Range Report Went to the range today and left with an issue.

SwiftScope

SwiftScope

Sergeant of the Hide
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Minuteman
Oct 29, 2018
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Fresno, CA
#1
Today I took my Bergara LRP in 6.5 Creedmoor out for the second time. Rifle has 67 rounds through it and it has only seen handloads.

First time I took it out it shot flawlessly, today was more of the same until about 20rds in. Started getting what I think may be light primer strikes? I'm not really sure, it's my first precision gun and my first reloading.

It did this about 10 times in a row and left my primers like this. None of them fired.
20190609_134945.jpg


I pulled the bolt apart and everything seems fine, I mean it's brand new. So mainly I'm trying to figure out if it's my handloads or if it's a gun problem. Because when it shoots, it's a damn laser.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated from the new guy here!

1560108593408.jpg
 
#2
I suspect your handloads, not the rifle. Primer hit looks fine. If the primers are not fully seated, you will get a misfire with a primer strike that looks ok. Basically, the firing pin ends up "pushing" the primer to fully seat it and not getting a solid impact. I suspect not fully seated primers followed by bad primers. Shoot some factory ammo and see what happens.
 
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#5
buffalowinter said:
I suspect your handloads, not the rifle. Primer hit looks fine. If the primers are not fully seated, you will get a misfire with a primer strike that looks ok. Basically, the firing pin ends up "pushing" the primer to fully seat it and not getting a solid impact. I suspect not fully seated primers followed by bad primers. Shoot some factory ammo and see what happens.
Click to expand...
Ok that's what I was thinking but wasn't sure, I'm gonna buy a box and test it out. Thank you!
 
#14
Long Range 338 said:
Yes I know you can touch them but we both know it is best practice to not handle manually as it increase chance of contamination
Click to expand...
I used to think this way as well, never ever touch em. Some of the best shooters I know use a manual feed SS primer seater that requires you to finger each one. They have great numbers.
Just sayin.....
 
#17
SwiftScope said:
BTW, that's your bag that helped me get sub half minute. Safe to say I'm a happy customer haha
Click to expand...
NIce! I didn't even notice it!

You may have it that way for the QD to reach but if you flip it over so the seam is up it will sit a little wider at the bottom. You can see in the pic the bottom looks a little skinnier than the top the way you have it. Try to only squeeze it on the front and back and not on the sides. Squeezing the sides will put a crease in the middle and create a big horizontal pivot. I have hanger tags that explain all of this but not sure if yours is an earlier version without the tag.
 
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#19
Precision Underground said:
NIce! I didn't even notice it!

You may have it that way for the QD to reach but if you flip it over so the seam is up it will sit a little wider at the bottom. You can see in the pic the bottom looks a little skinnier than the top the way you have it. Try to only squeeze it on the front and back and not on the sides. Squeezing the sides will put a crease in the middle and create a big horizontal pivot. I have hanger tags that explain all of this but not sure if yours is an earlier version without the tag.
Click to expand...
Mine came with the hanger tag and it was great information, thank you for also informing me. It was my first time out with it and using a rear bag. I knew it wasn't necessarily the correct way but with the range I was at the 100 yard target was elevated and I found that to be the best way in that situation. I need to practice with it some more for sure. It's a fantastic piece of kit and I will never leave the house without it!
 
#21
SwiftScope said:
Mine came with the hanger tag and it was great information, thank you for also informing me. It was my first time out with it and using a rear bag. I knew it wasn't necessarily the correct way but with the range I was at the 100 yard target was elevated and I found that to be the best way in that situation. I need to practice with it some more for sure. It's a fantastic piece of kit and I will never leave the house without it!
Click to expand...
Thank you sir! Yea spend some time with it at home on the scope through a window or on a far wall and practice getting the bag compressed as described on the tag. Practice making small adjustments up and down. Once you get the hang of it it is second nature.
 
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#23
SwiftScope said:
Today I took my Bergara LRP in 6.5 Creedmoor out for the second time. Rifle has 67 rounds through it and it has only seen handloads.

