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Misfire on new rifle

TNVolunteer

I have a new 6GT; of the 60 rounds I have fired so far, I have had eight misfires. The primer is struck, and no bang. Trying second-time results the same, no bang.

I am using new Alpha brass (with no resizing or cleaning), Varget, and CCI 450 primers. Headspace, primer seating depth, powder charge, CBTS, CBTO, and COAL are the same for all rounds.

These were loaded in a room with less than 50% humidity and fired within 24 hours of loading.

Pulling the bullet on each one that misfires, what I see is below.

Clumped powder and what appears to be a primer that did ignite or tried to. I added an unfired primer for comparison.

I think the Imperial wax I am lubing the bullet with may be causing this. I don't understand why since I have loaded thousands of rounds for other rifles using the same process and never had this issue.

I had a ninth round that did fire, but it still had some leftover clumped powder.

I validated headspace by removing the firing pin and ejector and comparing a piece of fired brass to the new brass. The fired brass CBTS is 1.923 and fits like a glove, and the new brass or a piece of resized brass is 1.920. With a piece of tape on the new brass head, I can feel a little drag on the bolt as I close it.

With the firing pin and ejector out, I also jammed a lubed bullet in a resized, annealed case with tape on the head to add another .002" and found JAM. CBTO at JAM is 1.926, and COAL is 2.652. I dropped that by .020 and ended up with a COAL of 2.631 which is .009" less than the SAAMI max with a 110-grain A-Tip which is a long bullet.

The total length of the brass from the head to the neck is 1.720".

Primer pocket is between .1205 and .1220 and the primer measures about the same. I am seating them .002"-.003" deep.

I had a reputable gunsmith do the hard stuff. I'm just loading the ammo.

Thoughts on the misfire?
 

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"Because that is the way I have always done it".:)

That is what I have always done and never had an issue with until now. I place a small amount on my finger and sparing place on the bearing surface. If that is the issue, it is easy enough to fix. I would like to know for sure.

I have some moly lube from 21st Century I have wanted to test out.

I have another 100 rounds loaded using the Imperial wax. I will shoot those up and reload with the dry lube and see what happens.
 
Seat a few bullets out far enough to get a snug bolt closure, so the full caliber part of the bullet is into the lands maybe 10 thou. The brass may be a bit undersized and the firing pin is just pushing the loaded round forward and not imparting it’s energy to the primer. Just a thought.
 
You certainly don't need to wet-lube a jacketed bullet. Dry-lube if running a mandrel, maybe. Wet-lubing is asking for trouble.

That said, I think your lubing of your bullets is a red herring. That's not what's causing your problem.

With a new rifle my first thought would be a marginal chamber/bolt dimension; or a weak firing pin spring.

But partial primer ignition is extremely rare. I'm inclined to agree with Ralph... a bad lot of primers.
 
If not bad primers. Where you loadin or shooting with your rifle pointing downwards. So that the powder was to the front of the case. The powder has clumped and changed colour due to heat. If using a low charge it may have just flashed over the top of the powder.
 
TNVolunteer said:
I have a new 6GT; of the 60 rounds I have fired so far, I have had eight misfires. The primer is struck, and no bang. Trying second-time results the same, no bang.

I am using new Alpha brass (with no resizing or cleaning), Varget, and CCI 450 primers. Headspace, primer seating depth, powder charge, CBTS, CBTO, and COAL are the same for all rounds.

These were loaded in a room with less than 50% humidity and fired within 24 hours of loading.

Pulling the bullet on each one that misfires, what I see is below.

Clumped powder and what appears to be a primer that did ignite or tried to. I added an unfired primer for comparison.

I think the Imperial wax I am lubing the bullet with may be causing this. I don't understand why since I have loaded thousands of rounds for other rifles using the same process and never had this issue.

I had a ninth round that did fire, but it still had some leftover clumped powder.

I validated headspace by removing the firing pin and ejector and comparing a piece of fired brass to the new brass. The fired brass CBTS is 1.923 and fits like a glove, and the new brass or a piece of resized brass is 1.920. With a piece of tape on the new brass head, I can feel a little drag on the bolt as I close it.

With the firing pin and ejector out, I also jammed a lubed bullet in a resized, annealed case with tape on the head to add another .002" and found JAM. CBTO at JAM is 1.926, and COAL is 2.652. I dropped that by .020 and ended up with a COAL of 2.631 which is .009" less than the SAAMI max with a 110-grain A-Tip which is a long bullet.

