So how would you find out if rough handling could knock primer loose? Try it? Sure, why not.
My typical internet order is 2 bricks of rimfire cartridges.
Roughly 14 lbs shipping weight.
Removed 50 Armscor 40 grain cartridges from the flimsy cardboard box
then plugged them all into a CCI styrene box.
Should provide more protection than the typical flimsy cardboard pack.
Used 1/2 inch drive sockets from the tool bin to obtain a total package weight of 14 lbs.
Packed the shipping box with brown paper from another on line delivery
with the cartridges at the bottom, all nose down, same as I received them.
Closed the box, taped it shut, dropped from counter height, 36 inches.
Opened the box and the first indicator there's a problem, is the CCI box.
It's cracked. Definite sign that it was a solid impact.
Pulled the bullets out of the brass, emptying the contents into an empty 9mm tray.
Cases mouth up had primer in the powder.
Head stamp up had clean powder only.
6 cartridges out of 50 had the primer knocked loose.
Not all the primer, but enough that a bare spot in the rim was created.
If the firing pin hit there, no ignition, fail to fire.
Large chunks of primer from the rim
And small fragments....
No apparent pattern to the effects.
The cartridges are in the same location in the 9mm tray
as they were in the CCI box.
If you get a fail to fire, pull those bullets,
see what you find inside. Was it a weak strike?
Or did you have somebody in the shipping department fumble a package?
Possibly you were delivered a brick that was used as the puck in a lunch break game of floor hockey?
