What is a bad primer

[tightgroup tiger]

My primer seating results in the anvil showing in the cup. I dont believe that you can cause that mark and not be bottomed out.View attachment 1060282

After seeing these I believe you are seating them to hard as one of the possibilities I listed in post 9.
And you seat your primers by hand also.

Being your seating primers by hand you are subject to certain Anomalies.

Dog pissing you off while trying to prime.
Cat jumping on your head while your trying to prime.
Wife pissing you off while trying to prime
Kids pissing you off while trying to prime
All of the above at the same time.
Dropping your primers down in your chair while trying to prime.
Dropping your cigarette in your primers while trying to prime. High pucker factor!

To manly of a grip????

I think so.

 

[cfullgraf]

I use Remington 7-1/2 primers almost exclusively on my small rifle AR-15 ammunition (17 Remington, 204 Ruger, 223 Remington and 300 Blackout) as well as 221 Remington Fireball.

I’ve not had a fsilure to fire at all but all my primers were purchased long before Remington’s current problems and the current component shortage issues.

7-1/2 primers are the only Remington primers that I use.

Not really an apples to apples comparison but I have had issues with Remington rim fire ammunition not firing. This goes back to the early 2000’s. I avoid Remington rim fire ammunition as a result.

 

[Mark_Mark]

After seeing these I believe you are seating them to hard as one of the possibilities I listed in post 9.
And you seat your primers by hand also.

Being your seating primers by hand you are subject to certain Anomalies.

Dog pissing you off while trying to prime.
Cat jumping on your head while your trying to prime.
Wife pissing you off while trying to prime
Kids pissing you off while trying to prime
All of the above at the same time.
Dropping your primers down in your chair while trying to prime.
Dropping your cigarette in your primers while trying to prime. High pucker factor!



I think so.

Best primer Joke of the WEEK

 

[AJC1]

What is the rate of failure that one would be comfortable calling a bad primer. 5 in a hundred would initially indicate a bad process. Does 5 in a thousand start changing your mind or 5 in 10k. What is the point of crossover?

 

[LiveLife]

What is the rate of failure that one would be comfortable calling a bad primer. 5 in a hundred would initially indicate a bad process. Does 5 in a thousand start changing your mind or 5 in 10k. What is the point of crossover?

I track rounds loaded by boxes of 1000 primers I use. During past 30 years, I am now 650,000+ rounds of pistol calibers as I don't track rifle calibers.

These are failure rates by brands I have experienced:

• CCI SP/LP/SR - None
• Winchester SP/LP/LR/SR - None
• Magtech SP - None
• Wolf LP - None
• PMC Non-Toxic SP - None
• Tula SP - Particular lot with harder cups experienced several in a box of 100 but now 100% reliable shooting in 45ACP cases with SP primer pocket.
• Tula LP/LR/SR/.223 - None
• S&B SP/LP/SR/LR - None
• Fiocchi SP - None

Most of my FTF of primers early on during reloading years was due to improperly seating primers (Not deep enough to pre-load anvil tip against priming compound as subsequent primer strike detonated them). Another cause of FTF of primers was isolated to tighter once-fired primer pockets with larger metric diameter sized primers not seating all the way down to bottom of primer pocket to set anvil tip against the priming compound.

Once I started seating primers properly and sorting out offending headstamp brass (9mm S&B, RWS, etc.), no more FTF of primers and 100% primer detonation.

 

[AJC1]

I track rounds loaded by boxes of 1000 primers I use. During past 30 years, I am now 650,000+ rounds of pistol calibers as I don't track rifle calibers.

These are failure rates by brands I have experienced:

• CCI SP/LP/SR - None
• Winchester SP/LP/LR/SR - None
• Magtech SP - None
• Wolf LP - None
• PMC Non-Toxic SP - None
• Tula SP - Particular lot with harder cups experienced several in a box of 100 but now 100% reliable shooting in 45ACP cases with SP primer pocket.
• Tula LP/LR/SR/.223 - None
• S&B SP/LP/SR/LR - None
• Fiocchi SP - None

Most of my FTF of primers early on during reloading years was due to improperly seating primers (Not deep enough to pre-load anvil tip against priming compound as subsequent primer strike detonated them). Another cause of FTF of primers was isolated to tighter once-fired primer pockets with larger metric diameter sized primers not seating all the way down to bottom of primer pocket to set anvil tip against the priming compound.

