Anyone else having problems with CCI primers?

[ftrovato]

I will argue this one all day long. Sometimes there are just bad primers.

Anything is possible....But I've never seen it in 100s of thousands of rounds over the last 50 years from shotgun to pistol.

Now watch a Buffalo will run me over next year with a misfire.... ;-)

 

[375er]

Anything is possible....But I've never seen it in 100s of thousands of rounds over the last 50 years from shotgun to pistol.

Now watch a Buffalo will run me over next year with a misfire.... ;-)

I have the batch of primers to proove it!

 

[ftrovato]

I have the batch of primers to proove it!

Were they oil contaminated? I'd sent them to manufacture and get a diagnosis....

 

[375er]

Were they oil contaminated? I'd sent them to manufacture and get a diagnosis....

Well I bought them a long time ago so probably not worth their time or mine.

 

[Tex .416]

Here is a good article by someone from Black Hills ammo, which is high quality ammo:

Ammo Primer Misfires - Why They Happen - Guns and Ammo

If you experience an ammo misfire, you thoroughly investigate to determine the cause - firearm firing pin, bad primer, old ammo - so you can address and fix the problem.

www.gunsandammo.com

 

[Ridge Runner]

Here is a good article by someone from Black Hills ammo, which is high quality ammo:

Ammo Primer Misfires - Why They Happen - Guns and Ammo

If you experience an ammo misfire, you thoroughly investigate to determine the cause - firearm firing pin, bad primer, old ammo - so you can address and fix the problem.

www.gunsandammo.com

Not much of an article on misfires. But good on why misfires can happen. He over rated the percentage of reliability of primers, but then again he was only mentioning Winchester brand primers.

Back in the late 80' or early 90's. IIRC, Federal had a recall on ammunition with bad primers. I had acquired a T/C Encore chambered in 7mm-08 and purchased 4 boxes of ammo all with the same lot number. Out of 2 boxes, 40 rounds, only 5 or 6 went bang. I contacted Federal, sent the 4 boxes back to Federal. About 2 or 3 weeks later I received a letter and a package from Federal; the letter in typical corporate round about way without acknowledging any fault the ammunition was bad,....bad primers. The package was 4 new boxes of ammo and "coupons" for 2 more free boxes.

As it happened, I had just started gunsmithing school and we had just discussed misfires in class a couple of weeks earlier on what to do when a customer comes into our shop complaining about having multiple misfires.

 

[Trojan1972]

Not sure when or where I purchased these CCI Small Rifle Primers, so far I have had 21 out of 200 to not go bang.

I use to swear by CCI's dependability with 8 days before wheels up for Africa I am now swear at CCI's dependability and reload using Winchester primers.

We have issues with a few rounds on the Range, as a Range Officer we noticed quite a few CCI primers failing. We did hear that due to the shortage of powders etc CCI had a run of a bad batch. Not sure if reducing the primer material to save money, but the newer batches have been working ok. Only issue is you dont know what batch you will be buying if its old or newer, chances should be pretty good the bad lots are all sold by now.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Not sure when or where I purchased these CCI Small Rifle Primers, so far I have had 21 out of 200 to not go bang.

I use to swear by CCI's dependability with 8 days before wheels up for Africa I am now swear at CCI's dependability and reload using Winchester primers.

@Ridge Runner
I've used 1,000s of CCI primers in both small and large. The only time I've had in fail was when I seated it upside down.
I still have a few left but with the primer shortage I now have Remington, federal and magtech primers in hand in both standard and BR in some brands. I still have a few hundred CCI small rifle bench rest primers.
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I was a PD shooter for many years. Only used CCI small BR primers. Loaded about 5000 rounds a year never had an issue except when one turned over in the Lee primer tool.

@Luvthunt
Good to see I'm not the only one that's done that.
Problem was I didn't pick it up and still tried to fire the round. It was only when it didn't go bang I found my mistake.
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I haven't had a problem yet with CCI Large Rifle Magnum but reading this thread with interest since I bought 1000 of the things. I prefer Winchester but CCI was all that could be found. All I need is a charging buffalo and the deffining sound of "click".

@Rafiki
If you ever just hear that click I think you might need a new pair of trousers and some fancy footwork to stay upright.
Hopefully never happens.
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I'll have to check. There isn't much of a shoulder on 22 Hornet.

@Ridge Runner
With the Hornet it wouldn't matter if you pushed the shoulder back half an inch.
It's a rimmed case so head spaces off the rim.
The Hornet is notorious for having rim thickness that is all over the shop depending on the brand.
My lowall Hornet was set up using Remington Hornet brass.
If I try and use expensive RWS brass I can't close the block because the rims are thicker.
Fortunately I have 500 Hornet cases.
Bob

 

[flying sailor]

I have been using CCI & Federal for 50yrs also never had an issue !

