First time fail to fire

Alderman · Sep 9, 2014

Well it finally happened. After loading since 1994 and thousands of rounds for 25 plus rifles I had my first failure to fire. Remington 9 1/2 in a 243. I've had a few with the Thompson Contender pistols but never a rifle.
I don't know the cause but it was dented just as well as the other ammo.

DrMike · Sep 9, 2014

It will happen eventually. Glad it wasn't when you were aiming at a trophy buck.

billbam · Sep 9, 2014

Had that happen also. Shot a bunch, never had one. Then in Colorado on a muley, click. then watched him go over a berm, into the brush. When I got home, a friend who I did reloads for stated he also had some at the range. I was embarrassed. Traced it to some high primers in a batch of brass. Switched to RCBS hand tool, no more issues

Darkhorse · Sep 9, 2014

Sometimes this is caused by the primer sitting on the radius in the bottom of the primer pocket, and when the pin strikes the primer it fails to drive it into the anvil with enough force to ignite the prime.
This is one reason I always remove the radius with a primer pocket uniformer tool.

JD338 · Sep 9, 2014

Was the primer fully seated in the primer pocket?
Did you try firing it a second time?

JD338

Alderman · Sep 9, 2014

It could have been my doing also. Loading some Nosler brass and the primer pocket/primer combo was a tight fit. I may not have seated it all the way but failed to detect it. Using the RCBS hand held prime unit just as I have for 20 years. I have got to the point where I can usually detect a problem just by how the tool feels in the hand while seating the primers.
Interesting thing here also, the very first buck I ever tried to shoot failed to fire. Those weren't my reloads however.