Winchester Primer problems

[atomd]

I recently bought a new box of 1000 Winchester large pistol primers. I just got back from shooting 100 rounds through my XD45 today, all of them using said primers. I had 2 primer failures today. A few days ago I shot 100 rounds and had 2 failures. I've never had any problems in the past with any type of primer (mainly using CCI and Winchester). I've never had a light striking problem or anything like that. The strikes on the primers look almost perfect (centered and deep, clean strikes). I can't tell the difference visually between the ones that fired and the ones that didn't. I could chalk these up to light strikes but it just doesn't appear that way. From the looks of them, they definitely should have detonated. The primers were stored correctly and never handled by hand. I didn't notice any of them being seated improperly. After the first failure, I double checked the seating on all remaining rounds...and still had another failure.

Is it just me or is anyone else having an issue like this? I also shot pretty poorly today. I wish I could chalk that up to a primer issue too! :banghead:

 

[benedict1]

Not an issue here--I use them exclusively.

1. Did any fire the second time? If so, they weren't seated deeply enough, IMHO. I have a Glock 21 that behaves just this way if primers aren't seated deep enough.

2. How old is the firing pin spring in the XD45? When should it be replaced?

 

[ReloaderFred]

The XD has plenty of firing pin strike, so I would look at the seating of the primers as the possible culprit. I have noticed that the unplated Winchester primers seem to be a little harder to set off than the older nickel plated ones, but all my XD's have set off every brand of primer I've put through them. I've used CCI, Winchester, Remington and Federal in ammunition for the XD's, and never had a failure to detonate with any of them.

Are you using the same brand of brass for all your loads? Some brands of brass have deeper primer pockets than others, so it will take a little more stroke to get the primer seated properly.

Did you try to fire these same rounds a second time, and if so, did they go off? If they did, then that would indicate they weren't bottomed out in the primer pocket and the first blow seated them the rest of the way.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[atomd]

I didn't try firing them again which I should have. The brass I shot today was almost all Winchester brass. I find that Winchester brass has much tighter pockets than CCI, Federal, and Remington. For now I'll attribute it to the primer not being seated 100%....probably having to do with the tighter pocket. What I don't get is why after using the same methods and same equipment, all of a sudden it happens. If they weren't seated enough it would have to be to such a small degree that I couldn't see it even while looking for it. I understand that can happen since we're talking very tiny measurements here of course. Oh well. I'll experiment more next time and find out for sure where the problem is.

 

[Steve C]

If you use a progressive, they don't give you a good feel when seating primers, too much other stuff happening with them. The reason many people use hand priming tools is because you get a feel and know when the primer is seated to the bottom of the pocket.