I’ve recently been through about 2000 Win. small pistol primers and have had lots (3-5/100 - I consider that a lot) of what appear to be light primer strikes and FTF. A second hit will do the trick, but I’ve never had this problem before. This is happening across multiple gun makes, models, and shooters. Anybody else seeing issues lately or is it just me? Could it be small rifle primers that got into the mix? I don’t load any, but I could see how they might get mixed up at the factory.
This is a 9mm 147gr RN over 4.0gr of HP38 at 1.15" if it matters.
Standard Small pistol and Rifle primers are sometimes the same thing.
I usually just use Small Rifle primers for pistol so I don’t have to carry two different kinds.
So yeah… Probably just thicker cup primers. I’d just switch brands.
Wolf has been giving me the same troubles in my G17.
Used to be that WOLF was the primo primer in small rifle… They’re still good, but the cups on the pistols are too thick or hard now, and the SRMs don’t light H335 reliably.
WIN primers are always a good product across the board. I’ve used them in Large Rifle, Small Rifle, Large Pistol, and Small pistol. Never a problem with any of them.
I guess I won’t rule out a seating issue, but I don’t know why it’s happening all of a sudden. Primers look good, headstamps are different, and it’s the same 650 I’ve been using for years. I’ll take any ideas you guys can give me. Maybe I can get a process of elimination going.
I used several thousand Wolf small -rifle- primers for practice handgun ammunition. The pistols need to have robust ignition systems in order to avoid light strikes with Wolf SRP but the failure rate (won’t go off no matter what) was slightly less frequent than 1 per 1000; nowhere near as reliable as Winchester small pistol primers, in my experience.
The pistols that could handle the Wolf primers without changing things?
Kahr K-9
S&W M&P (new production)
Springfield XD
Beretta 92
Walther P-38 (post-war)
S&W 686
S&W 649
Ruger GP-100
Glock 17 (Gen 1)
Browning High-Power
We tried a SIG P226 but it was iffy
We also tried a CZ SP-01 but it needed a longer firing pin to guarantee 100% ignition.
Since I use Winchester small pistol primers (which are yellow brass), I use Federal small rifle or CCI small rifle because they work and are nickle (not yellow). The Wolf, I bought when I desperately needed primers, happened to be copper colored (can’t be confused with either).
No matter what, primers need to be well seated or you will be disappointed.
Have to say Wolf has been a great, then a big disappointment when they went from the amber/orange color primer to the silver like primer.
In an open bolt Uzi, all works well, but “light” primer strikes seem to really piss me off in all pistols - from Glocks to Berettas. Great “Tap/Rack/Bang” practice or “Tap/Rack/Tap/Rack/Tap/Rack/Tap/Rack/Bang”
I made a lot of a K and that is designated “subgun” now. Hate to think Winchester has gone the same route. Hope it is seating. I am going back to CCI personally.
I’ve gone through 25K in Wolf SPP over the last year. No issues through either my Glocks, Spartan 9mm, EMP9 or PF9. I used alot for .40 prior as well.
There was a bad batch bad in 2009 that ran away as hysteria on the internet. Granted they have a slightly harder cup and need just a tad more pressure to seat. If you seat them properly, zero problems, all went bang. At $15.50 a K… I’ll continue to use them.
My lot is 2009 vintage, and I’m still working my way through my last case.
If I hand seat Wolf SP with the nickel cups and give them a good crush, I’ll get 1 out of 100 or so that won’t light on the first strike, with factory ignition systems in my pistols.
If I use my LNL, they’re a nightmare to get seated properly and I have to go back and seat them all by hand or I’ll get 1 in 6 that won’t light. The LNL doesn’t have a large amount of leverage available in priming like Dillon’s presses. They really gum up the works for me but it’s partly a press leverage issue.
They still have very hard cups and any pistol needs a robust ignition system to get them to light. I don’t think a slightly harder cup accurately describes them. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the hardest cup, I would rate Win SP a 4 and Wolf SP w/nickel cups a 9.
On the other hand, I still love Wolf (or Tula) in SR and SRM. They’re very mild and yield low velocities, yet are harder than standard CCI 400 SR primers and withstand higher pressure better. Unlike Markm, I haven’t had trouble getting them to light H335, at least not yet.
rifle primers are often a bit taller than small but from the charts I have seen, this is more seen on the large primer size
from a chart I found through Google:
small pistol primer height with CCI and Win – .119 .120
small rifle primer height with CCI and Win – .120 .122 (Win .117)
large pistol primer height with CCI and Win – .119 .120
large rifle primer height with CCI and Win – .125 .127 .128
Though the height dimensions are supposed to be the same for all primers, from what I have been able to find in “primer basic” type webpages. The spec so to speak.