CCI BR-4 Primers failure to fire
- Thread starter Tony1320
- Start date
Did you try to fire them a second time in the same rifle? If they go on the second strike you might not be seating them to the bottom of the pocket. New Lapua Palma brass has a pretty snug pocket from my experience.
Yup tried them a second time in the same rifle right after the fail to fire and nothing. When I got home pulled the bullets and tried in another rifle and only 3 fired
It is virgin Lapua Palma brass but I made sure it was seated to the bottom.
You might look at replacing your firing pin spring depending on how many rounds you have through the rifle.
Its not that old maybe a few thousand rounds. The action is a Barnard P I don't think there should be any issue with the firing pin spring. I never had issues with BR-2 primers
Humor us, please. Go ahead and replace it, and see what happens.
If I were having your problem, replacing the firing pin spring is one of the first things I would do.
NorCalMikie
Gold $$ Contributor
If it was ME and I was having a problem with FTF on NEW brass, I wouldn't be blaming it on the CCI primers OR the firing pin or spring.
The first thing I would be looking at is the case length compared to the chamber length. Too short and the case gets pushed forward by the firing pin and you get FTF.
Lengthen the OAL on the FTF rounds by jamming the bullets into the lands so the case can't be pushed forward and make sure after the case is fire formed that you don't push the shoulder back too far and end up with the same problem again.
Or, replace the firing pin and spring, using the same ammo without making any changes to it and you'll still end up with the same problem. Do the easy stuff first.
I've gone thru maybe 5000 + CCI BR 4 primers and NEVER had a FTF because of a bad primer.
Push the FTF primers out and do the hammer thing. Smack it with a hammer and see if it goes BANG!! My bet is it will.
The first thing I would be looking at is the case length compared to the chamber length. Too short and the case gets pushed forward by the firing pin and you get FTF.
Lengthen the OAL on the FTF rounds by jamming the bullets into the lands so the case can't be pushed forward and make sure after the case is fire formed that you don't push the shoulder back too far and end up with the same problem again.
Or, replace the firing pin and spring, using the same ammo without making any changes to it and you'll still end up with the same problem. Do the easy stuff first.
I've gone thru maybe 5000 + CCI BR 4 primers and NEVER had a FTF because of a bad primer.
Push the FTF primers out and do the hammer thing. Smack it with a hammer and see if it goes BANG!! My bet is it will.
skiutah02
Silver $$ Contributor
I believe this has been observed/discussed before.
http://forum.accurateshooter.com/th...-new-lapua-palma-brass.3913807/#post-36870301
Almost certainly related to the very tight primer pocket in virgin Lapua SP 308 brass and not seating the primer deep enough. Easily shot 20K BR4s in past 4 years. Only had <10 FTF. All were last year in virgin SP brass. Hard hit on primer by firing pin. Disassembled round, knocked out primer. Made certain to seat very well a new primer. Reassembled round using same powder and bullet, 100% fired on second go-round.
http://forum.accurateshooter.com/th...-new-lapua-palma-brass.3913807/#post-36870301
Almost certainly related to the very tight primer pocket in virgin Lapua SP 308 brass and not seating the primer deep enough. Easily shot 20K BR4s in past 4 years. Only had <10 FTF. All were last year in virgin SP brass. Hard hit on primer by firing pin. Disassembled round, knocked out primer. Made certain to seat very well a new primer. Reassembled round using same powder and bullet, 100% fired on second go-round.
I had a similar primer issue one time. As It turned out; my primer tool had developed a glitch whereas the primers were not set to full depth and not in full contact with the bottom of the primer pocket. Primers must have a "dead stop" and require a solid blunt force on the surface in order to function. Just saying.
If it was ME and I was having a problem with FTF on NEW brass, I wouldn't be blaming it on the CCI primers OR the firing pin or spring.
The first thing I would be looking at is the case length compared to the chamber length. Too short and the case gets pushed forward by the firing pin and you get FTF.
Lengthen the OAL on the FTF rounds by jamming the bullets into the lands so the case can't be pushed forward and make sure after the case is fire formed that you don't push the shoulder back too far and end up with the same problem again.
Or, replace the firing pin and spring, using the same ammo without making any changes to it and you'll still end up with the same problem. Do the easy stuff first.
