CCI NO. 500 SPP Failure

[RugerGP]

I have never used anything put CCI primers and have never had any issues with them failing to ignite. The only issue I have ever had was one primer was missing the anvil and CCI gave me a free hat out of the deal when I emailed them to notify them about the lot #. Yesterday I was out shooting some .38 special with bullseye and had two failure to fires. I pulled the rounds and they had adequate powder charge and there was no obstruction in the flash hole. I attached a picture to show the primers. I fired these in my Ruger GP100 357.

Left to right: New, Fired, Two failures

 

[Eddie Gunks]

Good hits? Try em again. See if the go off

 

[RugerGP]

Ya all good hits. I tried them again in the GP and they didn't fire.

 

[SigSweet]

Weird, i never had an issues with my CCI primers, i have been using winchesters lately as I got a good deal and they def seem softer so i would think it was a light strike on the CCIs rather then a primer issue but u never know

 

[RugerGP]

Ya I was really surprised. I have loaded thousands of them and never had an issue. That is why it surprised me. They are from the same 100cnt tray too. Will have to load up some more and see if it happens again. I don't know I have a light strike issue with my GP tho. I know the CCIs are harder. When I charged the striker spring on my XDS I was getting light strikes with the CCIs, when I switched back to the factory spring I was G2G.

 

[Deplorable Me]

Can you show a picture of the flip side with the firing pin hit?

I load 90% CCI primers. Zero defects to date.

 

[SigSweet]

Yea the other side would give us a better idea

From what i have seen personally reloading SPP I have found from hardest to soft

Wolf
CCI
Winchester
Remington ( i dont use anymore since my p320 pierces these)

CCI used to be one of the more expensive of the bunch but now is most affordable (not including wolf/tula) and readily available so i wouldn't be surprised if they changed somethings around to produce more or something that way

 

[RugerGP]

 

[RugerGP]

I actually just shot some more .38 .357 and 9mm using all the CCI SPP. I had three more .38 specials miss fire and did not fire on a second attempt. Maybe it is an issue with my GP 100.

I do wash my brass and let it dry out. It is possible some moisture was still trapped in the primer pocket and made the primer inert. I have just never had an issue with it after reloading 1000s of 9mm using the same cleaning process so I am stumped.

Oh the bright side I did just shoot some power house .357 mag loads which is always fun! 20.2 grains of Alliant 300mp over a 158 gr bullet. They were loaded slightly hotter then usual to try them out.

 

[dwa12479]

I've only ever had one bad primer from CCI, it was too hard. Failed to fire twice in one gun, and again in a different gun. Other than that one, I've been through probably 5k CCI #500 without a hiccup.

 

[RugerGP]

Ya Im going to chalk it up to something I did during the loading process, maybe moisture inside the cases and I didn't let them dry enough. I will keep using CCI and just keep on loading lol.

 

[MilesTeg]

Any chance you didn't seat the primer all the way? If they aren't seated all the way the anvil never crushes the primer compound and also doesn't stay put enough to interact properly with the firing pin. Usually if this is that case though it will fire if you try to shoot it again.

 

[RugerGP]

Ya pretty sure they were seated all the way. Didn't appear to look any different or protrude out.

 

[NY Leatherneck]

Ill take your next hat if you dont want it!!..just saying.

 

[RandallOfLegend]

The misfires look like they fizzled or just mushed the priming compound. You can see the carbon/gunk/unburned priming compound at the edges. Hopefully you reload in small enough batches to set some aside as plinking ammo, and don't mix it with your competition lot.

I would take a look at your firing pin strikes. I assume the are all centered. When my revolver had a bent ejector rod the chamber used to have some off-center hits, and I would occasionally get sprayed in the face with power/lead shavings. One chamber more-so than the rest.

I would guess its your wet cleaning process. How do you dry the brass? During my short lived Ultrasonic phase I would use a space heater pointed at a shallow tupperware container of brass. They would get too how to comfortably touch. Let them roast for an hour and just let them cool. I never had any trapped water. I inspected them frequently, as I was paranoid

 

[RugerGP]

Ya I reloaded less then 100, they are my plinking rounds no serious work. Ya I will take a look at them. I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary but will look closer next time I go out and shoot. Hopefully it's not my GP that has the issue.

I usually just let them sit out in the sun in a window for a few days and never had an issue with 9mm. I think my issue with the .38 is they have a longer case and I didn't let them dry long enough, it was only a day and a half i belief, dumb on my part. I used to out them in the oven when I first started but something about that makes me uncomfortable.

I just have to buy a tumbler lol

 

[Deplorable Me]

I dry tumble, decap , then ultrasonic clean the interior and primer pocket. I dry them on newspaper then let them dry for a month minimum. Some brass is processed and sits for 6 months. If I need brass in a rush I skip ultrasonic cleaning.

 

[RugerGP]

That is a pretty nice cleaning regiment. I need to be more detailed in my process i guess.

 

[RandallOfLegend]

That is a pretty nice cleaning regiment. I need to be more detailed in my process i guess.

Just try using a heater to warm up the brass. In the summer I leave them in the sun, or use my wifes hair dryer to get them dangerously hot. Consistent heat will aid in evaporation. I have used a heater/hair dryer with 357 brass successfully. And it's longer than 38 spl.

 

[Darth]

Food dehydrator.

 

[RugerGP]

Both of those are good suggestions. I do have a food dehydrator and hair dryer lol. Has anyone used a toaster oven before?

 

[Sweetyzfd]

When I started reloading I had the same issue, mine was not moisture related. When I was hand seating the primers I would crush them down as far as they would go creating a few failures here and there. I started to "feel" the primer seat and would stop squeezing. Might be even harder on a press seater

 

[Phazer]

Any chance you didn't seat the primer all the way? If they aren't seated all the way the anvil never crushes the primer compound and also doesn't stay put enough to interact properly with the firing pin. Usually if this is that case though it will fire if you try to shoot it again.

I've had this happen many times with CCI primers. They are a little firmer than some other brands. When I didn't have my press seating primers as firmly as they should have been seated, I had a bunch of "light primer strikes" which were actually the striker/hammer seating the primer more fully on the first hit and then setting it off on the 2nd strike.

Personally, I've had better luck with Sellier & Bellot primers in my cheap Lee Loadmaster press (that has the world's worst priming system).

 

[MilesTeg]

I've had this happen many times with CCI primers. They are a little firmer than some other brands. When I didn't have my press seating primers as firmly as they should have been seated, I had a bunch of "light primer strikes" which were actually the striker/hammer seating the primer more fully on the first hit and then setting it off on the 2nd strike.

Personally, I've had better luck with Sellier & Bellot primers in my cheap Lee Loadmaster press (that has the world's worst priming system).

I want to try those next, but have yet to see a sale tempting enough!

 

[Phazer]

I want to try those next, but have yet to see a sale tempting enough!

I've gotten my Sellier & Bellot primers from Powder Valley in the past: Powder Valley, Inc.

When they're available, they're a bit cheaper than CCI and I've had very good results with them.

 

[RugerGP]

Ill have to check those out also. Ive only ever used CCI.