Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Thoughts on primer failure

I’m with you as I think slow strikes on the primer. I would bet the inside of the bolt is gummy.

Full of WD-40?

New gun.

I worked on it, and no way I used WD-40. This lady has had it one season. They know better than using WD-40.

So, I think it’s between light strike and bad primer. Unfortunate it had to happen when it did, not while I was shooting it.

Bud bought this gun for significant other who’s killed a couple of deer, boom flop. She nails’em. That 8 point would be hanging in the cooler. One lucky deer.

DF

I thought this was a good article that may be of some help if you haven't seen it before.

https://www.gunsandammo.com/editorial/the-truth-about-primer-misfires/247980

The most common general cause of misfires is what's termed "insufficient indent." That means the primer was not struck with sufficient force. You say, "Look at the indent. It was huge. I even hit it several times, and it still didn't go." Primers are set up with a very precise orientation of primer component parts. If the primer is hit once and it does not go off due to insufficient firing-pin force, the sensitivity is further decreased. The primer mix, called a pellet, may have been cracked and moved out of the way from between the cup and the anvil. The primer mix is intended to detonate when sheared between the cup and the anvil by the primer strike. If the first blow is insufficient, the second one is now trying to ignite a primer that was damaged by the first strike. Sometimes the primer will go with a follow-up hit, and sometimes it won't.

I took the bolt apart and cleaned it. The bolt face was spotless as the gun has not been fired much at all. Inside looked spotless as well but there could have been shipping/storing grease in there or something. I do not know. I guess we will see how it goes.

DF,
Unless you checked the FP/interior of the bolt, there may be packing grease in there. Remington/Walker triggers in the early days came with a fair amount of packing grease and most shooters never bothered to clean the entire rifle before using it.

Will definitely check that.

Thanks for all the help.

DF

That is good information, thank you.

I've never had such incident.

I don't have an m18 handy but many bolt rifles will "fire" without the bolt fully closed. By this I mean pulling the trigger will first fully close the bolt as the firing pin moves forward but it does reduce the velocity of the firing pin. The only 2 rifles I have handy are a 700 Rem and a Ruger 77. Both allow this. I did not try with a live primer but will next time I am at the range.

pavementends

This happened to me when I full-length sized on a new rifle and wound the die in too much. It was a headspace issue. This can be checked by seeing if there is enough room for a very thin sheet of aluminum or something similar between the bolt face and the rear of the cartridge when you close the bolt.

Here are a few instances of fail-to-fire in my experience, and that of a few other people.

But I must preface this with a note that those who claim to NEVER have had a FTF (despite their claims of lots of shooting) apparently have what could be termed a limited "width" of experience). I have shot a LOT of centerfire ammo over the past half-century, and the number of FTFs that could be positively identified as a primer failure is less than 10 with my handloads, and perhaps even less with "modern" factory ammo. But there have been some other instances:

Received one of the first Browning A-Bolts to test/report on in the mid-1980s, a .270. It shot very well, and Eileen liked it so much we bought it. But after the first year it started having FTFs with my handloads, which had CCI 200 primers. Switched to Federal 210s (which even back then had a reputation for "softer" cups) and it started working again. A year or so later it stated FTF with them, and I sent it to Browning. They found the firing-pin mainspring was defective, and it never FTF with any primer after they replaced the spring.

Have had several rifles FTF on the first try with new brass, which was always proven to be due to a slight mismatch in chamber/brass dimensions. This includes some custom rifles with minimum dimension chambers.

Even with old ammo FTFs have been rare, including ammo stored in unknown conditions. Have shot an M1 Garand considerably with U.S. military ammo made in the 1950s and all the rounds worked fine, including firing/ejecting and accuracy/velocity.

On the other hand, a friend gave me a bunch of .303 British military ammo old enough to be loaded with Cordite. Dated the headstamps to approximately 1930, give or take. It all went bang in my SMLE, but almost every round hang-fired--though they did chronograph just about the velocity considered "standard."

But have also tested some modern factory ammo at zero degrees Fahrenheit--with rifle and ammo held overnight in my unheated garage--that always hang-fired. One was a major brand of .270 WSM ammo, loaded with a magnum primer.

It is pretty easy to see whether a primer went off after disassembling FTF ammo, using a magnifying glass. Years ago had a FTF with a single handload while checking the rifle's zero on a hunt with the late Walt Berger, who asked me for the round. I gave it to him and he took it apart, including the primer, and afterward reported to me the primer's components looked absolutely normal, but the compound simply failed to go off. (Have done the same thing since then. That's always been the case with the few primers I've had FTF as well.)

Have also seen a number of rounds FTF due to rust/oil and other general gunk inside the bolt. One was with a friend's 7mm-08 during s a snowy hunt in Montana, which in theory shouldn't have occurred, since he lived in Arizona and there was no reason for the bolt to get gunked up--but it happened anyway.

No doubt there are some other instances I've forgotten....

I have reloaded ammo for a very long time but, I suppose I fit M.D's description of someone with a limited width of experience to a tee. What I do know is that modern rifle primers are amazingly reliable little devices so when FTF happens I look first to other causes.

I've always been curious if deep seated primers could cause issues with ftf loads. For an example my prone match rifle. I use federal primers and lapua brass. Being anal with my reloading I made up a gage that uses a dial indicator to check the depth of seated primers. I aim for -.002" to -.003" primer depth on my match ammo (actually all of the ammo I load) but once in awhile they'll be a -.015" (the deepest I can measure). Those rounds are culled and marked, saved for sighter shots (or practice ammo for hunting rifles). I've never had a ftf with those rounds. Now if a rifle had a short firing pin protrusion or a weak firing pin spring and deep seated primers...

Thanks all.

I'm gonna get the round and the rifle. Will check them out and report.

DF

Just got off the phone with my bud concerning the dud round.

I had loaded Winchester and R-P cases with Fed 210 primers. The issue was with an R-P case. He thinks the primer was set too low.

He took the rifle and killed a coon, says there is no problem with the firing pin indenting the primer.

I told him to sort out the cases, use the Winchester ones and check to see if the primers are near flush with the case, not set too deep.

I did send an email to Blaser, US, asking about light primer strikes. Evidently that's not the issue with this Mauser 18..

Told my bud he needs a better reloader....

I guess something can slip thru quality control every now and then. Just hate that it was the shot on an 8 point that went click.

Even after all that, the lady still thinks I'm great, has faith in me....

DF

As hand loaders, we can control a lot of factors, but we are still subject to the quality and lot# changes in primers. We do not like to think that primers of a particular brand and type can vary, but they sure can.

No doubt and such can happen with factory ammo.

DF

The issue is with firing pin, if the primer is deeper in the Rem case then the firi g pin is a tad short. This happens more than most think

Not sure how to fix that.

DF