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Old 12-27-2012, 11:34 AM
Wrangler John Wrangler John is offline
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From your picture there could be two things going on, separately or both together.

The primers are completely crushed by the firing pin strike. This will cause an occasional failure to fire, as the priming mix will be destroyed rather than ignite (yeah, I know it sounds counter intuitive). assuming that you are removing the primer crimp from military spec cases the two things are:

First thing is the primers appear to be seated too high, the best depth is for the primer to be seated .004" below the case head. As other posters have mentioned the Wolf primer is a tight fit, which makes them hard to seat. I use a lot of Wolf Large Rifle Primers and they can be really difficult to seat to full depth. Most brass does not have a square bottom primer pocket that will allow consistent full seating depth (including Lapua). So what i do is uniform all primer pockets prior to the first loading of new brass. If reloading fired factory loaded cases, I would do the uniforming before reloading. The Sinclair Uniformer Tool is designed to cut the primer pocket to allow that .004" depth below the case head. I use a power tool adapter and cordless drill to uniform the pockets. It only has to be done once.

http://www.sinclairintl.com/search/i...tool&ksubmit=y

The second cause could be too much firing pin protrusion. This can be checked with the hole depth gauge on a dial caliper alone, or with a firing pin protrusion gauge and dial caliper, or an armorer's protrusion gauge in the case of an AR-15, etc. A gunsmith is advised here. Firing pin protrusion is usually set somewhere between .035" above the bolt face to .060". I use .040" in all my bolt action rifles, but some semiautomatics may be set to the high side to ensure firing with every lot of ammo.

http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-to...prod26477.aspx

I would suggest that you try seating below the case head, this depth can be measured with the hole depth gauge on a dial caliber, or by laying a straight edge across the case and examining the primer, it should be obvious if it is set properly.

I tried dipping the case heads into this product:
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/614...vc=subv1892537 which does ease seating somewhat. After you shoot up those Wolf primers, try Remington 7-1/2BR or another USA made primer. Although those Wolf LR primers are very accurate in my rifles.

Nothing is ever easy. Every time I think I got everything, I find I still need a new tool or gadget to make something else work.

Last edited by Wrangler John; 12-27-2012 at 11:58 AM..
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