CCI 250 mag primers not igniting?

E

elmerdeer

New member
Here is the problem I ran acroos today, I have 2 times fierd brass that was going on 3rd firing today, they were PFL resized.
This brass fired some loads that had pressure signs, Ex:extracter marks and slightly sticky bolt once in a while. I did back down from those loads some.
So here is what happened today I loaded some of my favourite loads and tried them with the cci 250 mag primers instead of the fed 215 primers. I did back down first and worked my way up, Now withe the origianal primer fed 215 mag they would always fire, with the cci I had 20 out of 45 rnds not go off, now I am wondering what could it be? Did I trash my brass by shooting hot loads, but my primer pockets are still pretty tight.
My action is a Stiller Predator, my caliber is 7mm Dakota, and my brass is Norma.

1) Is my brass the problem? Primer pockets are still pretty tight.
2)Are the cci 250 mag primers different in size, height, width, to make my firing pin not strike them hard enough?
3)How deep should primers be seated? I always seat primers with my rcbs hand primer and after the first squeeze I rotate the brass and squeeze again, never had a problem doing it that way before.
4)Can ther be something wrong with my firirg pin?
Thanks
Elmer
 
Your problem is not in the brass. Are you sure that the primers were fully seated? CCI primers have harder cups than the federal primers which means it takes more of a whack from the firing pin to ignite it. You may have a weak/too light firing pin spring or a mechanical problem with the firing pin/bolt itself.
 
Failing Primers

In the past, I have had CCI Small Rifle Primers fail to ignite in one of my early Farley Actions. The culprit was the firing pin spring was only set at about 16 pounds.

That is probably the source of your problem. As Yote said, CCI primers do have harder cups.........jackie
 
Problem with primers.

Your brass is not at fault, If you have more than one rifle load some into empty cases and point that rifle at the ground if they go off you will hear it. If they still don't ignite in a different rifle you have some faulty primers.:D
 
As others have said CCI cups tend to be harder than most others, and take a good whack to light them off. If the shoulders have been pushed back too much which isn't too likely with partial full length (PFL?) sizing, the firing pin spring isn't strong enough, OR the primers aren't fully seated they can fail to fire. Cleaning the primer pockets might help.

Federal and Winchester primers are much easier to ignite.
 
Larry Elliott said:
As others have said CCI cups tend to be harder than most others, and take a good whack to light them off. If the shoulders have been pushed back too much which isn't too likely with partial full length (PFL?) sizing, the firing pin spring isn't strong enough, OR the primers aren't fully seated they can fail to fire. Cleaning the primer pockets might help.

Federal and Winchester primers are much easier to ignite.
Click to expand...
I always clean the pockets. I thouhgt i had seated them to deep but I seated some in new brass and chambered and fired five rnds and those went off, next I pulled about 10 rnds that had not fired and chambered those and pessed the trigger 3-4 times on each and made the primer look like a crater and they still didnt go off, so I am starting to think that its the primers, they're no good.
Elmer
 
The only thing for you to do is contact CCI.

If the primers are seated so that the anvil is in contact with the bottom of the primer pocket with a tiny amount of preload (I seem to remember 0.005"), the firing pin and spring are in good shape the primers should fire. The priming pellet can be crushed on seating so that the primers don't fire or don't fire properly, but I've never had it happened as ham-handed as I can be.
 
Could you check something for me?

After you FL size but before you load, see how many layers of tape you can put on the casehead and still close the bolt.

Iron plain old masking tape over the lettering and trim it off round with a pocketknife or razor knife...... see does the bolt close.

al
 
As others have said the CCI primers are harder to ignite. I once had a similar problem. In my case the culprit was too much lube on the firing pin spring. In cold temperatures it slowed the firing pin down too much to set off the CCI primers. Federal primers worked fine. Cleaning the firing pin spring and lubing with a lower weight lube solved the problem.
 
CCI primers

Never tried CCI in my panda,always shot federal. Had the same thing in a 686 smith though. Hard cups. Shoot federal in everything now.
 
Update, i could'nt resist I took a hammer to the primers that did not go off and guess what, they went bang! I geuss its a firing pin issue and not the primers.
Elmer
 
elmerdeer said:
Update, i could'nt resist I took a hammer to the primers that did not go off and guess what, they went bang! I geuss its a firing pin issue and not the primers.
Elmer
Click to expand...

Thats the scientific method, right? :eek:
 
I have used CCI for a long time and not had this problem. But one time I had purchased a primer pocket uniformer, that had an adjustable cutter that was
set to far out and it cut to deep, resulting in no ignition upon firing pin release.
Don't know if you may have this also have this problem ? ....
 
marlowjoe said:
I have used CCI for a long time and not had this problem. But one time I had purchased a primer pocket uniformer, that had an adjustable cutter that was
set to far out and it cut to deep, resulting in no ignition upon firing pin release.
Don't know if you may have this also have this problem ? ....
Click to expand...
No never uniformed a pocket.
Elmer
 
elmerdeer said:
1 piece and my bolt required alot of force to close, so i didnt even put the 2nd on.
Elmer
Click to expand...

Thank you.

Two pieces of tape or more, which equates to .005 or more headspace or head clearance WILL cause misfires.

Primers seating and depth are a fairly exacting science and anything that messes with the parameters will cause misfiring. One of the most common causes is setting dies up with the base of the die touching the shellholder and inducing excess play.

al
 
Had that issue in my Parker Hale 7mm Mag. The bolt had been broken and replaced with Interarms bolt using existing bolt shroud, extractor and innards.

CCI would not go bang, but federal 215 would. The gunsmith replaced the stock bolt shroud with one to match the Interarms bolt and now both primers go bang.
 
He might have fiddled witht the firing pin too. I think that I recall that the Interms firing pin was longer at the back & would stick out of a Mauser or PH cocking piece, so maybe it fitted onto the pin a tad differently.
 
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