charlie brown

Ok, last week, I loaded 50 rounds for my .30-06. I loaded 165 grain Speer Grand Slams on top of 55 grains of IMR 4350, with CCI 200 Primers, and Winchester Brass, fired one time before. I had not changed any way that I have loaded any other reloads I have done in the past. Every step was the same as before. I shot those loads the same afternoon. Of the 20 that I fired, only 14 actually went off. The other 6 had indentations in the primers, but no go. This is the first time I have had that problem with reloads. Well, I have had one misfire before with another load, but that was the only other instance I can recall. To be sure the problem was not my rifle, I took a box of Winchester Power Points to the range this morning. I fired 10 rounds with not a single miss fire for the bunch. This leads me to believe that there is a problem with my reloads. I cleaned the primer pockets before I put the primers in the pockets, the primers were all seated below the case head, by about .002" to my best estimation. All rounds have powder in them, as when I shake them slightly, I can hear the powder rattle around. Before I handled the primers, I washed my hands thouroughly, and dried them. Even before that, I wiped all case lube off of the cases with a damp rag and let dry for about an hour, to make sure there was no moisture. I am at a loss as to what the problem could be. Could someone else possibly have any ideas as to what the problem could be? ANY HELP OR IDEAS WOULD BE GREAT!!!

Thanks,

charlie brown

Huntsalotey

My only guess as to why they wouldn't fire is a bad batch of primers. Go and buy some more primers and see if all the loads don't go bang.
Whitey

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charlie brown

JD338: I never thought about TOO much pressure. I know it is not case lube on my fingers, because I actually resized, trimmed, and wiped the cases clean the night before. I put the primers, powder, and bullets in the next morning, then went shooting that afternoon. I think that may be the problem, as I use the press, as I don't have a hand held primer seater.

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HighDesertWolf

The probelm is simple and is explained with 2 words, CCI primers.I wouldnt use CCI primers even if they were free I can go on for ever explaining why cci makes a crappy primer but I will make it brief Alot of CCi primers are not made in CCI factories they are made in other factories sub contracted by CCI so in some cases the lots of materials used in their primers vary on a extreme level and they are not always of the best quality. I will put my money where my mouth is and bet your problem is the primers.

HighDesertWolf

And to add Try winchester or federal primers I bet you will never have this problem ever again for aslong as you reload.

keyshunter

Charlie,
And, if all of the above fails, you might get your hands on a .30-06 case gauge and check the actual headspace of your sized shells. The -06 headspaces on the length from base to shoulder, and if, during resizing, you are decreasing that length, even slightly, you may get inconsistent ignition. You might also check for a weak firing pin spring in your rifle. I know from experience with 2 different Ruger 77's, that a weak spring plus minimally headspaced cartridges will drive you crazy.

For the record, although they are not my favorite from an accuracy standpoint, I have used thousands of CCI 200's over the past 45 years without a single ignition problem.

charlie brown

Well, I don't know what I will do with the other 1000 small rifle and 1000 large pistol CCI primers that I have. I too have never had a problem with either of those primers with a good number of loads, and my Grandpa has loaded for years only using CCI exclusively. I never thought about the headspace deal at all, though I believe if it was a headspace problem with the individual cases, I would see headspace clues with the other cases that fired. Not trying to argue your point completely out of existance, just think that I would see other signs. BTW, I am taking my loads to a gunsmith, as well as my rifle, so he can see the primers of the fired cases and the unfired cases, so we can rule out all possibilities. Thanks for the help guys, I appreciate it. I will reply later when I get back from town with what the gunsmith says.

HighDesertWolf-- Have you personally had any problems with the CCI primers not igniting in the number that I have just experienced. You say that CCI Primers are made in subcontracted factories, which I can see to be true, though I did not know this before, but is possible. I would like to know more, not details on everything, but maybe one or two bad instances for you. I have found them to do good in my rifles, being able to get my extreme spreads down to about 50 fps or less in most cases. Could I do better than this by switching to another primer? If you would like to switch to another thread, to keep this one on subject, that would be good, but either way, I would like some more details.

eldeguello

It COULD be your rifle. CCI primers are pretty tough, that's why Lee says to use ONLY CCI in their priming tool. It is just possible that the Winchester rounds you fired had "softer" primers than those CCI's. Unfortunately, you can't really decide this by examining primer indentations in primers when the round fails to fire, since the indentation doesn't generally look the same as it does if the powder charge fired.

Try some "softer" primers like Fenderal 210's, and see what happens. (I have never had a CCI primer fail to fire, but most of my most accurate loads have been achieved with Federal primers- most, but not all.