Newbie with 550. Occasionally not priming

[joelh]

I have loaded about 500 rounds so far and am finding one or two times per 100 that I am not priming the cartridge. I try to look and see if a primer is in the holder, but I don't remember to look every time. Is this a technique problem on my part? It has happened with both small and large pistol primers.

[Arlin]

joelh:

Do you have a weight of some type on the plastic rod going down the primer tube? I have found putting a 1/2" nut on top of the plastic rod will insure feeding through the plastic tip on the primer tube. The other thing to look at is to see if the stroke on the primer feed is far enough back to allow the primer to drop.

Just my 2 cents

Arlin

[vinceislander]

As suggested by Arlin, try adding some weight on the plastic rod. I myself just added a .45 case to the end. Other things to try/verify:

1. Primer cup is at the right height(please refer to the manual for height range).

2. Clean the priming mechanism - You may need to disassemble.

3. Verify the primer cup isn't rubbing against the sides as it is moving under the primer magazine to accept a primer. - This was my issue - I just rotated the cup until it wasn't rubbing.

4. Inspect the primer magazine plastic tip make sure it isn't cracked - Another issue I ran into as a newbie.

5. Until I figured out #3 and #4, I would pull back on the primer back to ensure it was going all the way back and the primer dropped into the cup.

6. Full strokes - up and down.

Good luck.

[2MoreChains]

Usually when my primer bar fails to pick up a primer it means its time to clean the thing... I used to switch back and forth between .45acp and .40 a lot, which means I was switching primer bars. While it was a part I would clean it.

Now that I mainly shoot .40 and 9mm, I have to remind myself to disassemble and clean periodically. Brian, our host, has some tips for keeping the priming system operational, and it involves cleaning with one of those green brillo pads. I sometimes give the bar a quick spritz of Hornady One Shot.

If your press is new it may need a little more frequent cleaning until it 'breaks in'. I try to visually look at the primer cup to see if there is a primer in there, and most times I can feel when the primer seats on the forward press.

[joelh]

Thanks guys for the help. I will add a bit of weight to the follower rod, and clean the primer area this evening.

[dillon]

What caliber are you loading? On cases that don't have a primer, what is the headstamp? Do you make pushing the handle forward to seat the primer a separate effort, or is this part of you lifting the handle up? You might also cut up a small cloth patch, wet it with alcohol, and use the plastic follower rod to push it through the magazine tube several times to clean it.

[njl]

If the primer slide is empty (didn't pick up a primer from the magazine), you need to pay more attention and figure out if it's getting full travel and a primer just isn't dropping in from the magazine, or if it's binding in the magazine housing, not getting full travel, and therefore failing to get into position to have a primer drop into it. Only then can you work on fixing the actual problem.