First Misfire

Cumbrian 1

Well-Known Member
Had my first misfire this morning, as this has not happened before I have never gave it much thought, but looking at the photo is there anything I could of done to avoid this problem or should I put it down to a one off. The primer is CCI 200 LR.
View attachment 19332
 
Last edited:
Certainly a healthy primer strike, but might be worth just stripping your bolt down to give the striker a good clean - may be a little of gunk in there slowing down the speed of strike.

Other than that just make sure your primers are not contaminated my oil, water or even hand sweat etc. They do say try not to handle primers at all, as they are quite easily contaminated and a tiny bit of oil wil stop them working. Chances are, if you are like me, your store your primers in your ammunition cabinet, along with cleaning kit etc. - one day an oil bottle will tip over as you stuff everything in.
 
Certainly a healthy primer strike, but might be worth just stripping your bolt down to give the striker a good clean - may be a little of gunk in there slowing down the speed of strike.

Other than that just make sure your primers are not contaminated my oil, water or even hand sweat etc. They do say try not to handle primers at all, as they are quite easily contaminated and a tiny bit of oil wil stop them working. Chances are, if you are like me, your store your primers in your ammunition cabinet, along with cleaning kit etc. - one day an oil bottle will tip over as you stuff everything in.

That is old advise regarding 'contaminating' primers almost impossible to do nowadays. The protective coating pretty much has negated contamination issues.
One can find tests of primers which had cases filled with water, oil and wd40 for a week and they still fired!
This advise about neutralising primers is a long time out of date!

One thing to look for is seating pressure, the grimace on the face whilst seating primers will damage them and cause a misfire.
A too lightly fitted primer will cause problems too.
Most likely cause was just a faulty primer!
 
Last edited:
Probable problem - primer not fully seated when reloading. How many times has the brass been used, is the primer pocket a bit slack ?
 
Probable problem - primer not fully seated when reloading. How many times has the brass been used, is the primer pocket a bit slack ?

Slack primer pocket cause of misfire? Not unless the primer fell out!
I would hope that if the primer pocket is loose the brass would be scrapped.
 
unless the firing pin knocked the primer to bits with that deep strike? to the OP - do all your spent primers look like that?
 
Use federal primers..... its invariably cci primers that dont go off ime. About 1 in 200 cci primers seem too fail but not had any fed.fail.
 
Had my first misfire this morning, as this has not happened before I have never gave it much thought, but looking at the photo is there anything I could of done to avoid this problem or should I put it down to a one off. The primer is CCI 200 LR.

I use CCI 200 primers exclusively. I had a self inflicted misfire recently. Upon investigation I found I had not dried the case properly after ultrasonic cleaning. The primer did not ignite due to the water. The primer was dented, but that was all. The powder was also damp and the kernels were clumped together.

Regards JCS
 
I only use cci primers and used 1000's and never had a missfire I rate them highly no loads of people down the club who use them and never have problems......
 
Slack primer pocket cause of misfire? Not unless the primer fell out!
I would hope that if the primer pocket is loose the brass would be scrapped.
Slack primer pocket - just enough tension to hold the primer in but not slack enough for it to fall out !!
Primer not seated fully would not enable the striker to strike the soft outer part of the primer against the anvil, merely seat the primer but still leave an indentation.
The brass would have to be scrapped if the primer pocket was loose enough for the primer to fall out - Simples
 
I only use cci primers and used 1000's and never had a missfire I rate them highly no loads of people down the club who use them and never have problems......

I'll second that. I have gone through about 4K of them in the last year with no problems.~Muir
 
Slack primer pocket - just enough tension to hold the primer in but not slack enough for it to fall out !!
Primer not seated fully would not enable the striker to strike the soft outer part of the primer against the anvil, merely seat the primer but still leave an indentation.
The brass would have to be scrapped if the primer pocket was loose enough for the primer to fall out - Simples

Just seems to be a little faulty logic here! Slack enough to hold the primer and yet not seated deep enough?

Over thinking the problem is not the solution, Occam's razor is best applied. ;)
 
Just seems to be a little faulty logic here! Slack enough to hold the primer and yet not seated deep enough? Over thinking the problem is not the solution, Occam's razor is best applied. ;)
Not faulty logic, it's known as human error. I don't mean to be argumentative or rude but over the last fifty years I have come across nearly every situation there is to come across including inserting primers backwards and sideways !!!
I haven't heard the expression Occam's razor for many years, since school in fact. :D
 
Last edited:
Not faulty logic, it's known as human error. I don't mean to be argumentative or rude but over the last fifty years I have come across nearly every situation there is to come across including inserting primers backwards and sideways !!!
I haven't heard the expression Occam's razor for many years, since school in fact. :D

Looking at it from an engineering perspective discounting backwards sideways upside down etc, the 'slip' fitted primer is unlikely to misfire!
 
Looking at it from an engineering perspective discounting backwards sideways upside down etc, the 'slip' fitted primer is unlikely to misfire!

Right, I give up, why didn't it ignite ?
Did the cartridge have a charge in it ?
Did the cartridge get primed with an already fired primer ?
I agree with the previous poster ref contamination from oily fingers etc as I think the majority of primers today are sealed with a shellac type sealant.
 
Back
Top