rem. primers suck!

[abowlieb]

Idk if its just me n I got a bad batch but I loaded up a hundred rounds n fired off most of them over the past week n out of that 100 I had 13 rounds not go off. Just unsat! Ill never use them again!

[rajbcpa]

are they fully seated?

[abowlieb]

Yes ever round was checked n all were seated properly, firing pin made good strike, I didn't touch any of them with my hands. Its crazy ill never use them again. I took the rounds to a buddy who reloads n he look at them n said its no reason why they shouldn't have gone off.

[Hammerhead]

Did you measure primer seating depth, or just look at them? The majority of the time primer problems are the result improperly seated primers.

One bad primer in a thousand, maybe a primer issue.

13 failures in a batch of 100 = operator error.

[Wreck-n-Crew]

Actually they could have water damage.

[abowlieb]

To be honest I hope it is something I'm dining wrong, seeing as I'm new to reloading. N no I didn't check the seating other then making sure they are not sticking out n making the round rock back n forth when on a table. Took the rounds that didn't go off toba shop. This was the first batch n showed him , I asked if they werent seated right. He looked at them n said it was fine n should have fired, the next loads I took n shot I had 3 that wouldn't go off. I took those to my buddy at work that was has been reloading for a while now nbhe said he couldn't find a reason why it wouldn't go off. To be completely honest I don't know how u would check the seating , nobody has offered the info up to get n official depth. How n what do u need to check the depth?

[603Country]

35 years or so of reloading for me, and pretty much all with CCI primers, and I've had one dud. If you did nothing wrong, a 13% failure rate is hard to understand and impossible to accept.

I'd load up a few more, being supremely careful, and see if there are any more duds. As for what could cause a dud, first thing that comes to mind is ground walnut shell bits in the flash hole.

[Hammerhead]

I put the primed cases in a cartridge gauge and use a dial indicator to measure their depth, but that may be too expensive if you're just starting out.

Some guys can feel the primer and know if it's high or low, but my working man's fingers aren't that sensitive anymore.

You can use a razor blade or other straight edge and if it hits the primer as you wipe it across the base of the cartridge, the primer is high.

What method of priming do you use?

This is just my personal opinion, not a forum rule, but if you ditch the texting abbreviations you might get more responses. They are hard to read for some of us.

[Grizz12]

try the duds in another gun

[abowlieb]

I use my press to seat the primers, I have a lee precision breech lock challenger press.

[Brian Pfleuger]

Did you try to fire the rounds a second time?

Generally, primers will be seated 0.005-0.009 below flush with the case head. Most reloaders seem to shoot for about 5 but the factory ammo that I measure is often as high as 9.

[zxcvbob]

Did you try to fire the rounds a second time?

Brian beat me to it. I sometimes have trouble with Rem 1.5 primers, but only in non-RP brass. It always has to do with seating.

[abowlieb]

Yes I tried to fire them a second and sometimes a third try. I only have one 30-06 so I can't try a different rifle. This was my reason for initially taking the round to the shop to be inspected because I had just got the rilfe, a savage 110 TH XP. I was afraid it was a problem with my rifle. I'm go get a different brand of primers n see of I'm having the same problems. I did grab a box of ammo off the shelf n there was no problem. If i have the same problems with a different brand then ill know its something I'm doing wrong.

[Hammerhead]

I used to prime on the press's built in priming arm too, but started having problems recently with Tula primers in .357 Winchester brass. They weren't giving a good 'feel' because you don't have good leverage with the priming arm.
I switched to a RCBS Ram Prime which primes at the top of the press's stroke so you have better leverage and feel.
No problems since.
I still do prime with the built in priming are sometimes, it's faster, but not really the best method.
Other alternatives would be a hand held primer or a bench mounted primer.

http://www.midwayusa.com/find?newcat...ensionid=12785

[CommandoX]

While there are many more educated individuals here to answer your question I will say that I have encountered your situation in .223 primers from remington. I have since stopped using them for my own testing and shooting needs because of this. I did however, recently hear that if you turn them 180 degrees in the chamber they may fire. I have not bothered to proof this out as I have ample supplies of CCI and Winchester primers available.
I will however, try it like I would bacon icecream....

Best of luck.

[wncchester]

"rem. primers suck!"

Thanks for the tip. Otherwise, after some fourty five years of happily using them, I would never have known. ??

[Sure Shot Mc Gee]

My preferred brands are Federal for rifle and Fiocchi for pistol. Don't you just love a good misfire every now and then OP. Good way to check yourself for "Trigger-Twitch"_

S/S

[Kimber84]

Only time I've ever had duds was in my 30-06 when I got a little overzealous pressing the primers in and got them too deep. To look at it, they appeared that they were good primer strikes from the rifle.