Once I started seating primers properly and sorting out offending headstamp brass (9mm S&B, RWS, etc.), no more FTF of primers and 100% primer detonation.

I had not even considered the pocket. If the offenders were in perfecta brass would those be metric cases???? Very interesting....

 

[LiveLife]

I had not even considered the pocket. If the offenders were in perfecta brass would those be metric cases???? Very interesting....

I found "metric" sized primers produced outside of USA to have slightly larger diameter than "standard" sized domestic primers. And in tighter primer pockets of once-fired brass, seating them below flush was a challenge.

This was well established when Wolf brand primers first started being imported to the US decades ago and repeatedly verified with other primers like Tula, PMC and Fiocchi. (Exception was Magtech made in Brazil)

So I decided to use domestic primers with once-fired brass and metric primers with well used brass with looser primer pockets.

And benefit of larger "metric" sized primers? You can extend the life of brass even after primer pockets are made larger from repeated firings.

 

[AK Hunter]

I must be lucky I haven't had but maybe one bad primer from the tens of thousands of reloads I have made.
It may be because of almost all of my primers are bought at least 5 years ago & I always make sure they are seated properly.

 

[Blue68f100]

Been hand loading for over 40 yrs now and only have had 2 primers fail to fire. 1 was missing the anvil, the other had no primer compound. Now this does not include primers that the cups were weak pierced. 1 Bad lot from Win, and even with those 90% was tied to RP brass. My conclusion was RP bevel the pocket so deep it did not give enough support. To this day I don't use RP brass in 9mm, and 45acp.

 

[LiveLife]

90% was tied to RP brass. My conclusion was RP bevel the pocket so deep it did not give enough support. To this day I don't use RP brass in 9mm, and 45acp.

Things change over the years/decades.

Over 30 years of reloading, RP in 9mm was "meh" for me but the newest RP 9mm brass with rounded rim (Very smooth and shiny brass surface), instead of squared rim of past years/decades, I have been impressed so much that I now include RP brass along with WIN/Starline for my testing.

And from my case wall thickness/neck tension/bullet setback myth busting thread, new RP brass also was found to have more consistent case wall thickness (Even around the case neck) that produced no bullet setback along with WIN brass using .354"/.355"/.3555"/.356" diameter 9mm bullets.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

I've only had two primers that I could have called actually bad in 50 years of reloading. The rest of my FTFs were my fault.
I think the priming companies do a hell of a job in making a good product, They have to fit all different kinds of primer pockets, clean ones and dirty ones, ones that were crimped and had the crimp ripped out of them with a countersink and for all the ammunition I've loaded since I started loading full time in 1972, except for a hand full of screwups on my part, they have all fired for me.
I have never in all those years considered primers something I needed to worry about.
Now the last primers I bought were in 2018 so won't speak for recent manufacturing.

 

[AJC1]

Final answer is a weak firing pin strike in a tuned action. I had several more ftf but I had my pistol laying on the bench. Loaded up the ftf and every single one went off first try no problem. Most of the family leverguns have been tuned for match shooting. I always believed cci had the hardest cups but experience says otherwise....

 

[Mark_Mark]

Final answer is a weak firing pin strike in a tuned action. I had several more ftf but I had my pistol laying on the bench. Loaded up the ftf and every single one went off first try no problem. Most of the family leverguns have been tuned for match shooting. I always believed cci had the hardest cups but experience says otherwise....

that good to know! I thought the companies lowered there quality to ram up production. Good to Be Wrong

 

[AJC1]

that good to know! I thought the companies lowered there quality to ram up production. Good to Be Wrong

These were pre rona produced