New pistol new problem, light primer strikes

[lancem]

Got a new Bersa Thunder 380 + and really like it. Shoots every type of factory ammo that I have tried with out a hiccup. My handloads are a different story. I average 2 light strikes per magazine. They all typically fire with a second hit, luckily the pistol is a DA/SA. I am using TulAmmo primers that I bought long ago and work fine in everything else that I load with small pistol primers. Being that these primers work in everything else I'm thinking the cup must be just a bit thick for this pistol, as I verified that the primers were fully seated during one test with the same results. My question since it looks like I'm going to have to look for some other brand of primer what brands are known for having thinner cups?

[Winger Ed.]

I've never measured them, and it may be a myth, but everybody has said over the years that Federal has soft primers.
I've never known anyone that had one, but some folks have even blamed them for slam fires in weapons with a heavy bolt or slide.
I've used a few thousand of them with no problems.

[Mal Paso]

Ya, Tula are a bit harder. Federal is my choice for pistols, I have a couple known for light primer strikes.

Does Wolf make an extra power spring? They do for Glock.

[44Blam]

It sounds like your primers aren't fully seated occasionally. Just make sure they're fully seated and they should all go bang.

[David2011]

It sounds like your primers aren't fully seated occasionally. Just make sure they're fully seated and they should all go bang.

I was thinking the same thing.

When I had a set of Bullseye springs in one of my revolvers the only primers that would reliably work were Federal. When I went back to the factory mainspring it would light any primer with 100% reliability. Whether they’re softer or more sensitive I’m convinced that Federals ignite more easily than others.

[poppy42]

Just so you know( I have a whole topic posted about this) I had a whole brick (1000) cci small pistol primers that had about an 85% fail rate! In 4 different pistols! After a whole lot of smoke blown up my kester by cci they claimed it was my pistol ( they couldn’t seem to understand that it happened with 4 separate firearms ranging from striker fired, to double action revolver including 2 hammer fired Makarov’s) and that my primers weren’t seated the recommended .2 to .4 below flush. They determined this because I sent them back some prime cases for them to test which they proceeded to fire without any powder or bullets in the cases, just primers in an open case. Anyone that’s ever done that will tell you that the primers typically back out when you fire them that way. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with CCI primers I just think they were mislabeled and were small rifle or possibly number 41 small rifle primers intended for Military style firearms. Except cci was too arrogant to admit the possibility of a mistake. Now after my little rant the point I’m trying to make is that it happens. It doesn’t necessarily mean there’s anything wrong with your firearm. try testing them with a different firearm. as others have stated they might not have been seated completely. there’s more than one reasons why primers don’t go bang. It’s best to find out the real reason

[Four-Sixty]

I recently finished going through 500 Tula Magnum large rifle primers bought during the Obama years. About 5% of them would not go off upon firing. I thought they were not seated correctly as they always fired fine after a second try. I started using a Lee ram prime to ensure I was fully seating the primers. The problem of some not firing the first time got better, but did not go away 100%. My theory is that the Tula primers are both harder, and have a slight variation in size making consistent seating a challenge. It seemed like the harder I seated the primers the better they did, but they were just never 100% going to fire the first time. I could definitely feel a variation in resistance when seating the Tula primers.

[414gates]

My question since it looks like I'm going to have to look for some other brand of primer what brands are known for having thinner cups?

The ones that Lee recommends a blast shield for on their presses.

[Kosh75287]

It sounds like 44BLAM has part of your answer, while the rest COULD be the imported primers. I haven't reloaded .380 ACP for years, but I recall it being particularly troublesome in several respects.
We had trouble with dented and unfired primers (it seems like there was a particular brand that was worse than the others), using Federal, Remington, PMC and CCI primers. We didn't get 100% reliability until we carefully cleaned out each primer pocket so that they shined like new brass. After that, no primer-case brand combination gave us any trouble. I cannot imagine that there was sufficient "crud" in the all the primer pockets of the non-firing loads (all of which went "bang" on 2nd attempt) to prevent ALL of those primers from seating deeply enough to work right. But the attention to the primer pockets was decisive.
The OTHER thing we did that enhanced ignition reliability was to seat the bullets slightly long, so that their driving bands just barely touched the chamber lip, where the case mouth rests when a round is chambered. My GUESS is that this somehow "pushed" the case head and primer more firmly against the bolt face of this pistol, but I'm by no means sure of that. I just know that it helped, and I was glad when we no longer needed to reload .380 ACP.

[gwpercle]

Got a new Bersa Thunder 380 + and really like it. Shoots every type of factory ammo that I have tried with out a hiccup. My handloads are a different story. I average 2 light strikes per magazine. They all typically fire with a second hit, luckily the pistol is a DA/SA. I am using TulAmmo primers that I bought long ago and work fine in everything else that I load with small pistol primers. Being that these primers work in everything else I'm thinking the cup must be just a bit thick for this pistol, as I verified that the primers were fully seated during one test with the same results. My question since it looks like I'm going to have to look for some other brand of primer what brands are known for having thinner cups?

