Primers Won't Ignite? Check Your Progressive Press!

[John Boy]

We all know in order for a primer to ignite, it has to be hit Hard and Fast to crush the anvils

* This Spring, my 45 Colt Rossi with a Nate job gave up the ghost using CCI LP primers that I've used in it for years. So I switched over to Federal LP's and was back in business

* But had a box of CCI LP's with nice primer dents that did not ignite, so pulled the bullets and decapped the primers on several.  Looking at the primers, the anvils were bent and the primer compound had not ignited ... Interesting but an open issue

* I reload all handgun reloads with a Dillon 550B.  Last use was sometime this Summer.  When seating the primers today in station (1)  they were not fully seating. Figured the primer pin was not rising high enough so time to take a look.  Took out the spring - cup and primer pin.  There was so much hard crud on the pin and cup, it was disgusting. Had crust that had to have been there for a long time.

* Cleaned the pieces with solvent and a brass brush - loosened the shell plate a half turn, put every thing back in the hole - put a spent case in Station (1) - tightened the shell plate down and tightened the set screw

* OK, was this the issue why other than Federal primers they didn't ignite? Loaded a couple of rounds of Remington 2 1/2 LP's - Winchester LP's and CCI LP's .... they all ignited because after the cleaning, the primer pin was pushing the primers further down enough to properly have the anvils crushed

End of Story - Check the cleanliness of your progressive primer station

 

[Marauder SASS #13056]

Yup, even a Dillon works better when relatively clean!

[Warden Callaway]

Been there. Done that.  

 

I've got to where I decap all brass and wash in Lemi-shin and Simple Green and then run through a vibration cleaner with walnut hulls.  This greatly reduces the crud around priming punch.

 

For most reliable results,  I have been hand priming with Lee priming tool. 

 

I have plenty of time so I loaded up 500 rounds of 44WCF with new Starline brass,   coated bullet from Missouri Bullets - packed in new 100 round boxes.  I wrapped them up this morning and had them waiting for Mary to get up this morning.   It was my gift to her on our 48th anniversary.  She was thrilled! 

[Backslidin']

I've been reloading since around '77 or '78.  In all the years of reloading I've had two failures to fire, one rifle and one pistol.  One was with a CCI primer and the other was with a Winchester primer.  I've been amazed at the large number of primer issues I've read about on the SASS wire.  I've always suspected that 99% of the problems were operator errors, not the primers.

 

I ran across this article in a recent Tactical Brief from IDPA about primer misfires.  It is interesting reading.

 

http://www.gunsandammo.com/ammo/the-truth-about-primer-misfires/ 

[Cliff Hanger #3720LR]

If you use lighter hammer springs and the primer is not set to the bottom of the primer cut, the hammer strike will not have enough force to dent the cup,  reseat the prime in the pocket, deform the anvil and impact the ignition compound with enough force to detonate the compound.

 

While reloading commercially, when a primer fail to fire, I first cleaned the press primer seating punch because I do not think the hammer springs fail as often as some say they do.

Seating the primer properly usually brings the gun that fails to fire certain primers back to life.

 

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

Primer anvils don't crush, in my experience.  That bent piece of brass stays right where it is seated by the priming ram, pushing just a little into the primer explosive pellet.  Firing pin hit crushes the pellet against the anvil, causing the pellet to explode throwing hot residue through the flash hole.  The anvil doesn't get deformed - it has same shape as it had before the primer fired. 

 

Why would a dirty primer holder cup and ram in a 550 cause a primer not to fire, and same hardware seat primers fine after cleaning?  The seating plug could not get through all the crud and the primer was not seated a couple  thousandths below flush with the case head, as loading manuals tell you they should be.   Results in failure to ignite, or failure to on first firing pin strike and firing on second strike.

 

Yep, you MUST keep the primer ram, retaining cup AND slide bar clean.  Blowing off crud that falls out of primer pocket with an air hose every hundred sure helps a lot!

 

Good luck, GJ

[Warden Callaway]

I loaded with a Dillon 450 for many years before adding the 550B.  We have the 450 set up to load 38 Short Colt through 357.  I loaded 400 rounds yesterday morning while Sawmill Mary baked a pecan pie.  I don't remember having a primer seating problem with the 450 and I know why.  I can easily monitor the primer in the cup before seating.  I noticed a couple each 100 that didn't set square in the cup and corrected the problem before down stroke.  One managed to jump out of the cup.  With all the wizz bang doodads on the 550b,   it's hard to catch a bad primer feed.  Also, because you manually pull the primer feed bar out and let it slide back in manually on the 450,  you can feel when something does not feed right.

[Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L]

I know that the SDB has undergone at least 2 redesignes of its handle

I had one crack, which caused the primers not to fully seat--Dillon sent an updated version

 

years later another of my SDB's handles broke and this time got a third type.

 

They all look the same unless you look at the bottoms of them

 

 

[Sedalia Dave]

BTDT as well

 

I noticed that the primers had an odd indentation in them. Cleaned out the primer cup on the SDB and no more issues.

[Keystone, SASS # 47578]

Howdy,

One advantage I found with wet tumbling and depriming brass prior to tumbling is the lack of any powder residue or tumbling media debris. The feel of primers seating is very positive. No more media on the primer seating punch or powder residue on the press. Also wet tumbling is quieter without any dust.

 

Hasta Luego, Keystone

[Eyesa Horg]

11 hours ago, Sedalia Dave said:

BTDT as well

 

I noticed that the primers had an odd indentation in them. Cleaned out the primer cup on the SDB and no more issues.

+1, I check the loaded rounds more often now for those odd dents.

[Colt Walker 45]

If the primer is not seated fully the first strike will usually drive the primer all the way in. The second strike will a lot of time ignite the primer. I can’t see how a dirty anvil and cup would seat one primer but not another. We see a lot of dirty presses come in , most of the time primer not seating is, not standing when reloading (new to reloading), bad anvil, or bad primer hole on brass. 

[Kid Rich]

There are some presses that will leave high primers while an identical model from the same company with the same setup will not.

kR

[TN Mongo, SASS #61450]

I hope I'm not "high jacking" this thread, but a recent problem I've experienced are primers backing out of the primer pocket and locking up a revolver.

 

I use a wet tumbler and what I've experienced recently, on occasion, a primer will back out in a revolver after a round or two are fired.  I normally use brass until it splits.  Now, when reloading on my Dillon 650, if a primer seats and I feel no resistance at all, I cull that piece of brass.

 

I know it's not light loads because I've been using the same load for years.  Throwing out brass with loose primer pockets have eliminated that problem.   

[Warden Callaway]

I initially had problems with some primers not seated fully on the 550b when I first got it.  I finally concluded that the primer punch would sometimes hit against the case head and not push the primer to the bottom of the pocket.   I took the primer punch and knocked a chamfer on the edge.  That seemed cure that problem. 

[Bramble Mountain Buzzard]

Yet another reason to go to the rotary wet tumbler system...

[El diablo gringo]

Hey John Boy, Merry Christmas!  Had the same thing happen to my rcbs.  Amazing what a little cleanliness will accomplish 

Gringo