Dead primers in old hand loads.

[markm]

Yesterday Pappabear shot a mag full of some old 77gr handloads I had in a mag in the safe for years.

I can only guess that they're some of the silver cup WOLF primers I've since used up, but two in one mag did not ignite with clearly solid primer strikes.

(stakes are from original factory LC load and have been removed)



No sign of any powder or primer contamination. When I get some better daylight, I'm going to see if there appears to be primer compound in the cup. Or possibly a couple of bad anvils.

[markm]

I think the priming compound disintegrated and puked into the powder charge. I thought the discoloration on the output charge was just the lighting in my reloading room, but now I'm thinking it's primer compound.

[RedTeam98]

That’s some serious firing pin strikes on primers !
It doesnt look right !

[markm]

That's because only the strike is present with none of the discharge pressure.

[RedTeam98]

That's because only the strike is present with none of the discharge pressure.

That makes sense thanks !

[markm]

I'm convinced the green in the powder is the priming compound. I found 3 other mags in the safe with silver primer cups. Going to shoot them next range trip.

[markm]

Wow. Not too much insight from AccurateShooter.com either. Although there's a thread running about CCI 450s. Several guys having dud primers with those. That's kind of interesting.

[markm]

One guys thinks the priming compound got mashed out when the firing pin struck. I hadn't thought of that!

Thanks for the overwhelming support and response to this tragic situation, guys.

[TomMcC]

Wolf SR primers were never all that good in the best of times. They just weren't very hot for good ignition with ball powders. I'm not surprised that you had some pretty bad deterioration with some of them.

[markm]

Wolf SR primers were never all that good in the best of times. They just weren't very hot for good ignition with ball powders. I'm not surprised that you had some pretty bad deterioration with some of them.

That's funny. I'm not even 100% sure they're WOLF.

I keep the balance of my WOLF SRMs in the safe because they're so prized. As mentioned, even CCI's current 450s have issues. Even IF wolfs, the failure rate is statistically outstanding.