Light Strikes. Primers?

[greener]

I've reloaded about 400 38 spc rounds this week. Took 150 our with 3 revolvers and got a number if FTF's, that looked like light strikes. Happened across all three revolvers. All rounds would either fire on retry or in another revolver. None of the three revolvers has a history of light strikes.

All primers were from the same brick of 1000. So do I have problem with the press operation or some problem primers? Guess I'll put them aside are reload some rounds from another brick of primers.

[bearandoldman]

I've reloaded about 400 38 spc rounds this week. Took 150 our with 3 revolvers and got a number if FTF's, that looked like light strikes. Happened across all three revolvers. All rounds would either fire on retry or in another revolver. None of the three revolvers has a history of light strikes.

All primers were from the same brick of 1000. So do I have problem with the press operation or some problem primers? Guess I'll put them aside are reload some rounds from another brick of primers.

Have had the same problem lately myself and I am convinced that the primers were not seated full. Just a little short and the first hit seats them and the second will fire them. Have been shooting them in my Marlin 1894 and was setting them aside, started to just re cock the hammer and they all fire in the second hit. Another case of operator error and not a component or firearm problem, how do you repair an old man????? J know he is well out of warranty.

[bgreenea3]

+1 for BOAM's theory..... He beat me to it

[bearandoldman]

+1 for BOAM's theory..... He beat me to it

Evidently you have watched the old Greener seat primers, eh? Have had a few or more than a few of them lately. Was setting them aside and trying them later, decided to recock and try again and BAAAANG, they worked, must be old age, eh? The operator not the primer.

[bgreenea3]

if they (primers) get really far out the cylinder won't turn, otherwise they are good for a ball and dummy excercise...

[bearandoldman]

if they (primers) get really far out the cylinder won't turn, otherwise they are good for a ball and dummy excercise...

I have had that problem with the J frame with my reloads. Now just shoot factory ammo for practice on SD targets as that is the only place it will be used.

[greener]

Some old men don't need fixing, no matter how hard their wet behind the ears docs try to find something to fix.

Primers are seated flush with the casing as they should be, but I think this is still me seating the primers.

[bearandoldman]

Some old men don't need fixing, no matter how hard their wet behind the ears docs try to find something to fix.

Primers are seated flush with the casing as they should be, but I think this is still me seating the primers.

Mine seem to be flush to the case by feel, but may be off a thou or so, always fire on the second hit, easy to go with a hammergun.

[blue68f100]

Primers should be set around 0.003"-0.005" below the face. So if there flush you may have not seated them deep enough. The first hammer hit seats the primer the rest of the way so it goes off on the second hit. Now with that said what mfg primers are your using. I have read reports on THR that Winchester has a bad primers out. Wolf primers are sometimes slightly out of round or over size making them hard to seat particularly on the SP. Using my LNL-AP I have ran across many that were very hard to seat. Some have reported using a hand seater they were unable to set them to the proper depth, and broke a part on the seater trying.

I'm not shy when it comes to setting primers in my LNL-AP. I grab the front bar so I can get some power pushing the handle forward. On my press is they set high it prevents the shell holder from rotating.

I have not heard any bad things about Wolfs LPP, all of the problems seam to on the SPP.

[greener]

Thanks

Seating depth seems to be controlled by my Lee Pro press.

Measured a bunch of my reloads (.38, .357, 9mm, .45 ACP and .45 colt) and all primers were essentially flush with the casing, 0.000". I have 4 carriers with seating pins, so all are doing the same depth. I measured some store bought ammo: WWB 9mm and Remington .38 + P. Both were ~0.003" seating depth. Ran some casings through my press and made sure I went all the way to the stop on the seating stroke and all but one came back essentially flush.

The seating depth seems to be a function of the Lee press and not the carriers or the operator. (I was betting on operator error). The .357's are at least a year old, so I don't think this depth is recent. My guess is that I've been getting these depths since I bought the press.

This is the first time I've had this problem unless it contributed to the LC9 light strikes. However, I was getting the light strikes with WWB with the LC9.

[bgreenea3]

the lee loadmatser primer depth is adjustable.....

[greener]

the lee loadmatser primer depth is adjustable.....

The Lee Pro seating depth is not adjustable.

[greener]

I've been chatting by email with Lee Precision. As always, they have been as helpful as troubleshooting by email allows. I've verified the press set up and changed a couple of things. None of it made any difference. All test cartridges primed at a depth of 0.000".

I put a 0.004" shim (pop can) on the press where the seating pin hits the base and got a couple primers at 0.003" seating depth.

I didn't find any seating depth specs on the Lee site. RCBS gives the 0.003"-0.005" range.

[blue68f100]

If you can seat the primers deeper with a little shim that tells you that you were not seating the primers all the way down in the pocket. Now the depth may vary a little, it all depends on the primer's pocket depth. Some may not be machined to recess and give you a higher primer but in any case none will be setting above the case. The seating depth RCBS gave is the std. You have a part out of spec on your press, see if Lee will send you a replacement.

Now if your shooting a BHP with the 32# hammer spring it will fire anything including machine gun ammo with the hard primer caps.

[greener]

Been having a series of email chats with Dave at Lee Precision. "We" finally concluded that the base is worn. Resolution (a) send the base to Lee and they will replace it at half cost, (b) send the assembly to Lee and they will replace the base for half price and go over the press or (c) glue the shim on and keep on using it.

I'm not how many rounds constitutes heavy use on one of these, but I've probably loaded 15k rounds since I've had it.