Miss-Fire powder turned Yellow

[highlife]

So, it looks like the primer went off fine and the powder did not ignite. the powder is yellow and clumped together like a rock. i ran into this problem often when wet tumbling my brass. the citric acid in most soaps will contaminate and cause the powder to clump and become inert. Since switching to dry tumbling, ive never had this problem again. how are you cleaning your cases?

ps. based on your pics you have the exact same problem. notice how only part of your powder is yellow. thats the stuff at the bottom of the case that absorbed the soap residue and created a barrier preventing ignition

I agree with Scott's assessment. The only time I have seen powder with a yellowish color was after not getting all the oil residue out of the case after neck turning. I believe you had some type of contamination in your cleaning process.

 

[brantfredrickson]

I had misfires with the exact same yellow clumbs in my 308 cartridges loaded with Varget and primed with Wolf magnum small rifle primers. I tried the following:
1. Replaced firing pin spring. The old one had taken a set. The problem was still there.
2. Moved my drying time after wet tumbling in my dehydrator from 2 hours to overnight. The problem was still there.
3. Re uniformed the primer pockets. The problem was still there.
4. Moved priming operation off my Forster Co-ax to a hand unit where I could feel each primer seat. The problem was still there.
5. Used new clean gloves to handle brass before, during and after priming operation. The problem was still there.
6. Changed from Wolf magnum small rifle primers to CCI 400 primers. The problem disappeared.

Why? I have no idea. Thinner cup? Different primer compound? After a half dozen shooting sessions with 1 to 6 misfires per session, I was so relieved that I decided not to look that gift horse in the mouth.

 

[Shaggy357]

CCI Primer fizzle. One of the reasons I don't use a lot of them in my competition guns any more. Even a seasoned competitor gets a little frazzled during a timed shot string when that happens. Not worth the added stress on the nerves.