Light strikes that fire on the second hit are the classic symptom of primers not fully seated into the primer pocket . Happens with your reloads right !
The answer is to seat each primer all the way into the bottom of the pocket ... push them in untill they hit bottom and stop !
If you don't ...the first blow finishes seating the primer all the way in and the second blow fires the now fully seated primer .
Seating flush or some magical number below flush will not cut it ... primer pockets vary in depth ... seat the primer untill it hits bottom and stops ...your light strikes magically go away !
Gary

[lancem]

Light strikes that fire on the second hit are the classic symptom of primers not fully seated into the primer pocket . Happens with your reloads right !
The answer is to seat each primer all the way into the bottom of the pocket ... push them in untill they hit bottom and stop !
If you don't ...the first blow finishes seating the primer all the way in and the second blow fires the now fully seated primer .
Seating flush or some magical number below flush will not cut it ... primer pockets vary in depth ... seat the primer untill it hits bottom and stops ...your light strikes magically go away !
Gary

As I said in my very first post I took some and ran them through my RCBS priming tool a second time, making sure they were fully seated and had the same results. I'm quite certain that the problem isn't primer seating. With 40 years of reloading under my belt I've got a pretty good idea how things work. That's why I'm looking for some thinner skinned primers.

[WRideout]

As far back as the 1980's, CCI was known to be harder to light than others, and tuned pistols had trouble with them. Right now I am using Servicios y Aventuras SP primers from Argentina, and have no trouble at all with them. I bought some off Gunbroker because of availability.

Wayne

[Mal Paso]

As I said in my very first post I took some and ran them through my RCBS priming tool a second time, making sure they were fully seated and had the same results. I'm quite certain that the problem isn't primer seating. With 40 years of reloading under my belt I've got a pretty good idea how things work. That's why I'm looking for some thinner skinned primers.

People who never had the problem think it doesn't exist. I believe you, I've gone round with a Ruger Redhawk in the midst of shortages. No amount of primer seating would get Tula and MagTech to fire consistently. Replacing the factory mainspring every month did more than anything else.

Few places make extra power springs compared to reduced power.

2 Ruger Redhawk mainsprings end to end will cure light primer strikes in the original Anaconda.

I use at least factory power or more mainsprings and Federal Primers.

[mdi]

I once had a problem with Winchester SP primers in one gun, an FMK 9mm; FTF one to three out of a magazine The handloads worked in two other 9mm pistols 100%. The FMK worked 100% with CCI handloads and factory ammo. Just got FTF with Winchester SPP. I had been reloading about 3 decades at that time and had zero priming problems in 6 revolvers and 5 semi-autos. I then remembered "sensitizing" primers. seating the primers all the way to the bottom of the pocket then adding some pressure to slightly "crush" the primer. Went to my ram prime and reloaded 50 Winchester SPPs in some 9mm handloads with added crush. Worked 100% in the FMK along with my 2 other 9mm pistols...

[gwpercle]

As I said in my very first post I took some and ran them through my RCBS priming tool a second time, making sure they were fully seated and had the same results. I'm quite certain that the problem isn't primer seating. With 40 years of reloading under my belt I've got a pretty good idea how things work. That's why I'm looking for some thinner skinned primers.

If it isn't the primer seating ... then it has to be the primers .

Years ago a bad primer was next to unheard of ... but now day's the quality control at the factory must have slid way downhill ... I keep reading of all the defective primers that get sold and reloaded into ammo .
The only thing I can think of to do is complain , loud and long , to the primer mfgr. and see if they will do something .
We talk and if the word spreads that XYZ primers have a high failure rate ...
I will avoid that brand untill they get their act together .
I can see how if a batch of primer cup metal sheets were just a tiny bit thicker how that would cause problems ... keep the package with the lot number and complain ... The squeaky wheel gets the free primers and the company will know they have a problem .
Gary

[Sig556r]

Sold my Bersa for exactly the same reason.
Had it sent back due to light primer strikes (reloads or factory) & was told (Gander used to be an authorized armorer for Bersa) that I was riding the recoil!
I've shot a PPK (which a Bersa was based on) a lot but haven't had this problem.
Kept for a while but decided to switch to a star 380 & never looked back.
Maybe I got a lemon? but bought it only for the price & looks...

[lancem]

UPDATE

Ordered a PPK hammer spring pack from Wolfe and installed a 19# spring. Problem gone, fired 100 rounds of reloads without a miss.

[ACC]

Since the .380 head spaces on the case mouth and since that is critical with some guns, you may have a few short cases. I have found that most 380 brass can be a tiny bit short except for Starline.

ACC