Primer problems

[meshugunner]

It looks like the primers on my .380 ammo have gone bad. 1 in 5 doesn't fire in my LCP. These were Federal small pistol/Win231/90gn RN. One or two would fire on a second try but mostly not. The pin strikes look healthy and the same as the fired cases. I cleaned the gun and ran a mag of factory, Win FMJ through the LCP with no trouble but my stuff still had FTFs.

I think the same problem might be happening with my 9mm ammo.

I don't have another .380 but I can test the 9mm in a BlackHawk.

This stuff was very reliable when I first made it up, about 1 yr ago. I haven't fired any .380 for six months but the 9mm worked fine a couple of months ago or more recently. My .38Sp & .357mag reloads sit right next to the problem calibers but show no problems.

I keep my ammo and primers away from solvents unless I am certain they are safe. They've been exposed to lube of course, which may involve a little mineral spirits. These were not all loaded on the same day so if I made a mistake one day, it's unlikely all the ammo would be affected.

I have a lot of this stuff and if it's going bad, I'm going to have to shoot it up fast. Right now it's annoying but still shootable.

I'm fairly new to reloading. I have about 5000 rounds under my belt. I made up a lot of these loads because they were just what I needed and I had shot hundreds with no trouble. So I got bold and printed out 400 .380 and 800 9mm. Ouch! I made up similar quantities of .38Sp and it all fires fine.

I'd much appreciate any advice. Thanks.

 

[Mobuck]

That's something I've not had a problem with. I load by the bucketful and then store until needed. We shot some 38 Spec a couple of weeks back that I loaded at least 5 years ago and gave to my older Son with the instructions to "shoot it up within a year". The reason being the lube was poor quality and too soft. Obviously, he didn't follow instructions but regardless the 50-60 rounds tried all fired w/o a hitch.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Primers should not be exposed to any lube or solvents. In fact they should not be handled by hand except by the side if necessary to flip one over. If the primers are seated properly (below the case head slightly) and they have not been contaminated they should not deteriorate over a years time if stored correctly. If other ammo works fine in your guns and there are no handling problems perhaps that is a bad batch of primers. You have me scratching my head. :?

 

[anachronism]

Primers don't go bad with age with proper storage.I suspect you have some sort of mechanical problem, like improperly seated primers or plugged flash holes in the cases. Have you checked to be certain your primers are all bottomed out in their pockets?

 

[Wyandot Jim]

I think you just have some bad primers in the batch. They don't go bad. I have some 40s-50-60s ammo that still goes bang.
Last weekend I had 4 bad primers out of 50 rounds. Winchester large.
My Pard had 100+- out of 1000 Winchesters that were bad.

 

[mikld]

80% of primer problems with new reloaders, is from improper primer seating. Make sure all the primers are all the way to the bottom of the primer pocket and just give the press handle a little more umph, to "preload" the primer a bit. Striker fired guns will show the problem quicker than a plain old hammer fired gun. I had a new 9mm, striker fired, and for the first time in mebbe 25 years I had misfires/FTF. I super cleaned the firing pin anf pin slot in the bolt and used very little lube, so as to not slow the pin's travel. I also seated the primers completely, plus a "preload" and problem vanished. BTW, normal seating of my primers worked in other 9mms, plus two 45 ACPs, and of course all my revolvers. The problem only showed up in my new, plastic, striker fired pistol...

FWIW, in nearly 30 years of reloading, I can't remember a "bad" primer. CCI, Winchester Federal, and Wolf have served me well.

 

[Rick Courtright]

80% of primer problems with new reloaders, is from improper primer seating. Make sure all the primers are all the way to the bottom of the primer pocket and just give the press handle a little more umph, to "preload" the primer a bit.

Hi,

Even experienced loaders get caught on this one now and again! Was talking w/ my brother in law the other day about some misfires he'd gotten last time he went to the range. The load he's used for years, the primers were from a lot he's had no problems w/, everything seemed ok.

He brought the ammo home, disassembled it, and "reseated" the primers w/ his hand tool. Guess he'd primed the cases on the press first time? Anyway, he said he could "feel" a number of 'em moving and seating a bit from where the original tool had left 'em.

Solvents and oils aren't the best thing for primers, but in regular handling, they're kinda hard to kill. Wash your hands before handling them to remove other "stuff" and the normal oils in your skin probably won't hurt them if handling them directly. I'd loaded maybe 100k rounds w/ "hand placed" primers before I learned I wasn't "supposed" to do so, and never had a problem.

OTOH, storage after loading can be important: I've shot some old milsurp stuff that wasn't that old, but had been stored under who knows what conditions in the current or former British Empire (read: some pretty wide variables!), and primers were horrid. In one lot, 3 out of 4 would hangfire. In another, the "won't fire at all" problem ran 20% or better.

Rick C

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Well Guys,
If the firing pin has knocked the crap out of the primer several times. Just like the ones that went bang and it doesn't go bang it's the primer.
I have had 10-20 in this batch of large Winchesters. This is the first time this many. Most of the time 1 in 3-4000.
Like all of us have. I have not seated/high primers due to not having the shell plate tight enough on the Dillon 650. They won't go in the Blackhawk so I load them in the rifle and they go Bang first time.