Tula Large Rifle Primer failure to fire

[dminn1]

I recently purchased 1000 Tula large rifle primers to try in my Savage model 10 with a .243 Win Shilen barrel. I am about 300 rounds into these and I have had 4 primers that have failed to fire on the first strike. All 4 have fired on the second strike. This is the only primer I have experienced this issue with in this rifle. I have noticed that the Tula primers take a good deal more force to seat to the bottom of the primer pocket and feel the anvil seat. I use an older Lee hand priming tool that gives excellent feel when seating primers and I don't think seating is the issue with the failures to fire. This rifle is a switch barrel rig and has several thousand rounds through it and many dry fires but no failures to fire on the first strike ever with any other primer.

Just wanted to know if anyone else has experienced this issue with the Tula primers.

Thanks
Darin

 

[Tom Baker]

I've shot many thousands of Tula primers, large and small, many different actions/firing pins. Never had a single failure. They don't read the wind very well sometimes though.

 

[perry42]

The Tula primer has a "hard" cup and Savage firing pins are not known for hard strikes. A new firing pin spring and a firing pin 7 to 5 thousandths longer will cure the problem.

perry42

 

[JohnKielly]

I've read of many instances when people fail to seat the Russian primers to the correct depth because their "feel" sense is set for others. Check that you are properly bottoming them out in the primer pocket.

 

[Richard Coody]

Yep

New firing pin spring and check firing pin projection

Make sure your primer.seating system is fully seating the primers. If half the firing.pin force is used to finish seating the primer that is your problem

 

[brxbrad]

Send them to me.....I'll get rid of them for you....

 

[1shot]

When I seat those primers, I seat them firmly then rotate the case 180* and do it again. I've never had a problem doing that way in a variety of rifles.
I hope this helps,

Lloyd

 

[MGYSGT]

You can adjust the length your Savage firing pin protrudes out the front of the bolt head.

 

[Keith Glasscock]

The Tula primers come out of the package dome shaped. They seem to like being "sensitized" by being pushed down until a fair sized flat spot is apparent.

I've never had a failure with them either, but I've always seated them as above.

 

[Shynloco]

When I seat those primers, I seat them firmly then rotate the case 180* and do it again. I've never had a problem doing that way in a variety of rifles.
I hope this helps,

Lloyd

Excellent practice to seat primers of any make. Been doing that for years and have rarely had a primer failure, except for a batch of bad primers a few years ago.

Alex

 

[jepp2]

Any primer that doesn't go on the first strike but goes on the second strike, wasn't seated deeply enough. At least that is my experience. I wouldn't increase protrusion to compensate for a problem with not seating the primers deeply enough to begin with.

 

[dminn1]

The Tula primers come out of the package dome shaped. They seem to like being "sensitized" by being pushed down until a fair sized flat spot is apparent.

I've never had a failure with them either, but I've always seated them as above.

I will give them a little more push and see if I can flatten them out a bit. I failed to mention it in my first post but I seat, turn 180, and seat again as standard practice.

 

[Killick]

I've had Wolf failure to fire because I uniformed the primer pockets and that was enough to seat it beyond the pin protrusion. (Barnard action)

 

[jr600yd]

+1^^^^^

 

[dminn1]

I've had Wolf failure to fire because I uniformed the primer pockets and that was enough to seat it beyond the pin protrusion. (Barnard action)

That is a possibility as I have uniformed the pockets on the Win brass I am running in this rifle. I will check protrusion and may lengthen it some.

 

[dminn1]

After doing much research on Savage firing pin protrusion I decided to make an adjustment to see if it would help with my Tula primer ignition problems. My firing pin protrusion measured .058 which was within Savage specs. After giving it some thought I decided to reset it to .035 which should increase pin fall slightly and give a little more striking energy. After this adjustment I have had no first strike failure to fires in the last 120 rounds. Better yet I have had a significant reduction in es with the 2 powders I shoot in this rifle. Going to the range this weekend to have another look at a powder I abandoned earlier due to poor es numbers to see if this may have been caused by ignition problems.

 

[ragsflh]

i was going to reply but it was anwered.same as i would have.

 

[spclark]

My firing pin protrusion measured .058 which was within Savage specs. After giving it some thought I decided to reset it to .035 which should increase pin fall slightly and give a little more striking energy.

That's not a typo? You shortened your FP protrusion by 0.023" and now you're seeing better results?

That's kinda counterintuitive; I'd love to have access to what your research turned up leading to this solution.

 

[dminn1]

That's not a typo? You shortened your FP protrusion by 0.023" and now you're seeing better results?

That's kinda counterintuitive; I'd love to have access to what your research turned up leading to this solution.

That's not a typo. Protrusion is not the whole story when it comes to reliable ignition. Some research indicates the firing pin only indents the primer approximately .025 regardless of protrusion. On the Savage, decreasing the protrusion increases the pin fall which evidently helps with available striking energy. Anyway you look at it I am happy with the results as shown on target and by the chronograph.

 

[Robert]

That's not a typo? You shortened your FP protrusion by 0.023" and now you're seeing better results?

That's kinda counterintuitive; I'd love to have access to what your research turned up leading to this solution.

If it is not a typo, then, all the maths concerning linear energy transmission need to be re-established....

The only parameteter affected in thhis case is the amount of cup metal deformed, which is neglectible in regard to the other parameters...

R.G.C