Winchester primer problems!?

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lezmark

lezmark

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Gone through 1,000's of these over the years and they are my go to brand. While reloading over the past few days i had a number of feed issues on my 550B, so i called Dillon. The first question to me was the kind of primer I am using. Told him Win and his response was that they dont have good quality control and its not uncommon to see out of round primers. I guess I am not too bright as the light went on. I figured it was me that was loading the primer tubes at an angle that was causing some primers to get stuck in the plastic fill tube cap. Nope! It also explains why the primers are not dropping (the out of round stick in the feed tube) and feeding the primer load bar bar. :mad::mad::mad:. I have called Winchester and given them the lot number(s). Anyone else experienced anything like this?
 
I'm currently using Winchester SPP with my LCT, so there's no tubes, but to my eye and thru the Safety Prime chute there are no issues as far as being out of round goes. I have read about a similar complaint with CCI SPP in the past few months. Not sure if it was here or another forum.

I don't know if it would show up in pictures but if it does, could you post an example.

Dave
 
I'll never use WLR primers again. They were out of spec and allowed gasses to cut the bolt face on my Rem 700. Your not the only one with Winchester primer issues, there's a lot of reported problems out there.

Winchester had great CS and refunded my money and offered to fix my bolt all free of charge. Regardless, it's CCI for me from now on.
 
If I can get a pic, I will, although I dont know how visible it could be. I am also starting a new lot so I am hoping it was just that one batch. I took pics of the lot #'s and sent them to Win. I will be interested to see what they say. Sure was a pain, removing a tube of primers off the machine is not fun, not to mention all the casings with no primers...
 
lezmark said:
If I can get a pic, I will, although I dont know how visible it could be. I am also starting a new lot so I am hoping it was just that one batch. I took pics of the lot #'s and sent them to Win. I will be interested to see what they say. Sure was a pain, removing a tube of primers off the machine is not fun, not to mention all the casings with no primers...
Click to expand...

Thanks, lezmark. I don't think I could get a picture showing that myself so no worries. Sounds like getting primers out of the tube could have been a little scary.

Look forward to feedback from Winchester and other members here before I place my next primer order.

Dave
 
I had some wsp that the anvil was sticking out and caused a jam in my feed tube on Dillon 650. Also had issues with them seating.
 
i use winchester primers in my 550 without any problems. but i also have a steel rod that i use in the primer tube. the weight of the rod keeps the primeres in line and moving down without any problems.
 
Winchester spp don't feed well through my Hornady pistol style loader for loading into the metal tubes. Once in the press tube they work just fine however.
 
I use a brass pusher rod on top of the primers, never a problem. Something to check after you clean the tubes. I had one tube that had a seam (defect) that was not suppose to be there. Primers would hangup on the seam every time. But the seam was not full length of the tube, go figure. Just something else to look for.
 
243winxb said:
Clean the tubes. Dont want primer dust building up. May help feeding at the same time.

I have a steel rod on top of my primers. The weight helps keep the primers moving down. Also lets me see when i am almost empty.
Click to expand...

The Dillon folks also suggested cleaning the tubes and I want to share that I found the perfect way to clean those narrow tubes - a .177 bore snake that I have for my pellet rifles worked excellently! Also, I do think I had a bad batch and still intend on using Winchester primers.
 
Mn Fats said:
I'll never use WLR primers again. They were out of spec and allowed gasses to cut the bolt face on my Rem 700. Your not the only one with Winchester primer issues, there's a lot of reported problems out there.

Winchester had great CS and refunded my money and offered to fix my bolt all free of charge. Regardless, it's CCI for me from now on.
Click to expand...

@Mn Fats is spot on. WLR primers are undersized. I measured 100 and all were below SAAMI minimum spec.

I’ve quit using Winchester reloading components
 
Sad to hear of quality issues... I always use CCI because I love Speer but one would hope federal and Winchester were both great too. I prefer more options, not less.
 
I never had troubles with the tube, I was using a RCBS bench primer. But I stopped using them when I was trying to prime winchester brass with winchester primers and always had to find a different case to prime because they never fit properly. Since then have used CCI and S&B with no issues other than operator error
 
Mn Fats said:
I'll never use WLR primers again. They were out of spec and allowed gasses to cut the bolt face on my Rem 700. Your not the only one with Winchester primer issues, there's a lot of reported problems out there.

Winchester had great CS and refunded my money and offered to fix my bolt all free of charge. Regardless, it's CCI for me from now on.
Click to expand...
I had this same problem with the last batch of WLR primers I bought. I haven't contacted Winchester yet, but maybe I should. My etched bolt face bugs me a bit. I'll use S&B or CCI from now on.
 
It's not so much that the WLR primers were undersized and allowed gas to leak and cut the bolt face, it's that they used inferior materials with lousy QC and the primers developed pinholes that allowed high pressue gas to escape and damage firearms.
There were large numbers of batches out there that were reported to do that but at least Winchester in the US did the right thing by customers.

DownUnder and everywhere else they told customers to eff themselves.

Don't buy Winchester stuff now and given I'm the designated extended family reloader, that's a lot of primers and components per annum
 
I just checked some large pistol primers for diameter, with a micrometer. LargePistolPrimers.jpg

WSPM .1751" Checked 3. All nice and round.
Means nothing. Different lots, machine, day , operator and quality control, all make a difference.
 
Last edited:
lezmark said:
plastic fill tube cap.
Click to expand...
Dillon 1.JPG Pickup tube cap. If it becomes worn like here. KABOOM. Start at post #1 https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...nts-warning-graphic-very.776339/#post-9849858

The alignment of Dillon progressive should be checked also. From Dillon https://www.dillonprecision.com/docs/Dillon_Alignment_Tool_Instructions.pdf

I found my very old Dillon RL-450 needed adjustment when i checked it. Fixed some primer seating problems using WLP to load 45 acp.

When the linkage of the press becomes worn, it can have an effect of priming. There is a test for that. Hold lever parallel to ground. Move right and left. Does platform move a lot?

I still use a lot of WLP, no problems so far.
 
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Have used Winchester primers( WLP,WSP,WSPM and WLR) for years and never have had a problem.:scrutiny:
 
Well, I did just hear back from Win. Although the lady I spoke with was super nice, if i cannot sent them back examples of the out of round primers, they dont seem to care and there is nothing more to do. I am in a new lot and everything is fine, but i do have to say that I am disappointed in them. I mean really, can I be the only person in the world with problems with this lot...
 
I am pretty confident the issue was with the upper LLL lot, I included the other one as I did find an empty box in the trash and its possible it had issues, but I dont think so
 

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