Hello Folks

I've been reloading in low volumes for about 30 years . . . mostly 7x57 but other calibres as well and now 250 Savage.

In the last six months I've had a hangfire and two miss-fires in my 250 Savage rounds - I don't recall a single issue for the previous 1000 or so rounds so I'm a bit puzzled !

The rifle in question is a Mauser 98 (its a kurz action) and it does have a very slighlt off centre primer strike - just enough to detect with the eye. Headspace is bang on and I've recently cleaned the striker assembly

The primer is a Federal 210. Load is 35gns 4320 behind 117 Hornardy SST's. Sizing lube is Hornardy one-shot. I prime with an RCBS tool, so don't touch the primers. I don't clean cases.

Any ideas ?

I would be lookig at 3 things:
Weak spring
Worn firing pin
Or gunk inside the bolt.

I'd start by disassembling the bolt, and taking a look inside, and making sure everything is nice and clean.

It sounds as though this would take some on the spot observation and hands on examination.
the possibilities are numerous. roger

I agree that the gun is a likely culprit, except for the hangfire. I am not saying it's not possible, but i dont think that the gun is likely to cause that. Hangfire would normally be with the ammo. How many times are the cases being reloaded without cleaning? Is it possible that the flash hole is getting clogged up? How old is the powder and is there any possibility that it or the primers have been exposed to water or chemicals which would cause a breakdown of the substances? Is it possible that the inside of the cases got sizing lube or oil inside them?

Could just be a bad lot of primers. Have you tried another? Same brand as always? Not sure if the 210's are what you've always loaded...

Well BNagel its funny you should mention primers, cause I just started using the Fed 210's after years of CIL's (I somehow ended up with a couple of thousand of them many years ago).

I didn't want to jump to any conclusions but do "bad lots" of primers arise from time to time ?

A few years back I had a bad lot of Fed 215's. Out of every box one or two would not go off.

Two easiest things to try. . .
1 Change primers and see if the problem goes away.
2 change the spring. If problem doesn't go away switch primers.

Looking at the indentation on a round that didn't fire would be helpful. Can you post a photo?

It is possible that the batch of Federals you have has a harder/thicker cup than the CIL's you were using. You never know that you have a slightly weak firing pin spring or a firing pin which doesn't protrude quite enough until you use a batch of "tougher" primers.

If this is the case (and there are certainly other possibilities like contaminated powder), then the cure is to either go back to more sensitive primers or address the spring/pin problem in the rifle.

I have a couple of rifles which exhibit a weak strike and won't reliably ignite certain primers. I simply restrict the primers I use in these to certain brands that have proven, by trial and error, to be easier to ignite.

quote:

Originally posted by Tentman:
Well BNagel its funny you should mention primers, cause I just started using the Fed 210's after years of CIL's (I somehow ended up with a couple of thousand of them many years ago).

I didn't want to jump to any conclusions but do "bad lots" of primers arise from time to time ?

Yes. For that reason, and because I've had no bad results with them, I use CCI and Federal primers, not Remington. jeffeosso (in person at big bore shoot) said he doesn't like 210's.

Different company's offerings are harder/softer than competitors, from what I gather. You're getting good pointers at this forum...

my guess (and it is just that) is that some contaminant got into the powder, be it oil, water or whatever

During the last Presidential election when as you recall component,primarily primers could not be found. I did manage to buy 1K lot of Federal L.P. at an exorbitant price.Using an XL650 one can load 1000 rounds quickly so I did'nt notice my misfires (at an approx.of 2 failures per 7 rounds)until I was on the range.And yes,I tried 2 other 1911's + a S+W 1955.The firing pin + or spring was NOT the issue.The point of this is that in my opinion (held by others as well) that during the "crisis"there was enormous out sourcing to areas where they do not have the same quality control.Another case in point is that another A.R. member who comes out + uses my range was firing Federal factory loads in his 470 Dbl. The end result was that there was not a flash hole drilled in the primer pocket.As I have mentioned here before,I don't have a hard on for Federal but this is not good for anyone.Personally,I doubt that I would ever buy any of their products.