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missfire rate

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bobcat3869

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so i am pretty new to reloading (aprox 2000 rounds) and i was curious about what the average number of miss fires you guys typically get from your hand loads.

first off from the first 1000 rounds i have fired i have gotten about 35 miss fires. im not sure if that is a "typical" amount or not. after returning from the range i have checked all of the miss fires and they all had the correct powder measure and the primer had a solid strike.

i am using 9mm 115 gr bullets (500 were lead 500 FMJ)
4.5 gr win 231 powder
OAL 1.13
CCI no.500 primers

i am loading them with a lee progressive press which i hand load the primers with a lee xr primer loader.

all of the other rounds fired properly and ejected fine. i just wasnt sure if the was a typical number from others hand loads.
any info would be greatly appreciated as usual.
 
That is excessive. What are you firing them from? Did you handle the primers with bare hands?

-Proud to be dad every day, a licensed plumber most days, and wish I was a shoemaker on others.
 
they only time i touch the primers is if i cant seem to get them to flip in the primer tray, so barely at all
i am shooting them from my m&p9c
 
I don't think I've ever had a misfire in my reloads and I've done tons even using some 20 year old primers I found stashed away. If there's oil on your fingers, you may be fowling them. Also something in the case like lube could foul them if there's enough. Make sure your hand primer doesn't have oil residue around the case holder or on the ram.
 
Thats way too high of a failure rate.

I have loaded over 40,000 rounds now, and I know of ONE round that had a solid primer strike and did not go off. That was with wolf primers. I use CCI primers regularly without problems.
 
SJan said:
Thats way too high of a failure rate.

I have loaded over 40,000 rounds now, and I know of ONE round that had a solid primer strike and did not go off. That was with wolf primers. I use CCI primers regularly without problems.
Click to expand...

it did seem way to high.

i know this sounds ridiculous but i store my ammunition in my safe in my attic which is freezing, could cold temps be messing with them? it doesn't seem possible to me but....
 
Hot or cold temperatures will affect some powders, It will change the burn rate and effectively the FPS of the bullet. It wouldn't cause a dud

- - - Updated - - -

bobcat3869 said:
just an APEX trigger kit
Click to expand...

What kit? Is the striker spring stock or the lighter one?
 
to be honest im not sure. i bought the gun used and the owner said he had and APEX trigger kit installed. i will have to contact him and find out
 
If it has the lighter striker spring, it may be causing an occasional light strike. Even though the primer hits look good.
 
bobcat3869 said:
to be honest im not sure. i bought the gun used and the owner said he had and APEX trigger kit installed. i will have to contact him and find out
Click to expand...

Specifically, ask whether is was the Duty/Carry Action Enhancement Kit (DCAEK) or the Competition Action Enhancement Kit. The Competition kit has the lighter striker spring, so if that is the kit that he had installed then I would recommend replacing it with a full-power spring.
 
Are you sure you are seating your primers properly?

I once accidentally loaded some large rifle primers into my 10mm cases (luckily only 100).

My glock did not function properly (also striker fired) and I had maybe 10 duds out of that 100.
 
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bobcat3869 said:
it did seem way to high.

i know this sounds ridiculous but i store my ammunition in my safe in my attic which is freezing, could cold temps be messing with them? it doesn't seem possible to me but....
Click to expand...

Don't store ammo in freezing temperatures, usually it says store ia a cool dry place is best. It could be your gun, try some factory ammo in your gun? Same results?
 
bobcat3869 said:
to be honest im not sure. i bought the gun used and the owner said he had and APEX trigger kit installed. i will have to contact him and find out
Click to expand...

This happened to me. I used to get my ammo at MFS, they sell reloads. My M&P with APEX would have a lot of light primer strikes on this ammo, and the ammo would not go off. It was like 10 / 100. I changed a bunch of springs in the gun, still no joy. Ended up letting the gun collect dust in my safe while I shot my Glocks. Recently got into reloading, and started making my own 9mm. So on a whim I shot some out of the M&P... And not one light strike, they all went off! Turns out the ammo from MFS was just GARBAGE and the APEX kit def didn't like it. Works great with my reloads.

I reload CCI 500 primers, with W231 powder. In 2000 rounds loaded I've had ONE round not go off, and it was a bad primer (I took bullet apart, looked at primer from inside case). I have also caught one bad primer while flipping primers on a flip tray, it looked black and "wide". Threw it away.

Check to make sure that you aren't seating your primers too deep. That could be an issue. Next make sure the primers look ok. Also try your ammo with a pistol that has a more forceful striker spring, like a stock Glock. You can also put the stock striker spring back into your M&P instead of using the APEX one. You should NOT be having that many rounds not go off.
 
usually "zero" or close to it (= almost never)- make sure you're not getting them contaminated with WD40 or oil
 
One other potential cause of misfires is primers that are not completely seated. Ensure that you are seating primers with enough force to fully bottom them out.
 
Smokewagon said:
The only misfire I have ever had when reloading was when a primer got put in upside down and didn't get caught during QC.
Click to expand...

oh I did that once too but caught it before I brought it to the range. Did you actually try to fire that one? I was wondering what would happen.
 
I had a bunch of reloaded misses too. In my 300 win mag. My .308's, same primer, powder ect never missed.

I changed primers from CCI to Winchester and solved the problem....but I never figured out what caused it in the first place.
 
I agree w/mlaboss above. It's a common omission to not clean the primer pockets which result in primers not being fully seated. Half the energy of the f/p strike simply pushes the primer deeper into the pocket without ignition. I've been reloading since the mid sixties, with probably close to half million reloads in 7 different calibers and can count the number of rounds on one hand that failed to go bang when struck.
 
Thanks guys I appreciate the advice. I'll look into all of your suggestions.

Do you guys typically deprime then then clean? Or vise versa?

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
 
For pistol ammo, I clean (tumble), then do all the loading steps in one pass on a progressive press. I don't clean the primer pockets, but I do give the press handle a good solid shove when seating the primer. I have only had a couple failures to fire out of many thousands of 9mm rounds loaded, which is good enough for me.
 
bobcat3869 said:
to be honest im not sure. i bought the gun used and the owner said he had and APEX trigger kit installed. i will have to contact him and find out
Click to expand...

Here is your problem, you are using the hardest primers, CCI, and you have a trigger kit. Try Federal primers and I bet your misfire problem goes away.

I have never had a missfire except where a primer was installed upside down...
 

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