CCI BR4 primers 60% failed

[Greyfox]

I've fired between 35-40,000 CCI BR 4's and 2's. FTF has been a total of 3. Seeing that this is a new Remage style barrel I'll place my bet on headspace.

Rick

 

[NorCalMikie]

My opinion is excessive headspace or short brass. I would leave the bullets seated way long and fire them again.

Brass too short, pushed forward in the chamber by the firing pin. Pull the bullets out "a bit" to increase the OAL. Jam the bullets into the lands to hold the case head against the bolt face. See what happens.
If you're into it, push a couple of primers out of the case and do the "HAMMER THING". Put them on a hard surface and SMACK THEM. You'll know if it's a primer problem. Wear safety glasses when banging.
I've probably gone thru at least 5000+ CCI both large and small primers and NEVER had a FTF that wasn't caused by something else. One thing at a time.

 

[jds holler]

Faulty primers are so rare as to be -- unbelievable. It's not even very quick or easy to deactivate them with oil or water.

If you find that these are truly defective duds, my heart will be broken, and my entire belief system will be shaken. jd

 

[Sundown]

Sounds to me it's Head Space Problems. Your chamber may be cut too deep for you Ramage barrel. Do you have a GO-No Go set to check?

 

[rogn]

"Hammer test" to verify defect in primer is best carried out with solid stable surface like anvil or heavy flat on bench vise. Id recommend placing a , at least 4X4" piece of 3/6" plate over the primer, surrounding the system with an kinetic absorber like a heavy towel, then smacking the plate with a >24oz hammer. Adequate compound will give a very satisfying as well as frightening BANG. Safety glasses and any other protective arrangement are definitely in order.
Ive found defective primers to be extremely rare. The most common Ive seen are the now very rare Wolf/Tula primers. A batch I have of LRM have shown a noticeable failure rate as well as hangfires. Bench accuracy is excellent,......but. I think some of the problems with these is tht they are sufficiently oversized to the point that seating damages the pellet. Althogh one out of many failed the hammer test.
subninja can you measure the case head to shoulder length of the dud rounds and the successfully fired ones.? They should agree within a couple of thousanths. If not headspace is an issue.

 

[6BRinNZ]

IME a big dent but no bang is the primer not seated deep enough. Head space will also do the same thing.
The solid dent indicates the FP spring and protusion is fine. Seat primer in another .008" in at least.
I have literally shot 1000s of CCIs with no failures until I bought an adjustable primer tool. I set it so primers were below flush but would get the odd big dent no bang. I kept adjusting the primer depth in until the problem went away, that was about .008 - .010 deeper from memory.
I knew it wasn't headspace In my case) as I measure sized vs fired cases and even with cases FLS .004 - .005 primers will go bang if seated deep enough.
Plenty of guys fire forming have big dents no bang and that is due to headspace.
It is more prevalent in primers with a harder cup.
I don't buy into the faulty batch of primers with CCIs anymore.

 

[linebaugh]

All my opinion from the pictures and your description. Obviously I could be wrong so don't take this as against you personally.
Those primers do not look especially hard dented and they appear a bit irradic or inconsistent. Because I have been there before (many of us probably have) I would guess either your headspace is off or your casings are not at spec as in undersized.
You have some that fired and some that didn't so what is the shoulder measurement difference?
Seat your bullets into the lands and try again or adjust the headspace.

 

[Chuckhunter]

check you're fire control and make sure the roll pin that holds the cocking piece in place is at flush or below and is not dragging against the shroud. Also check spring poundage to make sure it's adequate. Had this happen to me and it created plenty of accuracy issues as well as misfires. I also concur with most who said headspace, certainly worth checking.

 

[47WillysGuy]

I checked the primers before they were fired and they were seated properly. This rifle never had problems before being re barreled. I did check a fired case vs a new one and it’s about 4 thousandths difference. The barrel was installed using gages. The bullets are seated just off the lands. And I will be trying these in my other rifle on my next trip to the range. Hope I answered all posts.

I believe it’s in primer pocket itself. Get a primer pocket reamer and remove the brass in corner of the primer pocket that Peterson’s machine failed to cut out.

I loaded 37 rounds of new Peterson brass and had 10 fail to fire.

I loaded 50 rounds of new Lapua brass with the same Lot of primers. All fired.

Primer pocket reamer removed many slivers of brass from the Peterson brass and none from the Lapua brass.

You might have more problems but that’s where I’d start.

Merry Christmas and luck to you and yours!

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

I had an issue with BR4 primers in my TC Dimension 204r, mostly seemed like cold weather related. All had what appeared to be a good pin strike. Until I pulled my Lee auto prime apart and noticed the flat spot worn in the link arm, started measuring how deep primers were seated, some were just flush many were a thousandth or less than flush, put the primer seater back on my press and made sure primers were minimum -.003-.004 no more FTF. As a check I tried some Rem 7.5's in the Lee with the same batch of new Hornady brass and had a FTF.

 

[Damon555]

All the evidence points to something related to the new barrel......If that's when the problems started with that action then there ya have it.....measure, measure, measure....I bet something is amiss with the pipe.

I've loaded tens of thousands of rounds for different types of ammo with many different types of primers.....I've only had three (3) failures due to a primer issue......and to tell you the truth.....Those three failures are the only of my handloaded rounds that have ever malfunctioned......I don't rely on luck when reloading

 

[Ggmac]

How far does the case protrude from the barrels chamber ( barrel removed ) Can you unscrew the barrel nut and turn the barrel in on a primed but NO powder case and see if it fires . If so I'd say a headspace problem . What does a fired primer and case look like ?
Set bullets jammed and Fireform after resetting headspace and making sure the bolt nose doesn't contact the barrel

 

[grovey]

I didn't read all the responses, but with new brass in a new chamber I think butch has your answer. What I would do is pull a few of those bullets... one at a time, dump powder, size the neck without decapping, return the rest of powder from that case back in and seat the bullets to a hard jam . A nickel says they fire.

I swore off CCI 450's last spring because of misfires, and have since ( with some suggestions from others) figured out I had a issue similar to yours. The 450's have since helped me shoot some of the best groups I've ever shot.

 

[subninja]

Measured fired vs new case and there’s a 5-8 thousandth difference. Pulled bullets out of all rounds and jammed them, they still would not fire.

 

[subninja]

Also tried some Remington br primers and they fired with no problem

 

[Ggmac]

Measured fired vs new case and there’s a 5-8 thousandth difference. Pulled bullets out of all rounds and jammed them, they still would not fire.

Did you buy these at a gun show or shop ? Sounds like it's going to be the primers , odd but possible . What do the unfired primers look like on the inside of the cup , any strange colors or growths .

 

[Medic505]

Wear safety glasses when banging

and ear plugs....

 

[mikeeg02]

Measured fired vs new case and there’s a 5-8 thousandth difference. Pulled bullets out of all rounds and jammed them, they still would not fire.

Jamming them with the same primers will not always fix the issue. Jamming them with 205s or similar will.

 

[subninja]

Bought them from grafs. No discoloration on other primers. I didn’t need to jam bullets to get other primers to fire.

 

[6BRinNZ]

Sounds like they aren't seated deep enough to set the anvil. If the anvil doesnt get set then you get a big dent but no bang.
These types of threads typically revolve around primers with a harder cup.