Which is it--Bad powder or bad primers

[steeltex]

Hey guys. Me and the brother went out shooting. Ran into problems when shooting his M-1 Garand. Had one round that didn't go off at all, even after repeated hits. And 2 rounds that took a good half a second or more to fire after the trigger was pulled.

We loaded the ammo ourselves. New Remington brass. CCI large rifle primers. Surplus Wcc 844 from Hi tech ammo. Personally, I thinks its the powder. But it's funny because we never have had any problems with it before with the many others rounds we use it in. We even dumped out the jugs of remainng powder we have, and it all looks and smell good.

At first I thought it was the powder because we took the round that failed to fire apart and right at the end when we dumped the powder some of it was a dull green instead of the graphite gray color its has, and some of it was caked up. The only thing I don't get is, I know that podwer was not that way when we loaded it because we measured out each charge by hand on a digital scale and we would have seen it. So than I started thinking maybe the primers are bad and not putting out a hot enough flame, but we've used those primers from the same case in other rounds and never had a problem with them either.. What do you guys think?

 

[tomme boy]

Re: Which is it--Bad powder or bad primers

Switch to a mag primer. This happens when using ball powder.

 

[skep_tic1]

Re: Which is it--Bad powder or bad primers

I knew before I read your post that cci primers would be the ones in question. What does that tell you? If I cant get federal primers I use winchester..... if I can't find either, I don't load.

 

[bcrich]

Re: Which is it--Bad powder or bad primers

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: tomme boy</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Switch to a mag primer. This happens when using ball powder. </div></div>
I agree, I had the same problem shooting 7.62x54r using w748(ball powder) and cci 200primer. I switched to 4895 (extruded) and every round has worked. I would have tried magnum primers but I still have plenty of cci 200.

 

[former naval person]

Re: Which is it--Bad powder or bad primers

Be careful with the Garand...You don't know what the "surplus" powder really is. (There is usually a reason it is "surplus"...it doesn't meet specifications!) The rifle and 4895 powder were meant for each other. A slower powder can really mess up the innards of the rifle, mainly the operating rod and parts...which can get really expensive since non of them are being manufactured any more. JMHO

 

[Jerry m]

Re: Which is it--Bad powder or bad primers

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: former naval person</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Be careful with the Garand...You don't know what the "surplus" powder really is. (There is usually a reason it is "surplus"...it doesn't meet specifications!) The rifle and 4895 powder were meant for each other. A slower powder can really mess up the innards of the rifle, mainly the operating rod and parts...which can get really expensive since non of them are being manufactured any more. JMHO </div></div>

++++1 last batch of surplus 4895 I bought, was slow enough that I was able to add several grains before getting needed velocity.

Really be careful with your garand.

Good luck

Jerry

 

[ChadTRG42]

Re: Which is it--Bad powder or bad primers

Another thought- something could have been in the bottom of the case when you reloaded it. I've seen crap build up in the bottom of a case after tumbling, and cause something similar. If you are using a ball powder, I would use mag primers. I use mag primers for anything bigger than a 308, especially if it's a ball powder. Just reduce your powder charge about a half grain to accomodate the mag primer, and work up to your load.