Thread: AR15 Federal Primers

Originally Posted by jackson21

What is a small base die? Skinnier at base for sizing? No problems feeding.
No hangfires, looked like a nice strike on primer. Yes a weaker hammer spring wouldn't help but was firing off Geco, Hornady, factory no problem so the main problem still has to be in my ammo manufacture.
Think might stem back to swapping out dies in a tool head and and not setting back up properly in a rush and had stuck case, not enough attention to detail.

Have a .223 chamber gauge, should I also get a 5.56?
Spare barrel of same would be handy to drop check..

I thought .223 v 5.56 differences are with pressure/case thickness and throat distance, so I wouldn't bother with a gauge.

Originally Posted by dogmatix

I thought .223 v 5.56 differences are with pressure/case thickness and throat distance, so I wouldn't bother with a gauge.

Ok,
So no difference in case apart from thickness and pressure and you can seat bullet out further in 5,56 so case gauge essentially the same

Originally Posted by jackson21

What is a small base die? Skinnier at base for sizing? No problems feeding.
No hangfires, looked like a nice strike on primer. Yes a weaker hammer spring wouldn't help but was firing off Geco, Hornady, factory no problem so the main problem still has to be in my ammo manufacture.
Think might stem back to swapping out dies in a tool head and and not setting back up properly in a rush and had stuck case, not enough attention to detail.

Have a .223 chamber gauge, should I also get a 5.56?
Spare barrel of same would be handy to drop check..

Yes, smaller at the base as the name implies.
Special Small Base Body, Full Length & Type- - Redding Reloading Equipment: reloading equipment for rifles, handguns, pistols, revolvers and SAECO bullet casting equipment

Don't get too comfortable as feeding issues normally come when you least want them i.e. 500 rounds into your best day rabbit shooting ever. All the AR primers that didn't fire with my timney had what looked like a good what on them. When the round fires it flattens out the primer again so the dent on a misfire always looks deeper than the dent on a fired case.

What brand is the trigger \ hammer spring? A milspec one should be set up for milspec primers which are harder than normal.

RockRiver 2 stage, one of their better ones in a Fred Eichler lower. Guessing around a 3lb break, quite a nice trigger that's why I don't really want to fuck with it if that's not the problem. I do have spare springs lying around, probably Milspec not sure where from, probably doesn't hurt to drop them in and get a bit more strike and see if much difference to trigger.

I'v never had light strikes across 3x RRA triggers

Originally Posted by jackson21

RockRiver 2 stage, one of their better ones in a Fred Eichler lower. Guessing around a 3lb break, quite a nice trigger that's why I don't really want to fuck with it if that's not the problem. I do have spare springs lying around, probably Milspec not sure where from, probably doesn't hurt to drop them in and get a bit more strike and see if much difference to trigger.

Not sure if thats a mil spec two peice trigger or a drop in unit but one thing I realised in my Tinmey trigger experiance is nothing comes for free. To get a nice clean 3lb break they can't use a big heavy hammer spring as it increases the friction between the sears and therefore the trigger weight. If you have spares then drop in either a new hammer spring (if two peice) or a new trigger (if one peice drop in) and see if that makes a difference.

As these things are notoriously hard to reproduce when you want to I would load up 100 rounds of ammo with the AR mil spec primers. Fire half with the old trigger and then swap it out for the new one and fire the other 50.

Personally I can live with misfires on the AR primers if the normal ones work reliably and the trigger is nice. Nothing comes for free in this world.

Yes, understand what you are saying. I've modified Milspec triggers before and this is one of the things you do to lighten.

I had a Timney trigger (never a Tinmey ) also which worked 100% of the time on normal .223 and 300aac BUT will not light Russian/Chinese 7.62 primers. The only thing that gets round this "nothing for free" issue seems to be the Hyperfire trigger which uses different springs.

Ahhh didn't throw them all away, found one of suspects in my ammo tin. Put in Lyman chamber gauge, dimensions look ok to me?

Suspect it maybe something to do with primer pockets, primer looks just a fraction proud. Kids are always begging to help, and suspect some of pockets might not had the full treatment....
Any thoughts?

I use fed205MAR only done 1000rounds so far no duds, but I do look at them in the hand primer feed tray, if any dont look like the rest I bin them (like sometimes one or two dont look as as evenly green as the rest). The round in the case gauge looks OK to me from here or maybe slightly short at the projectile end? Looks like a good primer strike as well, doesnt look like the primer is/was proud from here.

No that looks like a good pin strike, Your primer even looks slightly proud. I have had much lighter strikes on primers that were at least a bit recessed an still had the round fire. I say suspect primer.

Must be a faulty primer with that dent in it.
I use cci small rifle primers #400.
Probably used 100K plus through pistols and 40-50K through rifles.
I cannot remember ever having one not going off.

Just as an aside, but the cases are bone dry on the inside when you prime and load ?

Originally Posted by Kscott

Just as an aside, but the cases are bone dry on the inside when you prime and load ?

Well normally just corn media shine, but now that I think about it a while back I did experiment with some half-arsed home brew wet style(unsuccessfully) to try and get the heavy deposits the suppressor was leaving on the shoulder of case and media struggling to budge.
The troublesome ammo was made approx 6-9 months ago so could have something to do with that and some moisture?
Shot off around 70 odd rounds today that I made yesterday, hand primed and didn't miss a beat!