Failures to fire

[prickett]

I fired 2 .45 ACP guns with 2 different loads (bullet shape and primer manufacturer) today and had multiple failures to fire. The ejected bullets had indented primers. I put the ejected rounds (there was a 1 in 5 chance of a failure to fire) back in the mag and all fired.

I then loaded up some factory ammo and all fired fine.

So, it appears something is wrong with my reloads. Since I used 2 different brands of primer, I think I can count out a bad batch.

My main suspicion is that I'm over crimping. Back when I was seating the bullets to long, I was having failures to go to battery, so thinking it might be the crimp, I put a pretty tight crimp on ( using Lee Factory Crimp die).

Does this seem like the problem or is there something else at play?

TIA

 

[TAB]

are the primers flush with the base of the case?

 

[Bullet]

What do your cases measure/ case OAL?

 

[rcmodel]

What kind of guns?

Over-crimping could cause excess headspace if it allowed the round to miss the end of the chamber and go in too far.

It would not matter with a gun with long firing pin protrusion like a 1911.

Something like a Glock probably would not get enough FP travel to fire them.

But the most likely cause is you are not fully seating your primers.
If not fully seated, the first firing pin blow finishes the job, and the second time around they will fire.

I'd suggest you first make sure you are seating the primers fully.
Then take the barrel out of the gun and chamber-check them for crimp related excess headspace.

BTW: If you seat too long and the ammo won't chamber, you need to seat deeper until it does.
Squeezing them under-size with a Lee FCD causes way more problems then it cures.
You are also squeezing the bullets under-size along with the cases!

rcmodel

 

[prickett]

The guns in question are a Springfield XD and a CZ 97. OAL is 1.184 for LRN 200 gr. and 1.270 for SWC 200 gr.

Primers seemed to be flush (didn't explicitly check though)

 

[rcmodel]

Flush doesn't matter.
OAL doesn't matter as long as they will chamber.

What matters is the primers must be seated on the bottom of the primer pocket.

The primer anvil has to be in firm contact with the bottom of the primer pocket in the case for the FP to set it off.

rcmodel

 

[mkl]

First, you should not crimp 45 ACP. Adjust the "crimping" die just enough to take the bell out of the case and make the side wall straight again. Most new reloaders really over-bell the case mouth; only a few thousands is necessary; just enough so as not to shave lead. The 45 ACP headspaces on the end of the case; too much "crimp" screws up the headspace and allows the cartridge to go too far into the chamber.

Start first with eliminating the "crimp."

Then only if that does not work:

Second, you may have a batch of brass with bad primer pockets. I've had a lot of trouble with Winchester brass recently. If the pocket is too tight, or the bottom off square, your firing pin is just continuing to seat the primer, not set it off. That's why it works on the second shot -- the primer has finally gone to the bottom of the pocket.

To cure the problem with poorly formed primer pockets, you need one of these:

http://www.sinclairintl.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=search&item=UN-8003&type=store

I chuck it up in a drill press, and uniform all new brass nowdays. Sinclair also makes hand tools to accomplish the same, but it is very much slower than a drill press run at around 600 rpm.

Hope this helps.

 

[prickett]

Its range brass, so its a whole bunch of different mfgs. If this continues, I'll set aside the brass and see if the failures are all occuring with a single brass mfg.

Regarding the crimp, I realized that my initial problem wasn't the crimp but the seating depth. The bullet was contacting the lands, preventing the pistol going to battery. Unfortunately, I don't think I ever backed off the crimp, so I'll certainly do that.

Thanks for all the great info/ideas guys. Keep it coming!