Wolf Primers...they changed!

[D. Manley]

I shot some production, Tanfo, light springs, mashed the hell out of them to seat them and still had 4 out of 35 not light. I don't know what's going on here guys. I used some CCI and found the same issues and every one that doesn't seat right is a Win case. I can't find any anomalies in measurements either. As a last resort I broke out some old WSR I have been saving and loaded 15 of them and even gave them a light seat. They all were below flush.

Anyone have some Win SRP or SPP you want to trade for Wolf SPP?

From what I'm reading, the 550 is having issues with them, but not the 650 or 1050. I even put a shim under the primer bar spacer, still no joy.

I've about given up on the "why" the Wolfs are so hard to light...for whatever reason, they ARE and short of running a setup that hits 'em harder I don't see a solution. If I put any more pressure on them seating it's going to run the risk of damaging my press and it ain't worth that. Just to experiment a bit on the seating angle I may run a few cases through the Super Swage & bump them open a bit and see if it has any effect.

[Resjudicata]

I ran a little over 200 rounds through my 610 with a 7 pound trigger job today. All loaded with Wolf copper/gold small pistol primers loaded on a Lee Loadmaster and seated deep and slightly crushed.

This was also in mixed brass with almost every brand available in 40 S&W present.

I'm not bragging or anything I just really think it is a lack of seating the primers all the way that is causing everyone's problems. Maybe we all need to see what press everyone is loading on who is having a problem and maybe someone can come up with a fix that won't break the press and allows people to shoot.

Chris

[Supermoto]

I ran 200 of the new silver color SPP in my open gun with a Dawson extended firing pin. No issues. all the primers were seated flush or below. This was loading on a LEE Pro 1000

[Jman]

Lee Classic Turret Press. No issues with the Wolf SPP. Haven't tried the SR Magnums in my AR yet. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Jim

[D. Manley]

I ran a little over 200 rounds through my 610 with a 7 pound trigger job today. All loaded with Wolf copper/gold small pistol primers loaded on a Lee Loadmaster and seated deep and slightly crushed.

This was also in mixed brass with almost every brand available in 40 S&W present.

I'm not bragging or anything I just really think it is a lack of seating the primers all the way that is causing everyone's problems. Maybe we all need to see what press everyone is loading on who is having a problem and maybe someone can come up with a fix that won't break the press and allows people to shoot.

Chris

The primers you describe are not the primers most people are having problems with. They have changed the SPP, new ones are nickle plated and are without doubt, harder to light which is showing up in many guns running tuned triggers. There may be some issues with seating (I've had none) but this is not the root cause of the problem. I've seen reports showing up from people using every press you can imagine as well as hand priming.

[ap38]

I ran off 100 this morning. The nickel ones, just received from Wideners. Small sample, but no problems in mixed brass, some was Winchester as I did check for that.

No problems with ignition.

No high primers with a 550. I checked all the rounds. Did have to work to seat a few.

Stock STI Lexor, I think it is a 19 pound main spring, no change on the firing pin spring.

Good luck,

AP

[Rob Boudrie]

Had "223 small rifle primers"

Wideners has a nice writeup on the Wolf SRPs - there is regular; magnum and 223. The 223 has a harder cup than the regular SRP and is recommended for high pressure 223 loads. I ordered some of the SRP (regular) for use on 40 and super.

Assuming my order comes through, I'm either going to really happy or have some primers for sale in a couple of weeks

[truckmsl]

I've been using the gold colored wolf spp on my square deal without any problems other than they tended to seat obviosly high at times, which I learned to look for. The new silver wolf spp actually seemed to seat better and I found far fewer high primers than with the gold colored ones. Shot 150 of the new silver wolf yesterday and had about 10 or 15 fail to fire. All but one fired on the second try. Gun is a stock glock 23. Every one was inspected for below flush seating prior to firing. I've never had this trouble with CCI. For what wolf is charging now, they'll be DOA when CCI or others come back on line. The only reason for buying wolf was cost and availability - I'll never use them again if I have a choice.

