Thread: CCI primer misfires?

At the range today and I had 4 out of 16 rounds from the .338 LM misfire. Each just went 'click', left a healthy looking dent in the primer, but no boom. I tried cocking the rifle and firing again but none of them wanted to. I am using CCI large magnum rifle primers in virgin Lapua brass, reading online it looks like I may not be seating the primers deep enough, I seat them on a Redding press, and usually try to make sure they are seated as deep as they will go. I also try to spin each primed case 180 degrees and seat it again, just in case it wasn't seating them level. The dents look deep enough not to suggest a firing pin protrusion issue, but I can't be sure. I'd like to try other brands of primers, I can't find any Federal or Federal Match but I've heard they are good.
Any advice is appreciated, cheers, Tom

It could well be the new brass is a little short for the chamber, the pin hits the primer & it "sort of half heartedly" goes off as the case goes forward in the chamber.

If you pull the rounds, I bet the powder will be discoloured, sort of light yellowish, compared to the powder nearer the projectile.

I have seen it with 2217 & 2225.

If you try the fired brass again it will probably be fine.

You only have to look at Fed 215s, they have a softer cup & a nice big bright spark compared to 250s.

You could try some 210s seeing as how they are very few 215s around at the moment.

Could also be that you are seating them too deeply in the case.
I've had the same issue and found that they were too far into the primer pocket, easy to do if priming on the press as it's easy to use too much force with so much leverage from a press handle.
Check that they are level with the head of the brass and no deeper.

Thanks Greg, I did pull the bullets and didn't notice anything unusual about the powder, and the dud primers were the same colour underneath (yellow I think) as new ones, not grey/sooty as used primers are, so I think they haven't gone off at all. I may try seating them shallower, but I have heard that seating them too shallow means they get pushed forward by the firing pin without enough resistance to set them off. I may try some other brands of primers. Cheers

Do you get Methylated spirits anywhere near your primers/primed brass ?

You didn't get liquid case lube in the neck of the base, then have it run down into the primer?

No, I don't have any liquids near the reloading bench, I'll post a photo of the dud primers when I can

The primer should be seated flush or a wee bit deeper. The firing pin will protrude about 50thou (1.25mm) ideally, check that. If you are seating the primers too deep and the effective protrusion is <30thou that might be a reason.

Federal primers are supposed to be a bit easier to set off. Some ppl I know have been using the Russian or italian fiochi (or some such spelling) primers and have misfires. have you been using these for a long time with no issues before or is this a change from your "normal" reload?

You could be seating them to hard and cracking the priming compound pellet easy to do when seating on a press, I use a Hornady hand primer and can feel the primer seat to the bottom of the primer pocket
not so easy on a press, Lee make a good seating tool at a reasonable price.

Pic of ones that went bang and ones that did not.

Tommygun if you send me a self addressed postage bag, I'll send you 100 federal 215s to play with.



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Had the same issue with CCI primers awhile back giving the odd misfire. Changed to Fed and problem solved.

Here's a photo of the 4 'dud' primers on the left, a spent one and regular un-used ones on the right, it looks like they just haven't ignited at all, I think it's probably my seating technique to blame. I reckon i'll try to seat them closer to being flush and see if it still happens, as a habit I seat primers as deep as I can, probably because when I first started hand-loading I was scared of having a proud primer blow. The rifle is a Savage 110, thanks for the offer Brads, but I will see if I can see what the problem is before I try to change primers.

My 2c worth, the pin indentations look a bit light, it may pay to check the pin protrusion and dismantle the bolt to check for crap or a broken spring. A broken spring can cause similar issues depending on how the two halfs bounce around.