First time I took it out it shot flawlessly, today was more of the same until about 20rds in. Started getting what I think may be light primer strikes? I'm not really sure, it's my first precision gun and my first reloading.

It did this about 10 times in a row and left my primers like this. None of them fired.
View attachment 7092540

I pulled the bolt apart and everything seems fine, I mean it's brand new. So mainly I'm trying to figure out if it's my handloads or if it's a gun problem. Because when it shoots, it's a damn laser.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated from the new guy here!

View attachment 7092543
Click to expand...
The giveaway that shows a primer that popped but had no powder to ignite is the way it has a funnel appearance with the outer edges still very rounded. If the primer had failed it would remain flat with a small dimple. The primer had enough pressure by itself to push the cup back causing the funnel effect but not enough pressure by itself to flatten against the bolt face. This is what happened to me.
 
#24
ken4570tc in WY said:
The giveaway that shows a primer that popped but had no powder to ignite is the way it has a funnel appearance with the outer edges still very rounded. If the primer had failed it would remain flat with a small dimple. The primer had enough pressure by itself to push the cup back causing the funnel effect but not enough pressure by itself to flatten against the bolt face. This is what happened to me.
Click to expand...
While it is very possible, I am 110% positive that there was powder. I was using RL17 for the first time testing it out and only loaded 40 rounds. Which would mean that I forgot to put powder in a quarter of them. And to throw another wrench into things, I then grabbed my box that had my H4350 loads in it (that all shot perfectly the first time I took it out) and the same thing happened to those. So I guess I can pull the bullets and find out, Im going to try and reshoot them first and see if they were just not seated all the way.
 
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#28
fdkay said:
I'm in the primer not fully seated camp, however, you may have something impinging your firing pin.
Stip the bolt, clean the pin and spring, lube lightly and reassemble.
Click to expand...
I’m the one in all three camps. I’ve gotten in a hurry and not powdered them, not seated them down right and had old excess cosmoline slow a firing pin down to not firing.

I’ve also had wet powder and contamined primers, by both me and the factory.

The only thing you can do here is break the cartridge down and see what you can. Pics of the powder and pics of the primer after breakdown would help.
 
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#29
sandwarrior said:
I’m the one in all three camps. I’ve gotten in a hurry and not powdered them, not seated them down right and had old excess cosmoline slow a firing pin down to not firing.

I’ve also had wet powder and contamined primers, by both me and the factory.

The only thing you can do here is break the cartridge down and see what you can. Pics of the powder and pics of the primer after breakdown would help.
Click to expand...
I plan on doing this, just waiting to get to the range again to try and fire them, if they don't fire then a tear down will be happening
 
#30
SwiftScope said:
I plan on doing this, just waiting to get to the range again to try and fire them, if they don't fire then a tear down will be happening
Click to expand...
Did you find gunk in the bolt, preventing the firing pin from moving freely?
An example of one of the firing pin issues was, I thought I cleaned it well enough, even though I didn’t have what was necessary at the time get in and hog out the crap in the bolt. Warm weather allowed the cosmoline to move. When it got cold again, the cosmoline was in the way of the firing pin.
 
#31
The only time I’ve not had a reload go bang was with a case that had no powder, so that’s what I would guess.
I only missed one though, so unless you have a weird process, I think it’s unlikely you missed that many.

I did have some factory ammo fail to ignite once. When I pulled it apart some of the powder near the primer was a rusty red color and clumped together.
 
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#32
I've had a few bad primers over the years, one recently at an NRL match. Cycled the bolt, click, thought I had a misfeed so racked another and kept going. Used a round off the SAP spare holder to finish the stage.

Couldn't understand how I was a round short till I found the unfired cartridge on the ground. Reloaded it and whacked it again since I was last on that stage anyway, no joy.

It happens. Dunno that it's ever happened to me 10 times in a loaded batch of ammo but I'd say 3-4 times easy in 10ish years loading up my own stuff.
 
