Ruger SR45 Primer Issues

[Merlin1274]

Hey guys My SR45 does not seem to like Winchester Large Pistol Primers. Some of them I have to strike 2 times to go off. Could it be Light strikes or could it be a bad primer batch? It shoots all factory loads just fine and all the ones I did with CCI primers and even the Win SP primers.

 

[Enigma]

Are you absolutely certain that your primers were fully seated? While I'm certain that primer manufacturers do, occasionally, turn out flawed primers, I would guess that it happens about once in a blue moon.

 

[Merlin1274]

Yes they are seated properly. All the cases I load with the Win SP primers worked fine it was the batch with the Win LP Primers that I had issues with. It shoots all the WWB rds just fine.
Someone told me I may have put larg Rifle primers in there but I keep everything labeled in different boxes to not mix up.. But the same loads will shoot fine out of my 45 ACP cylinder in my Blackhawk. So I will just shoot them out of it and start over and see what happens with the next batch.

 

[WIL TERRY]

LOOKEE HERE MR MERLIN, if IF they did not go bang the first time but did go bang the second time, YOU did not HIT 'EM hard enough the first time. THE question is why ? Almost ALWAYS....ALWAYS...it is cause by the primer sitting a tiny bit high , the firing pin then seats it to the BOTTOM of the proner pocket which also absorbs the firing pin hit[no bang], and the second go around works just fine because that doggone ol' primer is now where it wanted to be in the first place.

 

[Merlin1274]

Interesting MR. Wil..

 

[Clovishound]

When I first started reloading, year before last, my buddy and I had problems with Winchester primers not firing. I chalked it up to primers not being seated properly, however, a significant portion of them would not light with multiple strikes. Switched to CCI and Federal primers, and have not had a single non firing primer since.

 

[anachronism]

My Winchesters have always fired. Merlin1274, what sort of priming tool do you use? It sounds like your large primer punch might need tweaking. I doubt you have large rifle primers in there. The primers would protrude slightly below the case rim if you did. Large rifle primers are taller than large pistol primers.

 

[Luckyducker]

I prefer Winchester primers over any other primer brand I have tried except for Magtech small rifle primers. I had one WLRP rifle primer fail to ignite over many years and many thousands of rounds of hand rolled ammo. I think you should either have your striker system checked on this pistol or just use other brands of primers, it could be a bad batch of primers but I doubt it.

 

[Merlin1274]

I have a Ram Primer and Also the Lee Handle Held priming tool the batch in question was done with the ram primer. I found out it is seating the primers on an angle some how and some of them were flatten out with no bevel to the edges like I see on the hand primed ones.. So I reloaded a new batch with the hand prime. Have not had a chance to shoot them.

No they were not large Rifle. I pulled a couple bullets to make sure.

 

[SR_Guy]

it is caused by the primer sitting a tiny bit high , the firing pin then seats it to the BOTTOM of the primer pocket which also absorbs the firing pin hit[no bang], and the second go around works just fine because that doggone ol' primer is now where it wanted to be in the first place.

I too was getting frustrated with failures to ignite (also on an SR45) until I ran into a similar explanation. After finding comments about hand-priming tools giving the user a positive tactile feedback, I decided to buy one. Now, with a better feel for when the primers are properly seated, I haven't had that problem since.

 

[GasGuzzler]

Interesting MR. Wil..

I'd say so too. :shock:

 

[DGW1949]

Back when I was playing around with CAS, light springs leading to WLP mis-fires was a complaint that I often heard.
Perhaps the OP's pistol is in need of being looked at?

Just a thought.

DGW

 

[mikld]

FWIW, I had a problem with a striker fired 9mm with Winchester primers. The gun worked fine with CCI primers, but got misfires with Winchester. I've been reloading for quite a while and have had no primer seating problems for mebbe 20 years, and all the primers were seated correctly. My solution was to seat the primers, all the way to the bottom of the pocket, and add a bit of "pre-load". After the primer hit bottom, (and yep, I could feel it) I added a bit more pressure. Appearance of the pre-loaded primers showed very slightly flattened primer cups. All primers fired after that...

BTW; using a ram prime in a dedicated "priming press"...

 

[LaneP]

Just speculating here but if those are the WLP "for standard and magnum handgun loads" primer, I would think they have to draw the cup slightly thicker than a typical "standard handgun pressure" primer in order to withstand deformation when being touched off in combination with higher pressure magnum loads.

So if your mainspring strength is more tuned to the thinner non-magnum thickness cups, it would reason you're going to have the occassional weak hit/no-fire situation arise.

Again, just speculating, not sure if that's actually what's going on.

 

[WESHOOT2]

Mr. Terry had it right.

Seat sufficiently; bad primers are extremely rare.

 

[GasGuzzler]

It's extremely rare for the capital fail guy to get it right. It's really hard to read what he writes, it rarely makes any sense. His grammar, spelling, punctuation, and odd affliction that causes random capitalization boggles me. We're supposed to "listen" to that pile of Qs and Xs?

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

Many folks don't, but I give each primer pocket a quick shot w/ a primer pocket cleaning tool before repriming. Most of the time it's just extra exercise, but I do run into a bunch of cases now and then which seem prone to build up residue which could cause a poorly seated primer. I do some rifle cartridges w/ a ram prime on press (mostly those w/ previously crimped primers which can sometimes still be snug), the rest w/ a Lee hand priming tool, and I don't remember the last time I had to double strike one of my handloaded rounds to get it to go off.

Winchester's my primer of choice. And, yes, I've run into a bad run of Winchester primers, back around 1975! As mentioned, it's rare.

And since a Ruger's involved, I've gotta ask if the gun's been detail cleaned and examined for proper functioning prior to use. It wouldn't take much crud to slow down a striker, or shorten its travel, and the only SR45 I've been able to look at up close and personal exhibited Ruger's typical quality control. And, no, that's not a compliment.

Rick C