But Winchester I absolutely wouldn’t trust, had 100s fail in LR & Mag, also messed up several of my bolt faces, the caps failed putting little pits in my bolts.

We couldn’t get ANY primers here so made do & I even tried them on super low pressure Subsonic & Black Powder loads but that didn’t help !

Can never trust Winchester primers again !!!

I had the same experience with pits in the bolt face. Not nice on a new chassis rifle! Much dis pleased!!

 

[hoytcanon]

I will argue this one all day long. Sometimes there are just bad primers.

It happens, but rarely... and it is the last thing I suspect on a misfire. Primer seating and improper sizing of the shoulder are more often the issue than is a bad primer... IME.

 

[30.06king]

Have had FTF issues with CCI LR primers from a couple of different batches over the years. Only sorted the problem on the second occasion. As some have posted CCI primer cups are a harder material than other brands and require a sterner strike force for ignition. I FL size my brass and am careful re correct headspace which works well for primer brands ( in my case predominantly Federal ) other than CCI.
On my second episode with CCI FTF I tried to shoot the defective rounds 3 times and even with very obvious firing pin indentations on the primers they would just not ignite. I chatted to a gunsmith who explained a small headspace correction, relative to CCI primers, would likely solve the matter. So I backed off my FL die maybe around 1/8 to 1/4 turn and loaded rounds using 5 of the "defective" and retrieved FTF primers. The bolt did feel a little firmer on closing but every one of those primers ignited. So yep, definitely not defective primers.
However, my confidence in CCI primers remains diminished. I no longer use them in hunting rounds. Have since sold or given away what I had and stuck with Federal which, so far over several thousand shots, have never failed.

 

[375er]

It happens, but rarely... and it is the last thing I suspect on a misfire. Primer seating and improper sizing of the shoulder are more often the issue than is a bad primer... IME.

You have your experience I have mine. Quite happy with the other primers I have on hand. Buy CCI again, nope.

 

[fourfive8]

Lots of possibilities. Primers are extremely simple little buggers… but.

Contamination, especially with older primers of unknown history, would always be one of my first suspicions. The other would be a misfit of some variety where the firing pin energy is absorbed and not enough to compress and ignite the compound between the primer cup and the anvil. Which brings up the reloading technique (or oversight) where the primer is not seated so the anvil, ever so slightly, compresses against the bottom of the pocket thus compressing the compound.

An interesting experiment which may reveal a chamber to ammo misfit or headspace issue is to load a few resized cases with only a primer. Fire them and inspect for slightly unseated primers

 

[Ridge Runner]

Have had FTF issues with CCI LR primers from a couple of different batches over the years. Only sorted the problem on the second occasion. As some have posted CCI primer cups are a harder material than other brands and require a sterner strike force for ignition. I FL size my brass and am careful re correct headspace which works well for primer brands ( in my case predominantly Federal ) other than CCI.
On my second episode with CCI FTF I tried to shoot the defective rounds 3 times and even with very obvious firing pin indentations on the primers they would just not ignite. I chatted to a gunsmith who explained a small headspace correction, relative to CCI primers, would likely solve the matter. So I backed off my FL die maybe around 1/8 to 1/4 turn and loaded rounds using 5 of the "defective" and retrieved FTF primers. The bolt did feel a little firmer on closing but every one of those primers ignited. So yep, definitely not defective primers.
However, my confidence in CCI primers remains diminished. I no longer use them in hunting rounds. Have since sold or given away what I had and stuck with Federal which, so far over several thousand shots, have never failed.

I haven't been able to acquire Winchester small rifle primers loxalky yet. But I do have and reloaded a 100+ rounds using Federal Match Small Rifle Primers and depending on Wednesday's weather I'll be picking a range to test my reloads.

 

[WAB]

I will argue this one all day long. Sometimes there are just bad primers.

I don’t doubt it but I’ve never had one. I’ve been loading since 1975. Yeah I know, I’m getting a little long in the tooth.

 

[Rafiki]

I don’t doubt it but I’ve never had one. I’ve been loading since 1975. Yeah I know, I’m getting a little long in the tooth.

My one and only bad primer was a Remington LRM.

 

[Ridge Runner]

I was able to get 173 rounds of 22 Hornet reloaded last night for todays range day. I couldn't purchase any Winchester Small Rifle Primers locally so I went with Federal Small Rifle Match Primers i have on hand. Of the 173 reloads i shot up 126 at the Range without a misfire, or any other problem.