Tula small pistol primers

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I bought some Tula small pistol primers at Riley's a while back. I started loading with them a couple weeks ago with mixed results. They work fine in my S&W 5906 and 6906. They work fine in my Beretta 92. I've had multiple FTF in my Keltec p-11 and my M&P9c. I ran a 50rd box through the M&P with about a dozen FTFs. I tried each one of them multiple times. I ended up with 3 that had 5 or more strikes on them from the M&P and each one then fired fine in the beretta. The primers were dented normally after the first try on each. I had 3 FTFs in the Keltec from 2 magazines (24 rounds) and each was retried in the keltec and then each worked fine in the 6906 first try. I know they are hard primers but I didn't expect that many problems. I've never had issues with CCI, Federal, or Winchester primers in either gun.


I was wondering if anyone else has tried the tula small pistol primers and if you've had similar experiences?

Both pistols were clean and lubed.
 
not me, but I have a bunch of those that I got at Riley. I never got around to load anything with them yet.

it's either too warm for them to work or they need an manly kick from the firing pin.
 
I haven't tried Tula but I had similar problems with Wolf (small pistol), especially in my M&P's. I bought a case of them when it was all I could find. I ordered, but I never got around to installing a stronger striker spring. They were harder to seat than CCI & WIN. I got in the habit of doing a second stroke seating the primer, it helped a little bit. I was very happy day when I finished loading & shooting my last few. I vow never to buy them again.
 
I do have them all seated right. I didn't have any problem getting them to seat. They fit as easy as Winchesters.

The Keltec never seemed to strike primers lightly before. At least it will allow double strikes unlike the M&P. I think I'm going to get a heavier spring for the M&P firing pin. I probably won't use Tula primers again. I'm glad I only bought 1000 and not a couple cases like I was tempted to do.
 
Good luck with their small rifle but not small pistol. Occasional misfires in my Sig 226 even on second strike. Glad I have used them all up. I prefer federal anyway
 
If they fire on the second strike you are lucky. After that you are wasting your time.
 
I purchased 5k tula primers a while back sp & Lp. So far 250 rounds of 9mm and no issues. Lp in my 45 plinker loads. No issues except they seem just a bit harder to seat with the current batch of 2nd fired brass compared to wolf and cci in same case.
 
I haven't tried Tula but I had similar problems with Wolf (small pistol), especially in my M&P's. I bought a case of them when it was all I could find. I ordered, but I never got around to installing a stronger striker spring. They were harder to seat than CCI & WIN. I got in the habit of doing a second stroke seating the primer, it helped a little bit. I was very happy day when I finished loading & shooting my last few. I vow never to buy them again.

Do not install a stronger striker spring in your M&P it will probably make the problem worse. I would first try a new recoil spring.
 
I have used a lot of Wolf and Tula primers (they come from the same source as does a lot of PMC) due to a lack of WW small pistol. I have found that they work fine in hammer fired guns with stock hammer springs. I used many thousands in my Para P 16 40 with very few failures. QC is another matter, it is not uncommon for the anvils to fall out of the primers. This was the source, I believe, of my ftfs with the Para.

Striker fired pistols like the M&P were another matter. I encountered about a 3% failure to ignite which I attribute to a lighter strike due to the design of the pistol. This problem was not encountered with Glocks, even those with heavily modified triggers. Again I think this is due to the design of the pistol.

My SIG P 226 with a custom trigger job (Bruce Gray) and a light (17 lb hammer spring) also had about a 3% failure rate. This is likely due to a lighter hammer strike.

All of the above pistols that experienced FTFs with Tulas have a perfect track record with WW small pistol primers. I think Tulas and their bretheren are OK for practice only.
 
say what?

Do not install a stronger striker spring in your M&P it will probably make the problem worse. I would first try a new recoil spring.

A new recoil spring is going to help his problem of primers not going off? He is having ignition problems, not feeding issues. A new striker spring will 'probably make the problem worse?' I am very interested in the physics behind this one, please explain. [rolleyes]
 
A new recoil spring is going to help his problem of primers not going off? He is having ignition problems, not feeding issues. A new striker spring will 'probably make the problem worse?' I am very interested in the physics behind this one, please explain. [rolleyes]

I speak from experience. I had ignition problems with my M&P and tried a heavier striker spring and the problem got worse. The cause of the problem was a lighter weight recoil spring which I had installed and the heavier striker spring only made the problem worse; replacing the stock springs cured the problem. A friend had ftfs with his well used M&P 9 and installed a heavier striker spring and, again, the problem got worse. Stock striker spring and a new recoil spring cured the problem.

This is due to the unique design of the M&P. It is basically a single action auto with a striker instead of a hammer. When the M&P slide goes into battery it must both feed the round into the chamber and cock the striker at the same time. This occurs when the recoil spring is almost completely extended and has little to offer to aid in this process.

A heavy striker spring can retard the slide as it goes into battery and actually prevent the slide from going completely into battery. When the next round is fired some of the striker's energy is wasted driving the slide completely into battery and very often there is not enough energy left to ignite the primer. A weak recoil spring will result in the same problem but in this case the weak recoil spring is the problem as it it is overcome by the stock striker spring. Reliable ignition in the M&P is the result of a balance betwen recoil and striker springs.

I have not encountered this problem in Glocks and I believe this is because the Glock design does not cock the striker, only pre load it. In this manner, the striker spring does not interfere with the slide's movement into battery.

My analysis of this problem may be faulty but is based completely on hand on experience.
 
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