30-06 update

wisconsinteacher

Handloader
Dec 2, 2010
1,976
290
Well, I was able to shoot the rifle today with factory ammo and it fired 6 for 6 so I don't think it is the rifle. I was also near a supply story and grabbed a Hornady headspace gauge kit.

Here is what I came up with so far.

18 pieces of fired brass from the same batch that had the misfires averaged 2.046" with the gauge.

I then took 18 random pieces from the bag and averaged 2.039".

So the difference from what I was reloading to taking out of the chamber after shooting is .007"

I guess that I am oversized and need to fire form my brass that is still too short. I really think that when I resized after annealing, I pushed the shoulder too far and now have to deal with it.

I also grabbed 50 rounds of new Win brass so I have a total of 100 sitting here. I may just put the Rem brass to the side for now and start over with the new brass.

One thing that I don't get is that my resized brass averages 2.039" and the 10 unfired factory Rem brass measured 2.040". That means my stuff compared to factory is off by .001" and will not fire. I guess I could go though my bad of brass and cull out the short ones and then fire form them.

Any thoughts or ideas?
 
What method do you use to seat your primers? Do you have access to a second lot of primers you can test? It could be that you have a bad batch of primers, or your method of seating is not sufficiently crushing the pellet to allow proper ignition.
 
SAAMI specs say the length is 2.0487 MIN to 2.0587 MAX from the datum circle...sounds like they may be on the short side.
 
Federal primers have been most reliable for me in finicky situations.
What did the primer strikes look like on the offending "no goers"?
I don't think I'm buying into the head space causing this by itself.
 
Okay, I am stupid and will admit it. I went back to the reloading log and shooting log and did some checking with my primer supply. These loads all came from a new batch of primers. So far I have used 10 primers from a lot of 1000 and 6 of them have failed. I will try some different primers and some from this same lot with my 25-06 to see if the fail.
 
I've got some recent win primers that have been real crap....btw you are not stupid....this kind of stuff happens to all of us.
And when the rest of us read up on a problem eventually solved it makes us ALL smarter!
 
kraky":qumf1psb said:
I've got some recent win primers that have been real crap....btw you are not stupid....this kind of stuff happens to all of us.
And when the rest of us read up on a problem eventually solved it makes us ALL smarter!

Couldn't have said it better myself.
 
Same thought here--thanks for the update. I'll likely remember it could be a primer problem if I have the same issue.
 
I am moving this weekend and will be busy but my goal in the next two weeks is to load up 10 more 30-06, 25-06 and 22-250 rounds with these primers and then see if they fire or not. If they do not fire, I will be stuck with 1000 primers from the same box. I guess I will just have to shoot them up or call Winchester to see what they say if it really is the primers. I still have not ruled out the spring in the bolt.
 
Just curious what your lot number is on the win primers...mine is DGL738g.
I think I bought them in the last year but not sure how long they were at the store.
I had two guns they misfired in...one had light strikes on the primer...the other did not and a switch to federal cured both guns...even the light striker...but that one went in for repairs and other issues.

You won't regret buying the hornady tool!
 
You can always neck up your new brass in the .338 die and then neck back down in your 06 die to create a small false shoulder to make sure the cases are tight in the chamber. Then you can measure the case length and see how much your sizing it back. This is if a different primer doesn't fix things. We did this for years messing with wildcats on non belted cases.
 
FDL105G is the lot number of the primers. I got them about 18 months ago. I hope to try different primers and if that does not work, I plan on calling Winchester and asking them if they have had any issues with this lot number before and what to do next.
 
I am not sure that the issue is a spring problem, unless you have had a few miss fires starting before this. Would be odd that it would start and be so many all at once. IMO I would try different primers first to rule that out. I have always used CCI 200 primers in my Win Mod 70 30-06 and .308 Browning BLR for the past 30+ yrs without having a failed primer. Just my two bits.
 
Did you true the primer pockets before loading? It is not uncommon that what is thought to be a light strike results from primers not being seated to the bottom of the pocket. With steel cups, the tight pockets don't allow proper ignition.
 
When I prepped my brass, I just took a Lee primer pocket tool and scraped out all the black junk like I have done for all my brass the past 8 years.
 
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