I've gone thru maybe 5000 + CCI BR 4 primers and NEVER had a FTF because of a bad primer.
Push the FTF primers out and do the hammer thing. Smack it with a hammer and see if it goes BANG!! My bet is it will.
I'm with Mike. since we are talking about new, unfired brass the culprit is almost definitely headspace.
Rick
If it was ME and I was having a problem with FTF on NEW brass, I wouldn't be blaming it on the CCI primers OR the firing pin or spring.
The first thing I would be looking at is the case length compared to the chamber length. Too short and the case gets pushed forward by the firing pin and you get FTF.
Lengthen the OAL on the FTF rounds by jamming the bullets into the lands so the case can't be pushed forward and make sure after the case is fire formed that you don't push the shoulder back too far and end up with the same problem again.
Or, replace the firing pin and spring, using the same ammo without making any changes to it and you'll still end up with the same problem. Do the easy stuff first.
I've gone thru maybe 5000 + CCI BR 4 primers and NEVER had a FTF because of a bad primer.
Push the FTF primers out and do the hammer thing. Smack it with a hammer and see if it goes BANG!! My bet is it will.
I will measure when I get home and post my findings.
If I pulled the bullets and my friend tried firing them in other rifles and 3 fired and the rest still didnt go off do you still think its a brass problem?
Likely so. I had several FTF's with new 6 to 6.5 Creedmoor lapua cases using BR-4 primers on initial forming. I put in a "killer firing pin" spring, as F. Guffey would call it, from GreTan and no more FTF's for the rest of that brass lot. I subsequently tested the original firing pin spring (as supplied with the Borden action) and it fires all the 'once fired' cases just fine. I did not measure the base to .400 datum line on the new brass but I suspect it was a bit small for my chamber and the firing pin spring a little light...the combination of the two causing my issues.
This is another possibility. I know that it happened to a couple shooters at F class nationals this fall. Check the back of your bolt.
I was a firm believer that if a CCI Primer didn’t ignite it wasn’t the primer... that was until recently fire forming for BRA and had several misfires,action is Panda F Class, a freind was also fireforming with same action,primers and BRA he also had misfires with BR4s and 450s. Head space and firing pin tensions were spot on...changed primer batches and problem went away. I’ve fired 5000+ CCI primers before these with not one misfire. I believe it was the primers..
My .02c
Cheers Rushty
Edit: We haven’t been the only ones with CCI Primer misfires of late there have been a few other reports just recently on this forum.
I've been reloading for over 40 years and have loaded thousands of rounds of rifle and pistol. Only one time could I attribute a failure to fire on a faulty primer. It was a Federal 205M primer. When I dissassembled the cartridge and carefully removed the primer and inspected it I found that the primer did not contain any primer compound.
Since I single prime with a priming tool it's easy to quickly examine the primers in the tray to verify that primer compound is in the primer. I don't think this is really necessary based on the one in thousands faulty primer I had but I do it now out of habit.
Since I single prime with a priming tool it's easy to quickly examine the primers in the tray to verify that primer compound is in the primer. I don't think this is really necessary based on the one in thousands faulty primer I had but I do it now out of habit.
If it was ME and I was having a problem with FTF on NEW brass, I wouldn't be blaming it on the CCI primers OR the firing pin or spring.
The first thing I would be looking at is the case length compared to the chamber length. Too short and the case gets pushed forward by the firing pin and you get FTF.
Lengthen the OAL on the FTF rounds by jamming the bullets into the lands so the case can't be pushed forward and make sure after the case is fire formed that you don't push the shoulder back too far and end up with the same problem again.
Or, replace the firing pin and spring, using the same ammo without making any changes to it and you'll still end up with the same problem. Do the easy stuff first.
I've gone thru maybe 5000 + CCI BR 4 primers and NEVER had a FTF because of a bad primer.
Push the FTF primers out and do the hammer thing. Smack it with a hammer and see if it goes BANG!! My bet is it will.
I measured the cases that failed to fire. The base to shoulder measures 1.600 to 1.602 and a fired case measures 1.610. OAL of the brass were all 2.008
I've always bumped shoulders back .002 when resizing but is .10 gap enough to cause a fail to fire?
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