another major contributor to primer failures is oil contamination. A very small amount of oil will render a primer useless. Be careful how you handle primers and keep your hands/tools oil free.

[johniv]

I have shot a carload of cci lpp in the 1911, also cci lr in all maner of rifles, no problems. CCI small pistol primers when fired in DA mode , sometimes need a second strike , all seated the same ,firmly and till they stop ,below the level of the pocket, and I have NO custom revolvers.
John

[garym1a2]

I started getting no fires with my Glock 22 after many rounds thru it. Firing pin was worn, new firing pin fixed it.

[tazman]

FergusonT035,

You can make your own brushes for cleaning primer pockets and chuck them in a cordless drill. I use the 1/8" plastic covered cable they sell at the hardware store and cut it about 1.5" long. Then I skin off about 1/4" of the plastic sheathing and square up the end of the cable on a grinding wheel.

I made myself a stand to hold a drill horizontal to the bench and picked up a variable speed drill for a dollar at a yard sale. I can clean 1,000 primer pockets in about 45 minutes and I don't end up with carpal tunnel syndrome afterwards...........
Fred

I really like that idea. Thanks for posting it.

To the OP: I have been using CCI small pistol primers in my 9mm and CCI magnum small pistol primers in my 38/357 for some months now. I have had only 2 failures to fire in that time(about 3000 rounds). Those were in the 38 special loadings. I checked the primer depth after the misfires and found I had failed to seat those particular primers deep enough.
They all fired on the second trial though.

[GP100man]

My biggest problem is tite primer pockets !! I can`t feel when the primer hits bottom & then the primer is flush or a little rebated with the anvil not set & that`s when I have misfires.

I use a Hornandy hand tool for small & a press mounted Lee auto prime for large .
My hands are`nt as strong as they use to be & aurthur is startin to hang tuff.

My next move is the rcbs bench mounted priming tool , I think ???

GP

[bedbugbilly]

I load 9mm and 38 spl. All I use is mixed "range brass" with mixed head stamps. All I do is de-prime them with a universal depraver - give the priming hole a quick look and then seat a new primer in with the Lee Ergo Hand Primer. All I use is CCI and I've never had a problem (yet) with a misfire. Everyone primes differently but I like the Ergo Hand Primer as I can "feel" the primer being seated and know when it's in all the way. Some head stamps seat easier than others. I'm older and am not in a hurry - can easily prime 300 to 400 in an evening working at a steady pace. I just "plink" - have one 9mm and they all go bang and shoot the 38s out of 7 different revolvers - mostly vintage Smiths, Colts, etc.

That's just my experience though with the CCI small pistol primers I have on hand. I suppose it is possible they vary some from lot to lot?

[Old Caster]

The only time I can't use CCI primers is in tuned revolvers. Otherwise that is all I use because they are cheaper here and still work fine. I even use CCI small rifle primers in my Benelli 32 long and never have had a misfire. I don't clean primer pockets unless shooting a benchrest gun and load all except the BR cartridges on a Dillon 550 using the priming system on it. The primers for the BR are installed on a Lee primer because it is easy to feel so that you install every primer exactly the same and finish the loading process on a Sinclair. A lot of people that have just started in this game overdo things as though everything they are shooting is Benchrest.