primer or rifle

pj1

Well-Known Member
Hi hope i find you all well.

Im new to reloading only fired 50 rounds of my home loads so far. I have had probably 7 or 8 rounds that have not fired first go. Most have gone after cocking the rifle and firing again but have had a couple that just didnt want to go. I have pulled these and put them through the rifle again with no powder or bullet and the primers have gone off first go.

Any ideas gratefully received. Have lost confidence in my homeloads doing the job when needed

Regards pete

Sorry should probably be titled primer rifle or me
 
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strip rifle and check head of firing pin for damage then try new box of primers these may be contaminated or faulty if it still persists take to a smith as they can check spring tension ect... have you uniformed the primer pockets at all

kris
 
Hi kris. Not done anything to the primer pockets. Im using cci large rifle primers and winchester brass. Just loaded 10 primers only and they all went off fine. Dent in primer looks to be the same depth. Some are as near dead centre as you could shake a stick at others are nearer the edge. The dent looks quite rough.

Not sure if any of this is relevent but hope that more info is best
 
three primer only fired. dont understand how the point of impact can move that much or is this normal

The point of impact doesn't change, but it's not in the centre of the primer. If you apply an index mark to the edge of the case head next to the 'W' with a marker pen or similar and chamber each round with the mark at 12 o'clock, the primer impact will be in the same position relative to the index mark. Primer 3 has I suspect been struck twice with the case being re-chambered between primer strikes. Regards JCS
 
Hi jcs. Yes the firing pin strikes at the 12o clock positionbut the third primers seems more central and is definatly only been struck the once. These three are what i have loaded this evening with just primers to try.
 
agreed they do look rough id strip the bolt and give it a good clean maybe some brass shavings on the face of bolt are causing the rough appearence on primer i think the misfires are due to a contaminated batch of primers try a different box im sure they will function as normal

kris
 
Hi jcs. Yes the firing pin strikes at the 12o clock positionbut the third primers seems more central and is definatly only been struck the once. These three are what i have loaded this evening with just primers to try.

You've taken excellent photos of the primers, how about posting photos of the bolt face showing the firing pin in both the cocked and fired positions? Thanks JCS
 
Oh well if you insist it will have to be a trip to the gun shop. You know what a hardship these trips can be :D
 
Will do jcs. Give us a mo to get the old steam powered lap top fired up and i will be with you
 
yep looks like a little damage on firing pin this may be causing the ignition problem i would still try another batch of primers to rule that out
what rifle mate

kris
 
Parker hale 1100 lwt. Think its ealry 80s but in real good condition apart from maybe the firing pin. Looks as its hardly been used stock and finish wise.
 
The firing pin tip looks bad, i.e. peened over, perhaps not properly hardened. I would dress it with a file and emery cloth, maybe harden in Kasenit since I still have some, or find a new one.

Will certainly be dragging or catching as it runs through the bolt face.

The bolt head looks to be in excellent condition, as new.
 
The pin should be rounded. Speak to Norman Clark and he will probably be able to supply you a replacement pin.
 
Thanks lads. Would this also have anything to do with struggling to close the bolt sometimes. I orginally struggled with this as the cases were catching on the extractor claw and not sliding up underneath it. I took it to gunsmith and they freed it up a little but occasionally it will stick needing a couple of jiggels of the bolt handle to let the bolt close.
 
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I think that last photo maked the pin look square, but the previous photo shows the pin to be radiused.

I would dump the primers. You can micro diagnose the firing pin and bolt face til the cows come home but a primer punched that hard should ignite. JMHO.~Muir
 
A mate of mine had a similar problem, turns out a little bit of pine needle had got into the bolt and was causing intermittent light strikes. Often, the rifle was mostly fine but some times needed that second go.

Yours does look like a proper strike but personally, on a 30yr old rifle I'd say a strip and clean would do no harm.
​After all, confidence is half the game. :)

P.S. Good macro photography skills :D
 
Thanks muir and milligan.
I will strip the bolt and give a good scrub tonight then try out tomorrow.

As for macro photography your very kind but just use a nikon d60 with standard kit lense and then zoom in on photo afterwards. Have it set on idiot mode. Point and shoot
 
well it was a lovely morning but no deer. i stripped the bolt last night and used some hopes 009 solvent inside the bolt face. got some very small bits out and maybe a sliver of brass but was so small i dont think it would of made any differance.
tried my last 12 homeloads this morning and all fired first go.
think i will still get a new packet of primers to load my next batch and see if the problem persists.
 
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