The total length of the brass from the head to the neck is 1.720".

Primer pocket is between .1205 and .1220 and the primer measures about the same. I am seating them .002"-.003" deep.

I had a reputable gunsmith do the hard stuff. I'm just loading the ammo.

Thoughts on the misfire?
Click to expand...
Call me OCD, but I'm alittle concerned about the color variation of the powder for starters. All the powders I use, I have never encountered this.
TNVolunteer said:
I have a new 6GT; of the 60 rounds I have fired so far, I have had eight misfires. The primer is struck, and no bang. Trying second-time results the same, no bang.

I am using new Alpha brass (with no resizing or cleaning), Varget, and CCI 450 primers. Headspace, primer seating depth, powder charge, CBTS, CBTO, and COAL are the same for all rounds.

These were loaded in a room with less than 50% humidity and fired within 24 hours of loading.

Pulling the bullet on each one that misfires, what I see is below.

Clumped powder and what appears to be a primer that did ignite or tried to. I added an unfired primer for comparison.

I think the Imperial wax I am lubing the bullet with may be causing this. I don't understand why since I have loaded thousands of rounds for other rifles using the same process and never had this issue.

I had a ninth round that did fire, but it still had some leftover clumped powder.

I validated headspace by removing the firing pin and ejector and comparing a piece of fired brass to the new brass. The fired brass CBTS is 1.923 and fits like a glove, and the new brass or a piece of resized brass is 1.920. With a piece of tape on the new brass head, I can feel a little drag on the bolt as I close it.

With the firing pin and ejector out, I also jammed a lubed bullet in a resized, annealed case with tape on the head to add another .002" and found JAM. CBTO at JAM is 1.926, and COAL is 2.652. I dropped that by .020 and ended up with a COAL of 2.631 which is .009" less than the SAAMI max with a 110-grain A-Tip which is a long bullet.

The total length of the brass from the head to the neck is 1.720".

Primer pocket is between .1205 and .1220 and the primer measures about the same. I am seating them .002"-.003" deep.

I had a reputable gunsmith do the hard stuff. I'm just loading the ammo.

Thoughts on the misfire?
Click to expand...
Call me OCD, but my Varget powder does not have a color variation like that. "I may have to take a second look". That "might" be a concern. I may be wrong. I would invest in research on how to check firing pin drop distances and make sure it is within proper tolerance. I would not be sold on the fact that Imperial Wax is causing the clumps of powder. It would be a significant amount of lube to generate such a clump. I would think moist powder would cause that. Might explain the color variance. Run some more without lubing bullets and check results. There could be a question of lot# value to the primers, you might want to try a different one. Since this is not my personal settup I can only offer "what ifs". Sorry. Good luck with your findings.
 
Check firing pin protrusion, and make sure the spring is strong enough.

Take a misfired primer, set it on cement and snack it with a hammer. If it goes off it wasn't bad.

Wear a face shield!!!
 
"Primer pocket is between .1205 and .1220 and the primer measures about the same. I am seating them .002"-.003" deep."

What do you get for primer height, the 450 cup is 0.113"
0.1220" pocket leaves a lot of room.
 
Two thoughts.
First , I don't think the neck lube is the problem. He said ammo was fired within 24 hrs of assembly. Don't think that small amount of lube could work its way to the primer at all let alone in 24 hours! New cases so I assume they were not wet tumbled and not dried completely.

Second, some actions use marginal firing pin springs to produce a smooth light bolt lift. I suspect a weak spring or marginal pin protrusion or contamination in the bolt body interfering with pin travel.

Did you uniform the primer pockets? Maybe cut too deep?

He did not give the gun info but did give enough headspace/case measurements to mostly rule out that assuming his numbers are correct.

Frank
 
Powder contamination or defective primers? My guess.



The color of Varget can be a clue. It comes in gold, brown & gray. What color is your Varget, as it comes out of the can?


Misfires from powder problems will have powder clumps stuck together. The powder color changes to gold.
Powder that is heavily coated with deterrents can cause problems.

TNVolunteer said:
Imperial wax
Click to expand...
Should be near the bullets base, front of the powder column. Not near the primer? Avoid all spray lubes.

Was there bullet movement, longer COL on the misfires? I guess no. Not enough pressure.

I would try a different primer. There is another thread with CCI450 Misfires.
Make sure the NEW brass is Clean.
Dry lube case necks, forget lube on bullets.
 
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