I had 5 shells refuse to fire, I am working off a box of 1000 I had a similar problem before , but it went away any ideas? I am going to de prime several hundred already primed.
I am using CII small rifle not mags.
I load the same way , done by hand the same pressure as far as putting the primer in , I use their products on all aplications trouble free.
Ideas?????????????
Bill

It could be a headspace issue where the entire cartridge is being forced forward in the chamber and the shoulder is not providing enough resistance for the firing pin to set off the primer. By headspace issue I mean the brass may not be sized properly for the chamber.
Just one possibility.
What cartridge you are using? Are your cases new or once fired, or more? How is your resizing die set?
You may be right on the edge of oversizing the shoulder. Try backing the die off 1/2 turn and size a fired case, then check to see if it will chamber easily. Ideally you want to only move the shoulder back .002 to .003 from a fired to a sized case.
Joe

I talked to CCI they said that most likly my problem is that I am not seating deep enough.
They said that they need to be 5 thousands below the flat end of cartridge.I am using military salt lake , I will seat my primers deeper on the ones.I have already primed.
neat conversation
Bill

quote:

Originally posted by bill r:
I talked to CCI they said that most likly my problem is that I am not seating deep enough.

Bill

Personaly, Bill I think you were talking to an uninformed person. roger

Have you had the bolt apart recently? the problem may be it's not back together corretly?

Just a thought.

The thing to do is compare the firing pin indentations. If the "dents" are the same then look at the primers.
If the primers that failed to fire have lighter dents then look at mechanical things.
Even oil on the firing pin can reduce the strike.
Good luck!

Just a thought, but what about case lube killing the primers?

the problem can be caused by anything.....but the chances are slim that it's the cases, the primers, the headspace.....I assume you're shooting the .223...
the likely causes are as Rusty pointed out...incorrectly assembled bolt...broken firing pin spring, broken firing pin, clogged firing pin hole in the bolt from pierces primers.
I'd advise clearing the bolt and cleaning and inspection the spring, firing pin and all the rest of the bolt assembly. Look for debris that can interfere with the firing pin falling freely.

quote:

Originally posted by bill r:
I talked to CCI they said that most likly my problem is that I am not seating deep enough.
They said that they need to be 5 thousands below the flat end of cartridge.I am using military salt lake , I will seat my primers deeper on the ones.I have already primed.
neat conversation
Bill

More likely you're shooting military 5.65x45mm brass in a civilian .223 chamber; there is some sort of dimensional problem that pops up from time to time. I had this problem with a Savage 24V, subsequently had it rebored to make 6x45mm.

How do you load the primers deeper?. They should be pressed in until you feel resistance.
Do you mean to ream the seat?.
Good luck!

Like the others, I think this is a gun problem, not a ammo problem.

The Mil-spec primers are thicker than normal, and need a HEAVY firing-pin hit to fire. Either your firing pin isn't traveling forward enough, or your firing pin spring doesn't have enough poop.

Switching to non-mil spec primers would likely make the symptoms go away -- which might be an acceptable solution. HTH, Dutch.

Primer depth is easy to diagnose:

Put a straightedge across the casehead. Is the primer sticking above the casehead? If so, it isn't deep enough. Causes for this are varied and easily fixed.

Diagnosing misfires is far more complex...some good advice so far. I have seen weak/bad firing pin springs give symptoms like this too.

I've had an occasional misfire from factory pistol ammo, and on the second run through the chamber it fires. I chalk those up to a high primer...the first hit just seats the primer but doesn't have enough inertia/impact shock to fire it.

I made the mistake once of spraying a bit of WD-40 on the bolt and pin before firing. Would not fire. Cleaned it off and shot same round and it worked ok.

If they are reloads, pull the bullet and make sure you put in some powder.

That happened to me once.

I had a similar problem a while back with a BLR. It was new and I was lubricating the action a lot thinking it would make it more smooth. At the range I would pull the trigger and it would not fire. Turns out the firing pin was stuck. Hope this may help.