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#35
SwiftScope said:
I plan on doing this, just waiting to get to the range again to try and fire them, if they don't fire then a tear down will be happening
Click to expand...

If you weigh and sort your bullet and brass before loading you can quickly check your loads to a safe 0.1 grains after they are assembled. If you don't weight first, you can put a piece of brass, a primer, and a bullet on the case then add the weight of a charge and use that number to determine if your 'loaded' rounds even have a charge.
 
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#36
Even non sorted brass should be within a couple of grains. Being that powder charges for a 6.5 creedmoor should be in the ~40 grain range, it is relatively simple to weigh your loaded cartridges and find a case without a powder charge.

Was there a resolution to this? Did you break down the faulty cartridges?
 
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#38
hlee said:
Even non sorted brass should be within a couple of grains. Being that powder charges for a 6.5 creedmoor should be in the ~40 grain range, it is relatively simple to weigh your loaded cartridges and find a case without a powder charge.

Was there a resolution to this? Did you break down the faulty cartridges?
Click to expand...
I have not broken them down yet, was planning on getting to the range over the weekend but some things came up and it didn't happen. I will update when I can
 
#44
If you don't have a case/headspace checker tool, get one. Verify that the shoulder is not getting sized too far back.

IMHO, the problem is not headspace; BUT you should still have the check tool (Case Gauge) as a basic component of your handloading setup for the calibers for which you fabricate ammunition.

As for powder being missing; you load enough rounds, and eventually, you are going to find yourself making bonehead errors. I've been handloading for rifle cartridges since the early 1990's.

I'm no saint; and complacency can strike at any time.

Greg
 
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#47
Looks like there probably seated in to far and probably CCI primers. I won’t use CCI had a friend that had batch that wouldn’t fire every 3rd or 4th shot. I had the same problem with my 223 and thought it was headspace double checked my headspace switched to fed 205m no more problems. Won’t use Winchester because they had a bad batch a couple years ago that would blow pin holes out the side of the pocket. Winchester acknowledged it and reimbursed me a whole $30 for my pitted bolt face.
 
#48
How are you seating primers? That first pic has a weird arch on the primer that looks like it was torn or weakened there or something. Are you seating primers on a press by chance? If you are, may want to try priming by hand, like maybe you didnt get the primer in square and it kinda jacked up the cup... I dunno, just a thought.

Greg Langelius * said:
As for powder being missing; you load enough rounds, and eventually, you are going to find yourself making bonehead errors. I've been handloading for rifle cartridges since the early 1990's.

I'm no saint; and complacency can strike at any time.
Click to expand...

Man, you said it... today I was loading up for the first time since moving houses... everything is still sorta in disarray in my garage. Put powder in the hopper, grabbed the lever, and dropped 43 grains of 4064 on my bench like a fucking idiot. I thought to myself... "self, let's reload next weekend" and cleaned up. Figured I'd quit til I was in a more mentally prepared state.
 
#49
Ryridesmotox said:
How are you seating primers? That first pic has a weird arch on the primer that looks like it was torn or weakened there or something. Are you seating primers on a press by chance? If you are, may want to try priming by hand, like maybe you didnt get the primer in square and it kinda jacked up the cup... I dunno, just a thought.



Man, you said it... today I was loading up for the first time since moving houses... everything is still sorta in disarray in my garage. Put powder in the hopper, grabbed the lever, and dropped 43 grains of 4064 on my bench like a fucking idiot. I thought to myself... "self, let's reload next weekend" and cleaned up. Figured I'd quit til I was in a more mentally prepared state.
Click to expand...
I am seating with a redding hand primer tool
 
#50
Too much to read but has anyone mentioned pulling the bullet? 1. To make sure there is powder and 2. to see if there’s any obvious discoloration in the powder, usually caused by cold weather which is probably unlikely since it’s summer. Pulling the bullet may result in finding the solution. Primers may also be bad. Did you hear it pop when you pressed the trigger or nothing at all?
 
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