[ks-shooter]

I've been using the gold colored wolf spp on my square deal without any problems other than they tended to seat obviosly high at times, which I learned to look for. The new silver wolf spp actually seemed to seat better and I found far fewer high primers than with the gold colored ones. Shot 150 of the new silver wolf yesterday and had about 10 or 15 fail to fire. All but one fired on the second try. Gun is a stock glock 23. Every one was inspected for below flush seating prior to firing. I've never had this trouble with CCI. For what wolf is charging now, they'll be DOA when CCI or others come back on line. The only reason for buying wolf was cost and availability - I'll never use them again if I have a choice.

Welcome to my world.........unfortunately! I truly thought that any stock gun would fire them. I loaded all Federal for Nationals! They seat and fire very nicely Now, all I have to do is hit the targets.....quickly

[D. Manley]

I've been using the gold colored wolf spp on my square deal without any problems other than they tended to seat obviosly high at times, which I learned to look for. The new silver wolf spp actually seemed to seat better and I found far fewer high primers than with the gold colored ones. Shot 150 of the new silver wolf yesterday and had about 10 or 15 fail to fire. All but one fired on the second try. Gun is a stock glock 23. Every one was inspected for below flush seating prior to firing. I've never had this trouble with CCI. For what wolf is charging now, they'll be DOA when CCI or others come back on line. The only reason for buying wolf was cost and availability - I'll never use them again if I have a choice.

Welcome to my world.........unfortunately! I truly thought that any stock gun would fire them. I loaded all Federal for Nationals! They seat and fire very nicely Now, all I have to do is hit the targets.....quickly

I put together another firing pin assembly for my G-34 that put a little more "whap" on them. The last batch running that setup all lit off just fine although, the trigger obviously isn't nearly as nice as the previous one. Even when seated perfectly they are just harder to light whether it's the cup or the compound. I think I've now got the solution to run them reliably but when they're gone, they're gone for me. I am surprised of the problems in a stock gun.

[ks-shooter]

when they're gone, they're gone for me.

Ditto!

[truckmsl]

Looks like wolf shot themselves in the foot on this one - hope the primer fires.

[Rob Boudrie]

I did my initial loads with NCSR Wolfs (Small Rifle primers - the standard copper colored ones) and they passed my initial testing with flying colors. No problems seating, no visual defects, looked really nice once loaded, every round went bang, 15fps faster that WSP in 40S&W with Titegroup, however, my chrono sample size was to small to know if that is statistically significant ... but there is obviously enough flame to get good ignition).

Rounds in super behind HS6 showed similarly good results, but I don't have comparative chrono info.

I'm reserving final judgement until I have a couple of K down the tube, and I'm keeping the receipt just in case since www.wolfammo.com states.

WOLF is the only ammunition company that provides a 100% Performance Guarantee. If you are not fully satisfied, WOLF will refund your money on the unused portion of the ammunition, including and freight charges.

The way it's looking, I don't expect to make a claim on that guarantee.

[Jman]

Loaded and fired my first Wolf Small Rifle Mag primers yesterday. New copper colored ones from Widener's. All went bang in my AR.

Jim

[Tokarev]

Call WOLF at 888-757-WOLF and tell them you're having problems. My bet is they'll swap out your remaining primers for a different lot if you wish.

WOLF is the only ammunition company that provides a 100% Performance Guarantee. If you are not fully satisfied, WOLF will refund your money on the unused portion of the ammunition, including and freight charges.

[Rob Boudrie]

You could always give their chief engineer Vladimir N. Khovanskov a call if you speak Russian

http://flame.murom.ru

http://flame.murom.ru/en/default.htm

The problem with cashing in on their guarantee is that (a) it does not explicitly state primers, and (b ) you cannot ship HazMat without a UPS hazmat contract so there is no practical way to get the primers back to them.

Please report back to this thread on what kind of help you get from Wolf.

[Tokarev]

You could always give their chief engineer Vladimir N. Khovanskov a call if you speak Russian

http://flame.murom.ru

http://flame.murom.ru/en/default.htm

The problem with cashing in on their guarantee is that (a) it does not explicitly state primers, and (b ) you cannot ship HazMat without a UPS hazmat contract so there is no practical way to get the primers back to them.

Please report back to this thread on what kind of help you get from Wolf.

Give them a call just the same. What have you got to lose?

[rickn54]

I have fired a couple thousand of the new Wolf SP primers with no problem. Loaded with Dillon 650, fired in STI Edge 40, STI Steelmaster 9mm both with stock triggers, springs etc.

