I hate hangfires,I loaded up some rounds and the very first one hangfired,I pulled my shot a foot tothe left,I was glad i wasnt hunting..I was useing cci 250 magnum primers,the others fired fine & the rounds were so accurate ...i had what looked like just one hole,i did a 25yrd check just to make sure i was hitting the 2x2 targt & was dead slap on but at 50yrds it looked i was around 2in.high,which will be i hope 3 inchs at 100yards,I gotta shoot some more and tripple check,I think maybe i either got a little film of oil on the primer hole while wiping it down or the primer was just not seated right,I had a couple that were hard as crap to get seated all the way down,those cci primers are hard as rocks...Do i need a primer flash hole reamer just in case?I always clean my primer pockets real well and wondered if maybe when i lubed my neck resizeing... i may have got a little lube on the powder by mistake and not cleaned well, that was next to the primer and had a delay possible?,I never seem to understand what goes wrong when i have a hangfire but allways suspect oil....I had a bunch one time useing H414 and standerd primers instead of magnums in my 300H&H.....and had lots with a muzzle loader....

I have never reamed a primer pocket nor have I ever trued a flash hole nor beveled the inside of the flashhole for that ubiquitous little trapdoor that is supposed to lurk inside domestic brass. And I have never had a hang fire. Not when I was wiping my cases clean nor now that I use a case tumbler. Do you use a case tumbler? That should take care of any questions about oil. Could there have been a piece of cleaning media lodged in the flash hole? Secondly, are you seating your primers firmly to the bottom of the primer pocket? I don't try to seat my primers any set amount below flush; I just seat them firmly to the bottom of the primer pocket. What sort of apparatus are you using to prime your cases with?
Fyi, if you are pulling your shots because of a hangfire, your bench technique needs attention.

at a guess i'd say you got some excess lube inside the case

I've had a lot of hangfires with my 454 Casull and CCI primers, changed to another brand of primers and have had no more hangfires.

I have just been wiping them clean,I was shooting off hand, not on a bench,I have been useing the little lee hand primer.....Iam gonna shoot some more today,will see what happens,iam still breaking in the barrel a little at a time...I allways try to seat my primer as far as i can get it to go to the bottom for a firm below case rim fit...Another question..I have just been wondering,what happens when a case head separates from being resized /fired to much?I have never experianced it ...but wondered if the gas comes back like a pierce primer will except worse?Is this common to have happen if a brass is reloaded to much & how can a reloader know when is enough?Almost all my loads need trimmed a hair after just one fireing so about the third trim i shoot it and throw it away which i wind up with about 4 shots total from one case,is this normal?

Make sure those "hard to seat primers" are seated all the way to the bottom of the primer pocket, that's my guess as to where you are getting hangfire from.

I have never had a hangfire which of course means only “I have never had a hangfire…yetâ€

I do all the primer prep, Deburr flash holes, uniform primer pockets, and clean the primer pockets after each firing also I tumble cases, remove media residue with tee shirt cloth and use only Fed and Win primers…

Is that the reason… who knows… not me.

I run 5 more rounds thru her today without any problems,shes shooting like a house on fire,I bet it was either the primer seating or oil residue that made the hangfire,hopefully it will not happen again... knock on wood...Thanks for the help

I knew a genius once, I won't say who he was, self incrimination you know, who got in a hurry to load some cases one day and did not inspect the flash holes.

Sits at the bench, pulls trigger and this ghastly thunk was felt. Broke the round down when I got home and there was a piece of Media stuck in the flash hole.

Lesson learned.

Best wishes, Bill

I've never had a hang-fire--thank goodness. I inspect all my cases for media stuck in the flash hole and find it quite often. I have a decapping die set up on one of my presses--the decapping pin quickly removes stuck media.

quote:

Originally posted by blackbearhunter:
Another question..I have just been wondering,what happens when a case head separates from being resized /fired to much?I have never experianced it ...but wondered if the gas comes back like a pierce primer will except worse?Is this common to have happen if a brass is reloaded to much & how can a reloader know when is enough?Almost all my loads need trimmed a hair after just one fireing so about the third trim i shoot it and throw it away which i wind up with about 4 shots total from one case,is this normal?

Case head separation is caused by excessive headspace, usually resulting from over-sizing the brass. I set my sizing die to resize the brass .001-.002" under the measurement of a fired case for bolt guns using a case micrometer. The less you work your brass, the longer it lasts. Clean and inspect your cases each time you reload it. The case will separate at the expansion ring just forward of the rim, belt or extractor groove and you can usually see signs of case separation before it becomes an issue. Another trick is to bend a paperclip so that you have a short 90* tip that you can insert in case neck and "feel" the inside case wall near the head of the case; you will be able to feel a groove before case is in danger of separation. Case necks will usually split before case heads separate in my experience.

Depending upon your reloading practices you can usually expect at least 8-10 reloadings per case before the brass begins to work harden and you will see a blackening of the case neck caused by the neck not expanding sufficiently (and quickly enough) to seal the chamber, allowing some gas escape. Once this occurs, some reloaders anneal the brass and carry on, I recycle the brass at that time. Gas guns are harder on brass than bolt guns so brass life will usually be less. Case neck splits will occur after case necks work harden.


Regards,
hm

Apparently, those hard to seat primers get their compound damaged in the process (cracks). This supposdly cause inconsistant igition by changing the detonation propogation rate through the compound. Can this cause a hang-fire? Why not, I guess? Isn't this the reason for cleanng primer pockets - so the primers will seat flush without being crushed?