reloading .308W no fire! new to sniper hide and reloading. hello everybody

[deweyrose]

I recently started reloading for the purpose of saving money. Last night I finally got to load my own ammo for my rem 700. I trimmed the once fired casings to 2.005. casings had already been tumbled, wiped clean, resized and punched the primer, put through the sonic cleaner, flash holes deburred, back through the sonic cleaner, dried, primed(f210), and loaded with IMR4064(38.2gr), topped off with hornady 168gr HPBT. COAL was set at 2.801.
I don't think I missed anything, but today I tried to shoot that ammo and found that some of the primers wouldn't ignite the powder. My first thought was headspace and that I trimmed too much and now the firing pin can't get leverage over the primer body. does that sound accurate? Anyone have any suggestions.

 

[JSTARSZ]

There is a whole lot going on here so lets take it in small chunks...first do you have case gauges that allow you to know if your cases were resized back to spec - did the rounds chamber OK in the rifle? How old is the powder, primers...with manufactured ammo do you have issues with light primer strikes or do they all go bang wiht zero issues? Explain what you mean by 'primers wouldn't ignite the powder" Does that mean that some of them did and some didn't?

IMR 4064 - 38.2 is a very low charge by the way. I would start at around 41. If you can take pics of the primers that would also help in diagnosing your issues?

 

[gimpy]

Did your firing pin mark the primer? If so, and the cases were dried completely, I'm betting your primers weren't seated far enough.

 

[deweyrose]

There is a whole lot going on here so lets take it in small chunks...first do you have case gauges that allow you to know if your cases were resized back to spec - did the rounds chamber OK in the rifle? How old is the powder, primers...with manufactured ammo do you have issues with light primer strikes or do they all go bang wiht zero issues? Explain what you mean by 'primers wouldn't ignite the powder" Does that mean that some of them did and some didn't?

IMR 4064 - 38.2 is a very low charge by the way. I would start at around 41. If you can take pics of the primers that would also help in diagnosing your issues?

Hello and thanks for replying so fast. the rifle has never had an issue with firing. I have always put federal gmm ammo or hornady match ammo in this rifle. I have saved my brass for a couple years so that is the brass I'm using. every piece of .308 brass I have has only been fired once and through this rifle. I do have a micrometer that I'm using to take measurements. it is an accurate mic made by starett. I've used it for a while for various things. the primer's were struck and left a small indention compared to struck primers I had on hand from factory ammo. The rounds chambered fine however after I shot the ones that would shoot I noticed I had to put more force to get the bolt to rotate loose. nore than normal anyways. the casings were resized using the lee decapper / resizer die. I started with 38.2 to be on the safe side. also to make sure measurements and everything were right before I started pushing the powder limits. The powder is about a week old and the primers I bought last month as well as the bullets. everything I have is really new.

 

[deweyrose]

The case necks measure .337 with the mic with a .015 neck wall thickness.

 

[deweyrose]

I seated the primers as far as they would go without damaging them. they were pressed in past the base of the cartridge so a to not give me a false case length

 

[MikeInUtah]

You had to trim the once fired brass because it was out of spec? Typically my once fired factory brass doesnt need trimming. Anyhow, I dont think that is your problem since it headspaces on the shoulder. Did you possible bump the shoulder back too far? Are there any marks on the primer?

 

[JSTARSZ]

Do you have the ability to take pics of the casings and post them? Also, if you are going to reload I would get case gauges.


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[deweyrose]

 

[deweyrose]

the one on the left is the primer in a good unfired casing and the right is an unfired casing and one I tried to fire.

 

[JSTARSZ]

The right picture...the bottom is from a fired FGGM round it looks like...is that correct and the top one is a failed to fire casing? Can you take a case sized casing and chamber it in your rifle and then extract it with no issues? I am still wondering about your resizing? Also, after cleaning how dry were cases before you started the process? Could powder or primer got any liquid in them.

 

[deweyrose]

Yes it was an unforced fgmm cartridge. An I only sized the neck. All my brass loads perfectly in the rifle. Last night they loaded perfect when I tested them and I'm positive that everything was dry last night. After the sonic cleaner I tensed them and then let them air dry after 15 minutes in the oven on very low temp. 140degrees roughly. I'm letting this batch dry over night and I trimmed these to 2.010. Most of them were right on the edge of 2.015"

 

[JSTARSZ]

Once you prime a couple out of the new batch chamber a couple and fire the primer off and see if it ignites. If you can chamber the brass and close the bolt your casings are good to go. I trim to spec numbers at 2.005" but that can vary a couple thousands.


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[deweyrose]

Ok sounds good I'll give that a try

 

[mdmp5]

Deweyrose, forget about the headspace, case length, neck size, or anything involving measurements. They have nothing to do with primers not igniting. You obviously have primer strikes. I would say that you got yourself an unlucky lot of primers, or they have been inactivated either chemically or physically, though I don't see that as a real likely possibility.

 

[FLIGHT762]

Might have something to do with 2 runs through the sonic cleaner and maybe a few cases didn't get dried properly.

