blairmckenzie1 Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 (edited) I had a 3 gun match this weekend and had all kinds of problems with my .223 reloads. I though part of the problem was with my gas block, it wasn't lined up very well. Got that fixed between stages. I noticed that the rifle seemed to have a delay between when i pulled the trigger and when the rifle went off. About every 3rd round on one stage wouldn't go bang at all. I picked up quite a few of the rounds that wouldn't work and pulled them down to inspect them. All rounds had good solid hits on the primer and only one seemed to be seated a little high. The part that I really noticed was that some of the powder was clumped up, hardened and slightly yellowed. Has anyone seen this before? Know what it comes from?? The load: 55 gr FMJ 25 gr H335 New LC brass Wolf small rifle primers The rifle: Daniels defense upper chip mccormick drop in trigger Any help would be greatly appriciated! I have pictures but they wont upload for some reason.... Edited April 4, 2012 by blairmckenzie1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DyNo! Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 Are you familiar with proper headspacing? Do you own a headspace gage of some sort? If no, let me know and I'll advise you further. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blairmckenzie1 Posted April 4, 2012 Author Share Posted April 4, 2012 (edited) Are you familiar with proper headspacing? Do you own a headspace gage of some sort? If no, let me know and I'll advise you further. Ya, I'm familiar with headspace. I dont have a case gauge. The rounds never had a problem chambering. This is the first time I've had any problems and I havent changed my die setup except for the seating depth. I really wish I could get the photos I took to attach. Edited April 4, 2012 by blairmckenzie1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blairmckenzie1 Posted April 4, 2012 Author Share Posted April 4, 2012 Cant get pictures to load so I'll try a video. http://youtu.be/BS76E1RX4XQ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DyNo! Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 (edited) Has your ammunition been exposed to moisture? Sounds like you've got contaminated powder. Are you familiar with proper headspacing? Do you own a headspace gage of some sort? If no, let me know and I'll advise you further. Ya, I'm familiar with headspace. I dont have a case gauge. The rounds never had a problem chambering. This is the first time I've had any problems and I havent changed my die setup except for the seating depth. I really wish I could get the photos I took to attach. If you don't have a way to measure headspace - how do you know that the shoulder of your brass hasn't been pushed far enough back or too far? The headspace of your brass can change even if your die remains at the same setting. Changing the viscosity of your lubricant or even your headstamp can push you over the edge if you're already on the verge of no-go. You're loading blind without a headspace gage. Edited April 4, 2012 by DyNo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blairmckenzie1 Posted April 4, 2012 Author Share Posted April 4, 2012 I keep all my powder in a closet in the house and the loaded rounds are all in plastic flip top boxes under the loading bench. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joelogic Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 If the primers are seated high maybe you didnt remove enough of the crimp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dillon Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 The clumping of the powder is an indication of primer flash temperature too low to ignite the powder. Did you perchance tumble your brass after depriming, or use an ultrasonic cleaner? A flash hole blocked with cleaning media or wet on the inside can do this. Bad primers are another possibility, did you recently change to this lot of primers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blairmckenzie1 Posted April 5, 2012 Author Share Posted April 5, 2012 The clumping of the powder is an indication of primer flash temperature too low to ignite the powder. Did you perchance tumble your brass after depriming, or use an ultrasonic cleaner? A flash hole blocked with cleaning media or wet on the inside can do this. Bad primers are another possibility, did you recently change to this lot of primers? I think you may be on to something with the tumbling media. Another friend said it sounded like either bad primers or contaminated primers. I guess I'll have to use these ones for practice and load up some fresh ones for the next match. Thanks for the help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diversmith Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 What is the actual part number of the small rifle primers? If they are not the 556M primers, you could be experiencing what others have said to be problematic. 223 & the 223M primers are reported to have issues with H335 but the 556M primers are said to work fine with H335 Let us know which exact primers you are using Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mscott Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 Dump the Wolf primers. I had the same problem with hangfires in rifle ammo. I did a little searching the web and found others with the same problem. The first batches of Wolf a few years ago were fine, but the new stuff really is junk from what I'm seeing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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