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Shotgun Primer Hardness


TN Mongo, SASS #61450

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The last two shoots I’ve been experiencing light strikes on my primers with two different SKBs.  I attributed it cold starting temperatures.  Both days the temperature started in the 20s and we pack the SUV the night before.  The rounds seemed to go off more reliably after the first stage each day after the guns were warmer.

 

Last night I was reloading and noticed that the primer strikes on my hulls were very light.  I pulled one of my SKBs out of the gun safe and put primers in a couple of hulls and shot them outside.  Again, light strikes on each one.

 

I’ve always used Federals for my pistols and rifles, but I never been too picky with shotgun primers.  I recently opened a new box of CCIs and I’m curious if that could be the culprit.  I’ve used a lot of CCIs in the past without issues.  I did open a brick of Federals and tried a couple and they had a noticeably harder strike on the primers.    

 

Any knowledge you guys could share would be appreciated.

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feel the edge of the primer in the hull,,  are they deeper than some?  I quit Feds,  the primer itself was a varying 2-4 thousands deep, on top of the whole primer being a lil deep,, went to cheddites, no issues since

 

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I've only a superficial experience with shotgun shell reloading but every time I have failures fire I found one of two problems.  1) Gun is warn to the point it's "off face" - thus excess headspace. Or  2) I've tried reloading hulls too many times and primers are seating too deep in the pocket.  I've found factory loads have primers seated to around .005 to .008 deep at the face of the actual primer.  When I get failures to fire, I notice the primers are over .010 deep. 

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Mongo,

 

I would start by cleaning the firing pin and housing as it might be dragging.  The fact that it is repeating the problem on two different guns is unusual.  I have used Federal primers in my reloading of shotgun shells and never had a failure.  Good luck and let me know what you find.

 

...Too Tall...

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The Winchesters are flatter across.  If the firing pins are a bit off center and the spring tension is lighter, they may not go off with Federals because of the depth in the pocket they have and a bit of an arch in them. 

 

My main match SG is a Chichester '97 that throws shells out beautifully but has a slightly off center firing pin strike.  It will ignite Winchesters all day, but when I used some Federals, I had about a 20% FTF rate with nothing else changed on the SG.  When I went back to Winchester, the problem went away.

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Lumpy and Marshall, I've never flushed cleaned the inside of the receiver.  That was my first thought - crude in the receiver.  Is it necessary to disassemble the receiver to do this?  Any pointers would be appreciated.

 

Several sites and cowboys have recommended Cheddites primers because they are a little taller.  I will try some of the other primers you guys have recommended.

 

I also remembered that I have a William's shotgun primer pocket peener tool.  The Youtube video I watched on it makes me feel like this tool might also help.  I like Remington Nitro and STS hulls and I am guilty of reloading them until crimp folds start to crack.  Resizing the primer pocket with this tool might also help.

 

 

 

 

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I had similar results using Fed primers in my 97's. Switched to Win and had no issues since. They are flatter across the face compared to the Fed which seem to be set back.

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I had the same problem a few years ago.Tried them in 4 SG's,All had a problem Switched to Winchester.No problem since.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Largo

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I haven't had any firing issues with Federals, but have noticed that when I use them in STS hulls--- the silver rim of the primer is a bit proud of the hull base as if the pocket chamfer isn't deep enough.

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1 hour ago, TN Mongo, SASS #61450 said:

Lumpy and Marshall, I've never flushed cleaned the inside of the receiver.  That was my first thought - crude in the receiver.  Is it necessary to disassemble the receiver to do this?  Any pointers would be appreciated.

 

Several sites and cowboys have recommended Cheddites primers because they are a little taller.  I will try some of the other primers you guys have recommended.

 

I also remembered that I have a William's shotgun primer pocket peener tool.  The Youtube video I watched on it makes me feel like this tool might also help.  I like Remington Nitro and STS hulls and I am guilty of reloading them until crimp folds start to crack.  Resizing the primer pocket with this tool might also help.

 

 

 

 

Remove the butt-stock and bbls.

Get some carb or brake cleaner or contact cleaner and have at it OUTSIDE somewhere.

Blow dry with air and spray lube of choice in, and blow it out.

Test fire with factory ammo first.......Then reloads.

OLG

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UPDATE:

 

  • I pulled the stock.  The receiver was pretty clean inside. I did flush the hammer/firing pin area.
  • I ordered 5 bricks of Cheddite 209 primers.  Brownell's has them on sale and there's free shipping today
  • I used the William's primer pocket peener.  Primers inserted in empty hulls that had been peened, had deeper strikes.  The Federals had the deepest strikes.  I will locally purchase and try some Winchester primers this weekend.  The Cheddite primers should be in next week.
  • My cowboy gunsmith advised me to purchase a set of new main springs from SKB and we're going to replace the current ones in the gun.  They will be tuned, but not as much as the ones currently in the gun.  
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6 hours ago, TN Mongo, SASS #61450 said:

UPDATE:

 

  • I pulled the stock.  The receiver was pretty clean inside. I did flush the hammer/firing pin area.
  • I ordered 5 bricks of Cheddite 209 primers.  Brownell's has them on sale and there's free shipping today
  • I used the William's primer pocket peener.  Primers inserted in empty hulls that had been peened, had deeper strikes.  The Federals had the deepest strikes.  I will locally purchase and try some Winchester primers this weekend.  The Cheddite primers should be in next week.
  • My cowboy gunsmith advised me to purchase a set of new main springs from SKB and we're going to replace the current ones in the gun.  They will be tuned, but not as much as the ones currently in the gun.  

Go to Wal-Mart and get a couple boxes of factory ammo to go with you to the range.

X2 on new hammer springs.......

OLG

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Check your head space  first...

 

Ol' #4

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Here is a simple test I have done on some or my old shotguns.  Just primed hulls. They have enough power to back out but the hull does not have recoil to reseat the primer.  It's pretty obvious this old shotgun needs to be adjusted back on face.

 

5af2dd0a64774_shotgunprimerMay2018.jpg.b6edd27a16c760bbc6c904f13b475c97.jpg

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I've seen lots of AAs new manufacture with low primers too

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