 

[Madzooki]

15 minutes at 140 is not long enough in the oven. I run mine for 20 minutes at 220 degrees to get them dry enough. It takes about 10 minutes for them to cool off. I bet the bottoms of the cases still had water in them and that seeped down into the primers when you stood it up vertical in your ammo case. I bet if you pull that bullet it will have wet powder in it.

Paul

 

[Thediscgolfkid]

Yep I think they're wet, or primers were exposed to humidity too long

 

[deweyrose]

Ok I will check that tonight thanks for the responses. If I find anything I'll post it up. And I'll bump up the temperatures on the oven and let stand overnight to cool down.

 

[MikeInUtah]

I agree, given the picks and new info showing sufficient primer strikes, its probably moisture related.

 

[Madzooki]

You don't have to let them cool off overnight. Mine take about ten minutes to cool, fifteen at the most.

Paul

 

[sakobob]

just throwing it out there, is it possible to seat primers with to much
force to cause a similar problem? Op, are you feeling them bottom out in the pocket?
and how much force are you using after they bottom out?

 

[JoshcBoucher]

My thought, is moisture, too. Longer and hotter in the oven. I have a LOT of brass. (For me, anyway, a few K is a lot) I'll prep a bunch, clean and bake, and let them sit in a rack for a couple weeks, if not longer, just to be sure.

 

[Ultraman550]

Look at your firing pin and trigger sear. Make sure the firing pin is not shortened or burred in any way. If thats fine then check your trigger to make sure the sear is allowing the firing pin to come forward as much as it can. I have a Stiller Action and a Timney trigger and this combo is know to have light primer strike problems. Timney will replace the short sear with the long sear for free. Once I got this fixed I have zero problems now.

 

[former naval person]

Take your bolt apart and clean it. Light lube with oil, not grease. Make sure the inside of the bolt body is clean. I have seen too many bolts with debris in them cause light strikes...both in distance of travel and in speed of impact.

 

[Deadshot2]

Might have something to do with 2 runs through the sonic cleaner and maybe a few cases didn't get dried properly.

I'd go with this as the most likely cause. "Drying" after a wet cleaning process takes a lot longer and is more difficult than most who are new to the process realize. I've had more than my share of "no-fires" like this and I've been handloading longer than most on this board have birthdays. It happens when I get in a hurry.

I use Stainless Steel Pins for cleaning my brass and either give the cases at least 24 hours minimum to dry, while standing neck down in a loading block, or I anneal them shortly after I have separated the cases from the wash water and pins. Annealing "flashes" off the remaining moisture.

Since the cases were merely neck sized I doubt it's a headspace problem. Same with uniforming of the primer pockets with a tool that cuts too deep.

Water, it's not your friend. Make sure to dry the cases well. If time is an issue then shake the cases in a "towel sling" like you're cleaning a bowling ball then heat them with a hair dryer. If you're really in a hurry, give the cases a bath in 90+% Isopropyl alcohol then shake dry. A few minutes with a hair dryer will finish the job.

Can also use Acetone to dry them but the acetone fumes are extremely flammable. Use that outside.

 

[judgedelta]

It wouldn't appear to me that over-trimming would have any effect, even if you cut off the entire neck, since as I understand it, the cartridge headspaces on the the shoulder and not the case mouth, as with a semi-pistol. I have seen a lot of cartridges go off with lighter strikes than shown on the picture. I'm betting on moisture (more likely) or bad primers (not very likely). The suggested alcohol bath will remove the moisture quicker, with less heat and also eliminate water marks on your brass, if you care about that sort of thing. The alcohol can be saved and used several times. Good luck and be safe...

 

[deweyrose]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I did try to fire off a couple random primers in my rifle after drying and letting stand all night and they fired fine. I missed the little detail about the shoulder giving the headspace. Must have missed that somewhere. Now I know. And I have ordered headspace gauges just to be safe. I found an old electric oven I had stored. Turns out it's great little oven for drying brass. I'll repost my results if I get a chance to shoot tommorrow. Thanks again.

 

[Steve1]

Moisture may be the problem......But you may have a dirty bolt. I love Remington 700's, but they can have bolt issues. I used to use a lot of oil on my bolt. Not only would it freeze up in cold weather but dirt would begin collecting inside of it. I started having misfires. I took it to an amateur gun smith. He took the bolt apart. He figured just the spring was dirty and cleaned it.....but the gun still mis-fired. I took some solvent on a round wire brush.....and put this in an electric drill. I really scoured the dirt out of the inside of that bolt with this. It hasn't mis-fired since. Today I don't use hardly any oil on my bolt, just an occaisional cleaning with solvent, and then wipe dry.


Another story....A buddy was hunting elk. He had a nice bull spotted. He got a good rest, and squeezed the trigger. His gun mis-fired. He did the same thing, and his gun misfired again. On the third try his gun went off, and he killed the elk. Yep, he had a Remington 700. I told him to take his bolt apart. He wasn't sure how to do that, so he hired a gunsmith. The inside of his bolt was full of crud and rust.

Remington 700's are great guns, but the bolt needs to be cleaned every couple years or you are asking for trouble.....