Any issues using Federal Primers?

My mate bought a couple of of packs of Federal small rifle primers about 5year ago, he was using a howa 223,we were out one night in a field calling when a fox came running in like a train i coughed out loud shouted he still kept coming he stopped 25 yds click nothing, he ejected fired again click the fox ran back 20yds i started squeaking to hold him click again 5 bullets failed to go off and again he came close i said trevor throw the fkg gun at him, we headed home on the way back another fox crossed in front of us he put another mag in and said you try the fox was out maybe 150 looking over a tump at me i put the dot on his head pulled the trigger boom and a blast hit me in the face, i shouted im blind i cant see, after a few seconds my vision came back we pulled the bolt back everything was black from a puncture hole in the primer, i know you guys love federal i would only buy them like my mate did in a shortage of primers. By the way a miracle happened i had the fox and we never saw the stupid one again
 
Yup, 210 Gold Match are among the best. Wish I could find bricks at the normal $45 price that they were at for many years. During The 1st primer shortage about 10 years ago a local LGS where I had bought guns for straight up retail prices boosted them to $90, so I never bought anything there again. So they made more profit off a couple of bricks, but lost thousands in gun sales.
 
shooter53 said:
My mate bought a couple of of packs of Federal small rifle primers about 5year ago, he was using a howa 223,we were out one night in a field calling when a fox came running in like a train i coughed out loud shouted he still kept coming he stopped 25 yds click nothing, he ejected fired again click the fox ran back 20yds i started squeaking to hold him click again 5 bullets failed to go off and again he came close i said trevor throw the fkg gun at him, we headed home on the way back another fox crossed in front of us he put another mag in and said you try the fox was out maybe 150 looking over a tump at me i put the dot on his head pulled the trigger boom and a blast hit me in the face, i shouted im blind i cant see, after a few seconds my vision came back we pulled the bolt back everything was black from a puncture hole in the primer, i know you guys love federal i would only buy them like my mate did in a shortage of primers. By the way a miracle happened i had the fox and we never saw the stupid one again
Click to expand...
Something wrong there, unlikely to be the primers unless they were stored improperly and got wet. I've fired thousands out of many rifles and never ever had a misfire. So multiple Duds in a box is highly unlikely.

I never have problems with CCI, Remington, or Winchester primers either. I use mostly federal and CCI.
 
shooter53 said:
My mate bought a couple of of packs of Federal small rifle primers about 5year ago, he was using a howa 223,we were out one night in a field calling when a fox came running in like a train i coughed out loud shouted he still kept coming he stopped 25 yds click nothing, he ejected fired again click the fox ran back 20yds i started squeaking to hold him click again 5 bullets failed to go off and again he came close i said trevor throw the fkg gun at him, we headed home on the way back another fox crossed in front of us he put another mag in and said you try the fox was out maybe 150 looking over a tump at me i put the dot on his head pulled the trigger boom and a blast hit me in the face, i shouted im blind i cant see, after a few seconds my vision came back we pulled the bolt back everything was black from a puncture hole in the primer, i know you guys love federal i would only buy them like my mate did in a shortage of primers. By the way a miracle happened i had the fox and we never saw the stupid one again
Click to expand...
Those primers one way or another had to have been corrupted for that to happen.

As for the one that blew through completely that only happens with a very hot load far above spec pressures or an over length firing pin. The only other possibility is that the primer was not properly seated originally during reloading or the pocket itself was extremely loose allowing it to blow back freely against the firing pin.
 
WildRose said:
Those primers one way or another had to have been corrupted for that to happen.

As for the one that blew through completely that only happens with a very hot load far above spec pressures or an over length firing pin. The only other possibility is that the primer was not properly seated originally during reloading or the pocket itself was extremely loose allowing it to blow back freely against the firing pin.
Click to expand...
This was my first thought also. I have fired thousands of Federal primers, as well as several thousand more Winchester, Remington and CCI and had only two that did not go bang. I assume it was something I did wrong in handling those two primers.
 
Ol' Red said:
This was my first thought also. I have fired thousands of Federal primers, as well as several thousand more Winchester, Remington and CCI and had only two that did not go bang. I assume it was something I did wrong in handling those two primers.
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I've had a few and I knew what happened. In one case they were handled with sweaty hands and in another with greasy/oily hands.

Primers are really simple mechanically and chemically and it's really hard to screw them up but that's two ways to get it done.

Long term exposure to high humidity theoretically can affect them as well but I've not seen it shown in practice.

I once had a problem with some imported primers that were incredibly thin and some of those blew through but that was a very, very long time ago. It was actually on some factory ammo and when I informed them of the issue they not only gave me a complete refund but also replaced the ammo and offered to pay for any damages to my rifle if necessary due to gas cutting.

They threw away over a million primers from that manufacturer and started over from scratch so it must have been a pretty serious issue.
 
Reads like we are going to need a new firing mechanism....
Anyone used stick matches to set off powders....in a cartridge...
🤔
 
Elfego Baca said:
I have enough primers for a few years but I've have been unable to buy more than 200 primers at a time so I go back the next day to get another 200.
If I am lucky I might collect 600.
I usually buy by the 1000.
In the meantime I am trading or buying from others.
I even got some made in Russia!
Click to expand...
I purchased 2 bricks of them after the normal stuff dried up. I haven't used them yet so I have no idea what they're like, but I do have 2K of them that should make it go pop. I just hope they don't have any corrosive crap in them.
 
WildRose said:
Those primers one way or another had to have been corrupted for that to happen.

As for the one that blew through completely that only happens with a very hot load far above spec pressures or an over length firing pin. The only other possibility is that the primer was not properly seated originally during reloading or the pocket itself was extremely loose allowing it to blow back freely against the firing pin.
Click to expand...
hi WildRose, i couldnt tell what the load was, only that most would not ignite and the firing pin craters looked as they should have, and this is what happened to the one that did a small crack in the primer leaving black residue everywhere, very i was suprised that it hit the fox as it wasnt an easy shot with him peeping over a banking, a miracle i guess, probably would have missed with good primer and thanks for your reply stay safe
 
shooter53 said:
hi WildRose, i couldnt tell what the load was, only that most would not ignite and the firing pin craters looked as they should have, and this is what happened to the one that did a small crack in the primer leaving black residue everywhere, very i was suprised that it hit the fox as it wasnt an easy shot with him peeping over a banking, a miracle i guess, probably would have missed with good primer and thanks for your reply stay safe
Click to expand...
Corrupt primers and powders cause a lot more problems that most people think about.
 

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