I'm now much more careful in primer seating as it is possible to crush them in to the primer pocket. I've come to a habit of feeling them with my index finger and I can rather quickly tell by feel if something's not right.

[F. Guffey]

A friend called from a range, everyone swore off Remington ammo, he said a shooter had a new Ruger rifle with new Remington 30/06 ammo, 5 out of the 20 rounds failed to fire, after the first attempt with 2 strikes two other shooters attempted firing the 5 rounds, nothing. I suggested they contact Remington and Ruger, nothing to do but show up here. I dug out a few tools and went to measuring, the fired cases chambered in my chamber gage, the fired cases also chambered in one of my 30/06 chambered rifles etc..

We pulled the bullets and dumped the powder, we weighed the bullet, powder and cases, we removed the primers, we then installed the primers back into the same cases they were removed from, then I chambered the cases in one of my M1917s, everyone of the primers fired, nothing bashful about the firing pin strike on my M1917s and everyone thought the primers would have been crushed and turned to powder from all the abuse of the other 3 firing pins. The primers had dents from the 5 attempts at firing.

The primers did not back out with no powder and or bullet.

F. Guffey

[mohr308]

I have the same press as you, if your using the setup that came with the press...switch. Getting the primer to line up perfectly with the case is a tedious task. I have flattened, kinked and damaged a lot of primers in that press. I switched to the ergo prime by Lee, it's simple and cheap. During the beginning of my reloading venture I had a few duds and figured it had to be how I was seating the primers, cause they looked like crap sometimes! Save yourself headaches and time, the ergo prime is fast and always lines up.

[steve4102]

If you tried to fire them 2-3 more times and they still did not fire, then two things come to mind. 1) bad primer. 2) bad gun.

Bad primers do show up on rare occasions, 13 out of 100 is not a rare occasion. Seems more like contamination to me.

Where did you get these "Bad" primers?

How were they handled and how were they stored?

Do you have any of the same lot left.

I believe it is important to fire these offending rounds in another rifle. I know you only have the one, but there must be someone you know that has a 30-06.

If they fire in a different rifle then you may need to look at your rifle and maybe your FL sizing. If they don't fire in a different rifle, then I think one should look at either contamination, damaged during seating or a bad lot.

If you conclude that it is a bad lot, you should contact Remington, they would want to know.

[HiBC]

I have a suspicion.

Get yourself a Wilson case length gage.

I suspect you are setting your sizing die up by thumping it on the shellholder.

Typically that results in setting the shoulder back more than necessary.

Suppose you are setting your shoulder back .006 more than necessary.You are in effect,shortening your firing pin by .006.

For an experiment,do you have feeler gages?Try getting a set.Put ,say an .008 feeler gage between your shellholder and the die.Lock it all down,size a few.Try them in your chamber.Does the bolt close with no resistance?. For this experiment,try to use the longest brass the bolt will easily close on.Load 20.

One more thing,when you set your seater die,put a piece of brass in the shellholder.Run it up to top of stroke.Thread your die in.Notice it stops on the case before it hits the shellholder.That is because the die has a crimp feature built in.Have you been setting up your die to bump the shellholder?

If so,it like you are running the round through a can crusher as you are seating the bullet.

Improperly setting your dies makes ammo that is too short.You produce a dimensional condition that mimics excessive headspace.

Your firing pin hits the primer and your cartridge flies forward,and the energy is lost.

Remington has been making fine primers for a long time.You have gold there,these days.

How long you been making dud ammo?

Try what I suggested,I think the primers will work fine.

Oh,clean out your bolt,too.

[chiefr]

IMHO, I do not think the OP has a primer seating problem.

If primers get wet with liquids other than water and the user does not know it, the primer can be rendered useless. Some solvents will leech out or change the chemical structure of the priming compound. The user will never know it. Can happen in storage or in shipment. Primers are shipped in carboard boxes, not waterproof containers.

Years ago, I spilled coffee on a few primers by accident. I let them dry in the sun. Later I snapped them off in some empty cases and half did not fire. Rest were discarded.


I have heard before of batches of primers manufactured where the priming compound was not placed in the cup. Extremely rare, but has happened.

[Mike Irwin]

Weird.

I've had problems with Remington loaded ammo (centerfire) fail to fire out of the box, but I've never had a single issue with their primers.

They are, in fact, number two on my preferred primer list, right after Winchester.

[serf 'rett]

My first thought was improper seating.

Second thought was excessive shoulder set back.