[SA Friday]

I loaded up 25 of the new Wolf SPP's and tested them in my G-17 with a Sotelo trigger kit and Wolfe competition spring kit (4lb striker spring), OEM striker. All primers went bang, and they loaded in various brass manufacturers just fine. 25 is a small sample group, I know. I'll repost if anything else crops up in future loads with these primers. I kinda doubt it though from what I saw from the initial testing.

[MoNsTeR]

I shot another 100 rounds in my Vanek G34 with no failures, so that's 1 failure out of 200. That makes me feel a little better about having bought 20,000 of them but time will tell.

[D. Manley]

I loaded up 25 of the new Wolf SPP's and tested them in my G-17 with a Sotelo trigger kit and Wolfe competition spring kit (4lb striker spring), OEM striker. All primers went bang, and they loaded in various brass manufacturers just fine. 25 is a small sample group, I know. I'll repost if anything else crops up in future loads with these primers. I kinda doubt it though from what I saw from the initial testing.

Sidetracking the thread a bit but still close to topic...

I'm curious about your setup running the RPFPS on a stock OEM striker. I'd have thought the extra FP weight would be a negative for good primer hits using the 4 LB spring but, maybe not. Have you ran this setup very long?

[SA Friday]

I loaded up 25 of the new Wolf SPP's and tested them in my G-17 with a Sotelo trigger kit and Wolfe competition spring kit (4lb striker spring), OEM striker. All primers went bang, and they loaded in various brass manufacturers just fine. 25 is a small sample group, I know. I'll repost if anything else crops up in future loads with these primers. I kinda doubt it though from what I saw from the initial testing.

Sidetracking the thread a bit but still close to topic...

I'm curious about your setup running the RPFPS on a stock OEM striker. I'd have thought the extra FP weight would be a negative for good primer hits using the 4 LB spring but, maybe not. Have you ran this setup very long?

The Sotelo trigger kit comes with the Wolfe competition spring kit. I've ran two of these kits on my production guns, g17 and g34, for about 4 years now. Definately long enough that I've changed the springs in each gun at least twice. If it doesn't light off a primer, it was military, a CCI, or my fault during reloading. Opinions do vary about this, and many are running lighter strikers. I haven't ran into the need.

[D. Manley]

I loaded up 25 of the new Wolf SPP's and tested them in my G-17 with a Sotelo trigger kit and Wolfe competition spring kit (4lb striker spring), OEM striker. All primers went bang, and they loaded in various brass manufacturers just fine. 25 is a small sample group, I know. I'll repost if anything else crops up in future loads with these primers. I kinda doubt it though from what I saw from the initial testing.

Sidetracking the thread a bit but still close to topic...

I'm curious about your setup running the RPFPS on a stock OEM striker. I'd have thought the extra FP weight would be a negative for good primer hits using the 4 LB spring but, maybe not. Have you ran this setup very long?

The Sotelo trigger kit comes with the Wolfe competition spring kit. I've ran two of these kits on my production guns, g17 and g34, for about 4 years now. Definately long enough that I've changed the springs in each gun at least twice. If it doesn't light off a primer, it was military, a CCI, or my fault during reloading. Opinions do vary about this, and many are running lighter strikers. I haven't ran into the need.

Thanks, interesting tidbit and dutifully noted. I have one of Ralph's kits although I no longer use it but that should have no impact either way. I'd just not ran across anybody using the stock OEM firing pins with the lighter springs before. I would not have expected the 4 LB Wolff to give the heavier FP the inertia needed for reliable ignition but never too old to learn something. Good to know since I've got a box full of 'em. Thanks.

Edited September 4, 2009 by D. Manley

[JimmyZip]

I ran through about 400 rounds of .40 and all the wolf SP primers went bang without a hitch. So far I have loaded about 1K of them and only had one high primer. They are a tad tougher to seat, but not much more than CCIs were. I will be happy when I can get a hold of primers on a regular basis. I have been buying what I can when I can.

So, again, Wolf SP primers, good in my TS.

JZ

[Mistral404]

I shot Wolf primers in my production gun. Worked fine. Seated great. I might have had 1 bad seating of the primer in the whole bunch. I can not say if it was the primer or the jackass running the press. I suspect it was the latter.