Yesterday my cousin had a number of no fires using the # 34 primers. It happened in his Ruger # II Varmints in both the .257 and the 22-250.Some fired the second time. He has never had this type problem with any other primer.

I on the other hand was using them in my Stevens .270 and my 8mm X .404 X 2.5 and had no problem.

From what I understand the #34 was designed to eliminate slam fires. It would appear that some factory bolt actions or what ever aren't capable of using these primers satisfactorily.

Has anyone had any similar experience with these primers? roger

Yes, they are designed to prevent slam fires in rifles such as the M1A and M1 Garand so are of harder material. The problem of not going off dependably in nonmilitary rifles is no surprise to me.

Save them for the M1/M1a or trade them off for something w/ a bit thinner cup (Fed., RP, etc.). I'm down in O.C. if you want to swap 500 or so.

quote:

Originally posted by bartsche:
From what I understand the #34 was designed to eliminate slam fires. It would appear that some factory bolt actions or what ever aren't capable of using these primers satisfactorily.

Has anyone had any similar experience with these primers? roger

Roger - I think your assessment is very accurately put. Just like using a reduced tension main-spring in a revolver sometimes won't reliably fire all ammo, apparently not all rifles will reliably fire CCI #34's.

That is no big deal, just requires that a loader test his loads before loading them by the thousand. (Or before a "big" hunt)

Insomuch as we should all be working up our loads anyway instread of just copying them out of books as new loaders have to, that's probahly not a lot of sweat.

Like any other components, some rifles seem to actually prefer the #34's. I have a rifle which so far won't shoot any bullet accurately except the now discontinued Hornady 190 gr. rebated boat-tail. So, I keep trying. Eventually I will hopefully find something else it really likes.

Same thing happens with primers, as I recognize you already know with your experience. I keep Winchesters, Federals, CCI's, RWS, Norma, Kynoch, Remingtons, and (when I can find any)even a few of the old Alcan primers around, because some primers work better in particular guns than others do.

My 9,3 double which was giving me fits until I tried the #34 primers in it, is a perfect example. Last Sunday at the range we regulated the 9,3 barrels at 100 yards. Normally I would have picked 75 yards, but for a variety of reasons we did it at 100 this time. The final four shots of the effort, two uppers and two lowers fired alternately one upper, then one lower, then repeat, formed a group of almost exactly 1/2"...possibly very slightly less. I have owned a bunch of doubles and have NEVER had one do that using both barrels for 4 shots at 100 yards before. It may never do it again, either, but at least I know it will be eating #34's for a while to come.

In fact, 10,000 more #34's just arrived via FedEx from Powder Valley while I was typing this. BTW, they are on sale there right now for $79 per 5,000 if anyone needs any.

I just checked Widener's (www.wideners.com), and they are closing the primers out: $70/5k, $68/10k+
I just wish I knew whether they would be reliable in my sporters or not...

quote:

Originally posted by Doubless:
I just checked Widener's (www.wideners.com), and they are closing the primers out: $70/5k, $68/10k+
I just wish I knew whether they would be reliable in my sporters or not...

That's a smoking good price!! In our local gun shops they are $2.25/100, or $112.50 per 5,000.


BTW, if they aren't reliable in your rifle, you can probably make them reliable by putting in a Wolff main spring of heavier than factory poundage.

I don't like doing that, as it increases bolt-lift weight. But, if I had a bunch of primers which wouldn't work 100% reliably otherwise, guess I'd sure do it...in fact I did about 30 years ago, in ALL my Mannlicher-Schoenauers. (Also decreases lock time, which can improve field accuracy significantly sometimes.)

quote:

Originally posted by fredj338:
Save them for the M1/M1a or trade them off for something w/ a bit thinner cup (Fed., RP, etc.). I'm down in O.C. if you want to swap 500 or so.

PM on it's way, Fred

CCI says the primer cups are the same as in their other primers. The angle of the anvil is flatter, making them less sensitive. It also increases the volume for priming mix. These are magnum primers.

I only had two rifles that wouldn't reliably fire these, an old Turked Gewehr 88 with a weak spring, and a K-31 that I think also has a weak mainspring. I replaced the G88's spring with a G98 spring from Wolff and it works great. If I can identify a source for a K-31 spring (Wolff doesn't have them) or a workable substitute (as with the G98 spring in the G88) I'll replace it, too.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Ricochet:
CCI says the primer cups are the same as in their other primers. The angle of the anvil is flatter, making them less sensitive. It also increases the volume for priming mix. These are magnum primers. QUOTE]

Thanks, John good to see you on board again! roger

Thanks, Roger!

I stocked up on these primers at the closeout pricing. I like 'em.

quote:

Originally posted by Ricochet:
If I can identify a source for a K-31 spring (Wolff doesn't have them) or a workable substitute (as with the G98 spring in the G88) I'll replace it, too.

I don't know if this will be any help, but there is a small chance it might...many cities of about 10,000 population and up have a supply house in town which sells springs. Usually they have catalogues of all kinds, diameters and weights. If your town does, you might wanta go there and browse a bit. (Fairly often they are the same business which also supplies all kinds of bearings for the town too, so you might find them listed under bearings in the phone book.)

Another possibility is to go to your local automatic transmission repair shop and browse through their collection of discards/spares. I have found springs useable all the way from mainsprings to Browning BBR trigger springs that way. Have no idea what they were originally for, but work fine......

Thanks for the tips, AC!

Reckon I just need to take the measurements on my spring and look around for a generic one to suit.