Light Primer Strikes and Failure to Chamber

[Jhlewis10]

I am loading 9mm with 124 gr plated RN bullets mixed range brass, wolf primers, and 4.4 grns of Win 231. I am using the pro auto disk, and I have the adjustable charge bar also but have not tried it yet.

I have only loaded about 200 rnds to date. The first 100 were fine.

Today I had about 20 out of 100 either fail to fully chamber or chamber and not fire.

I am using a Glock 19 with about 2500 rounds through it to date. When the rounds dont chamber the slide does not come forward the last quarter inch or so.

I noticed one or 2 of the primers may not have been seated deep enough but others that FTF seemed fine.

Any tips for a newby?

 

[50 Shooter]

Buy one of those gauges from Dillon to check the rounds, they only cost a few bucks. They come in handy when you need to check ammo that you've reloaded.

Also be sure that you're not short stroking the press, be sure that you run the press all the way through it's cycle.

 

[Jhlewis10]

What kind of gauge? I checked the OAL, when I set it up, I will check the OAL of the rounds that did not chamber.

 

[Lennyjoe]

Even though you checked OAL when you initially set it up its good to check OAL periodically during reloading.

Mixed brass may be an issue too.

 

[Jim Watson]

You don't HAVE to have a gauge, you can chamber check ammunition in the barrel, clean and out of the gun.

Plated bullets are not as consistent as jacketed. I won a box of plated bullets at a match and when loading them, found I had about three times as many gauge rejects as with jacketed. A Lee Carbide Factory Crimp Die will iron out some but not all of the lumps from cheap bulk bullets.

You need to be careful to apply just enough taper crimp to tell; the plating is thin and fragile.

You must fully seat primers or you will have occasion to start whining about a Glock firing "out of battery."

 

[50 Shooter]

This is what I'm talking about, you might have to call as I didn't see a 9mm one on their page but they did carry them.

http://www.dillonprecision.com/#/co.../_40_S_amp_W_Dillon_Stainless_Steel_Case_Gage

 

[Jhlewis10]

Ok,

I will barrel test the ones that did not chamber tonight.

I will check the OAL on several that did not chamber.

I will make sure I fully seat the primers. (some looked fine though)

I will see if I notice a particular brass as the problem.

Can I rule out the amount of powder as being the problem?
Any one else tried wolf small primers?

 

[Steve C]

Failure to chamber is most likely a bullet seated too long for the bullet design. Often bullets will begin to engage the barrel rifling if seated out too far and will prevent the action from fully closing.

Failure to fire is most likely primers not seated to the bottom of the pocket. A primers appearance or measured depth means nothing, the primer must be seated to the bottom of the pocket regardless of final position in order to fire properly and with enough (slight) extra pressure to sensitize the primer.

 

[Jhlewis10]

Thanks Steve,

I was actually thinking that, they were shorter than my Coron DPX's just from eyeballing them.

I will load some more and focus on seating the primer and measuring the OAL.

 

[AndyC]

Primers should be seated to *just* below the case-head - I run my finger over each one and if I feel a bump, back it goes for further seating.

 

[Grandpa Shooter]

Failure to feed can be a combination of bullet configuration, amount of crimp on the case, diameter of the bullets you are using, amount of powder you use in the case (light loads will frequently not push the action back far enough to catch the next round properly), feed from the magazine, etc.

Many guns won't properly feed lead, some don't like semi-wad cutters, others won't handle loads that are too long, or too short.

It will be trial and error for awhile. Don't make too many at one time--that way you won't b back tearing them apart. Don't worry if it takes you awhile. There is a significant learning curve in reloading.


It is a terrible hobby to take up. It will cost you tons of money shooting all you can load, and then more money to replace what you shot up, and ......

 

[Jhlewis10]

I loaded up another 50 rnds to test last night.

Made sure my OAL was over the minimum, and yet under what factory ammo I use cycles well.

I paid extra attention on really cranking up on the handle to seat the primers deeper.

Results 3 out of 50 failed to fire, looked at the primers and they could have been seated deeper.

One round failed to chamber fully. It feeds ok, it is just not chambering the last 1/8 to 1/4 inch.

I will make the rounds a little longer, but I dont know how I can seat the primers any deeper.

 

[Grandpa Shooter]

Are you reaming the primer pockets. Depending on the case you may have very tight primer pockets which will require reaming. I used to just through any problem cases away, but at the prices they are getting now I would try reaming first.

 

[MutinousDoug]

You might want to look at your brass. If a sized, unloaded case will not drop all the way into your chamber, you will lose firing pin energy seating it, causing a light primer strike. The same applies if you have oversize bullets that bulge the case sufficient to prevent effortless seating in the chamber. Finally, I have some old Interarms surplus 9mm ammo that has about 1 in 50 bullets seated crooked enough to do the same thing and cause mis-fires the 1st time they are struck; always fire the second time because by that time they are seated. HTH