CCI primer problem ???????

[LarryFlew]

I'm sure many of us here would also like to know where you bought the primers from, for obvious reasons.

I have been buying reloading supplies from him since he was part of Ammocraft 30 years ago. Think I'll will have to find a new supplier as I do expect vendors to warrant what they sell at least to the point of contacting their supplier.

[Seismic Sam]

If I understand primer manufactoring correctly, the silver on the primer is NICKEL PLATING and not a seperate cap. Making two caps for the primer would make no sense at all, and produce all sorts of manufacturing problems.

Sounds to me like there was an error at CCI and some of the primer metal never got plated. This would result in undersized primers, which MIGHT (but not necessarily!!) cause the primer to be loose in the case and back out, but the problem with this theory is that primers are designed to expand and seal the primer pocket when the charge goes off, so having a slightly smaller primer MAY not make any difference. At any rate, it's a major FUBAR by CCI.

And even though I really don't feel like crawling out from under my bridge this morning, you get ZERO QC reloading points for not noticing this when you looked at the finished box of cartridges, and DOUBLE zero points for going through a whole 100 rounds of handloaded ammo without checking to see what your cases looked like!! When you cook up a new batch of handloads, you should ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS check your first mag's worth of shell casings to see if everything is running properly!!!

[LarryFlew]

And even though I really don't feel like crawling out from under my bridge this morning, you get ZERO QC reloading points for not noticing this when you looked at the finished box of cartridges, and DOUBLE zero points for going through a whole 100 rounds of handloaded ammo without checking to see what your cases looked like!! When you cook up a new batch of handloads, you should ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS check your first mag's worth of shell casings to see if everything is running properly!!!

Unfortunately have to agree with you. Being a Lee the primers always face with the bottom showing through the clear plastic and I should have seen a difference. I also watch closely as they come down the ramp so none are upside down and should have again noticed the difference and did not.

I actually check every individual cartridge coming out and put them into a block because it's easier than counting them into 100's later but this time I obviously did not because I was too lazy to go back upstairs to grab the block.

Kind of like a direct word for word German translation of one of my Grandmothers favorite lines - The hurrier I go the behinder I get.

Thanks for keeping us on the straight and narrow Sam.

[Seismic Sam]

BTW - Die schneller Ich geht, die spater Ich bin...

Just got back from three weeks in Barvaria.

And good for you on manning up and admitting you made a mistake. It obviously wasn't all your fault, but it's probably a valuable lesson to everyone that even factory components from quality manufacturers can sometimes be screwed up. I'd say CCI owes you AT LEAST 1,000 primers.

[dleong]

And even though I really don't feel like crawling out from under my bridge this morning, you get ZERO QC reloading points for not noticing this when you looked at the finished box of cartridges, and DOUBLE zero points for going through a whole 100 rounds of handloaded ammo without checking to see what your cases looked like!! When you cook up a new batch of handloads, you should ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS check your first mag's worth of shell casings to see if everything is running properly!!!

If I am following LF's description of the sequence of events correctly, I do not think he actually fired the handloaded cartridges with the aberrant primers. I believe his first image shows the completed cartridges in the tray. (LF, please correct me if I am wrong.)

I shall concede that LF's QC process needs to be tightened up a bit, though.

[LarryFlew]

Correct D found the problem when I put them in the block.

[Seismic Sam]

Okay, I give up. What in your reloading setup is causing that indent in the exact middle of the primer that looks like a firing pin strike?? I have seen fired cases that looked EXACTLY like that, with the indent and slightly or moderately bulged primer surface, and all the cases I found like that made a rapid exit to the trash bin. My apologies if I misunderstood that the first picture was loaded but not fired ammo, but like I said, I have seen fired cases that looked EXACTLY like that. What's going on to cause those dents in the center of the primer??

[plblark]

is it the underlying anvil shape? Doesn't appear so.

[gyrfalcon]

I cut a CCI 500 primer cup just to make sure when I read this posting to begin with... They look like they're 100% steel and not plated.

[dleong]

Okay, I give up. What in your reloading setup is causing that indent in the exact middle of the primer that looks like a firing pin strike??

if I am reading LF's description of the problem correctly, the bulged primers came from the factory that way.

[yuppiejr]

Yikes, I will have to run through the CCI primers I purchased recently and double check for a similar issue, thanks for the head's-up.

[LarryFlew]

Okay, I give up. What in your reloading setup is causing that indent in the exact middle of the primer that looks like a firing pin strike?? I have seen fired cases that looked EXACTLY like that, with the indent and slightly or moderately bulged primer surface, and all the cases I found like that made a rapid exit to the trash bin. My apologies if I misunderstood that the first picture was loaded but not fired ammo, but like I said, I have seen fired cases that looked EXACTLY like that. What's going on to cause those dents in the center of the primer??

Look again, it isn't an indent at all, it is a bulge. What looks like it might be the primer strike is the highest part of the primer, not a dent. There is nothing indented. From the outside of the primer to the middle is like 2 steps up. No they are not fired and have not been. The brass was deprimed b4 tumbling and still went through the decapping resizing process so it isn't an old primer. Did 700 more since those and all are fine and from the same box of 1000 primers.

Wish my camera did decent marcro

[LarryFlew]

is it the underlying anvil shape? Doesn't appear so.

After seeing this I wondered if it was remotely possible that it was a combination of wrong primer (like 41) and the anvil shape so I set a #41 into a 9mm and it is still flat so even if I had the wrong primers they would not look like the picture. Thanks for the idea. At least eliminated one more thing.

[timwarner]

fired primers look a lot like that if you try and seat a second primer on top of them. It won't stick and will fall into wherever primers go on your press.

[LarryFlew]

fired primers look a lot like that if you try and seat a second primer on top of them. It won't stick and will fall into wherever primers go on your press.

As above:
"The brass was deprimed b4 tumbling and still went through the decapping resizing process so it isn't an old primer. Did 700 more since those and all are fine and from the same box of 1000 primers."