Primer reliability

I had a bad primer in a hand load this morning, A Remington 7 1/2 small rifle primer failed to ignite, it was hit hard enough and just for good measure I cocked the rifle and tried it again. Any way it got me to thinking, and I believe that is the first bad primer I’ve had in a hand load. I suppose I could have had one and not remember it as I’ve loaded for half a century. But I truly believe that this is the first one I’ve had . What I’m asking is are you guys getting that same level of reliability. What’s been your personal experience? I’m not interested in internet folk lore, personal experience only . Please and thank you for any input.

I haven't been shooting or reloading as long as some people on here, but I have had more Factory-ammo duds than my own handloads.

Most of the "dud" primers I've had in handloads I don't count as duds, because they happened while shooting double action with my .357, that revolver probably needs a new hammerspring. I've since switched from CCI to federal (which are softer) for my revolver loads and have had no issues.

I think I have had one dud .30-06 I loaded for my Garand, which I believe was a CCI standard large rifle primer.

I have been handloading since 1965,in that time frame i can only remember having maybe 3 at the most.I contribute that to mishandeling the storage of the un used primers.Not placeing them in waterproof container in high humidity areas.

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Originally Posted by FLT

I had a bad primer in a hand load this morning, A Remington 7 1/2 small rifle primer failed to ignite, it was hit hard enough and just for good measure I cocked the rifle and tried it again. Any way it got me to thinking, and I believe that is the first bad primer I’ve had in a hand load. I suppose I could have had one and not remember it as I’ve loaded for half a century. But I truly believe that this is the first one I’ve had . What I’m asking is are you guys getting that same level of reliability. What’s been your personal experience? I’m not interested in internet folk lore, personal experience only . Please and thank you for any input.

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My experience with misfires is that they are overwhelmingly due to firearms malfunctions except in cases of really old and/or poorly stored ammo. I don't recall ever having a misfire that I knew for certain was due to a bad bad primer of recent origin.

If it doesn't fire after hitting it with the firing pin twice, I would assume the primer is empty. I would then pull down the load and inspect the primer. It would not surprise me that a few in a 100,000 end getting processed. I have had similar issues with 22lr, where it just didn't seem the case ever got the priming compound put in it correctly.

I shoot more than average, so unsurprisingly I have experienced more true duds than most. I will say the nearly universal culprit in semi-auto failures is not seating the primer deep enough. It will take a decent dent and not go off, and I’m not sure why (I have a theory, but that’s all).

As far as true duds, I average maybe one or so a year. Hardly ever. Primers are one of the most reliable things I know of.