The U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) has published a great series of reloading “how-to” articles on its Facebook Page. This post covers key factors to consider when loading ammunition for Match Rifles and Service Rifles, with a particular focus on self-loading “gas guns”. Visit the USAMU Facebook Page regularly for other, helpful reloading and marksmanship tips.
We offer some “cardinal rules” to help new gas-gun handloaders with safety and efficiency. These address both Match Rifle and Service Rifle versions of the AR15, M1 Garand, M1A, and M110. However, they can also improve safe reloading for many other auto-loaders such as M1 Carbines, FALs, SIGs, etc. The author distilled these principles many years ago to help focus on the essential aspects of these rifles.
RULE ONE: Service Rifles Are Not Benchrest Rifles
Gas-guns require a relatively loose fit between ammunition and chamber (vs. bolt actions) for safe, smooth operation. Many techniques, such as neck sizing and keeping cartridge headspace quite tight, are popular in the extreme bolt gun accuracy realm. However, they are of little value with Service Rifles, and some could even be hazardous. Before adopting a specialized technique, seriously consider whether it is appropriate and beneficial in a gas-gun.
RULE TWO: Never Compromise Safety to Obtain Accuracy
Example: If choosing a brand of great, but ultra-sensitive match primers offers possibly better accuracy at the risk of slam-fires in your design of rifle, don’t do it! You are issued exactly two eyes and ten fingers (best-case scenario). Risking them trying to squeeze 0.25 MOA better accuracy out of an M1A, etc. simply isn’t worth it.
RULE THREE: Tailor the Precision to Your Individual Skill and Your Rifle’s Potential
This has been addressed here before, but bears repeating for newcomers. If you are struggling to break out of the Marksman Class, or using a CMP M1 “As-Issued,” then laboriously turning the necks of your 600-yard brass is a waste of time. Your scores will improve much faster by practicing or dry-firing. On the other hand, if the reigning champions anxiously check your scores each time you fire an event, a little neck-turning might not be so far-fetched.
Verifying Load Improvements — Accuracy hand-loading involves a wide variety of techniques, ranging from basic to rather precise. Carefully select those which offer a good return on investment for your time and labor. In doubt? Do a classic pilot study. Prepare ammo for at least three or four ten-shot groups with your new technique, vs. the same with your standard ammo. Then, pick a calm day and test the ammo as carefully as possible at its full distance (e.g. 200, 300, or 600 yards) to verify a significant improvement. A little testing can save much labor!
This video explains the procedure for ordering an M1 Garand from the CMP.
RULE FOUR: Be Your Own Efficiency Expert
Serious Service Rifle shooters generally think of ammunition in terms of thousands of rounds, not “boxes”, or even “hundreds”. Analyze, and WRITE DOWN each step in your reloading process. Count the number of times each case is handled. Then, see if any operations can be dropped or changed without reducing safety or accuracy. Eliminating just two operations saves 2000 steps per 1000 rounds loaded. Conversely, carefully consider any measurable benefits before adding a step to your routine.
RULE FIVE: In Searching for Greater Accuracy with Efficiency, Look for System Changes
For example, instead of marking your 300-yard rounds individually to differentiate them from your 200-yard ammo, would a simple change in primers work? If accuracy is maintained, using brass-colored primers for 200 and silver for 300 provides an indelible indicator and eliminates a step! Similarly, rather than spending hours selecting GI surplus brass for weight and neck uniformity, consider splurging on some known, high-quality imported match brass for your 600-yard loads. Results should be excellent, time is saved, and given limited shooting at 600 yards, brass life should be long.
RULE SIX: Check All Your Primers Before Packaging Your Loaded Ammo
This seems simple and even intuitive. However, many slam-fires (which were much more common when M1s and M1As were the standard) are due, at least in part, to “high” primers. Primers should be seated below flush with the case head. The USAMU has addressed this at length in a previous column, but each round should be checked for properly-seated primers before they are packaged for use.
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Vista Outdoor has announced that it will be raising prices on ammunition, primers, and powder starting January 1, 2024. Last week, the Minnesota-based company sent a letter to commercial customers revealing across-the-board cost increases for ammunition, primers, and powder starting the first of the year. The price increases will range from one percent to ten percent, with projected 5% price hikes for primers. CCI/Federal/Remington .22 LR rimfire ammo will rise 1-5% while rifle ammo goes up 1-7%.
“Due to world events our suppliers have notified us of unprecedented demand for and an anticipated global shortage of gunpowder, and thus has increased our prices substantially,” Vice President of Sales, Sporting Products Brett Nelson said in the letter. “We must therefore raise our pricing to help offset those increases.”
Vista Outdoor Sporting Group entities that will increase prices include Alliant Powder, CCI, Federal, Remington, Speer, and HEVI-Shot. The projected increases are shown at right.
Here’a useful article by Sierra Bullets Media Relations Manager Carroll Pilant. This story, which originally appeared in the Sierra Bullets Blog, covers some of the more common ammo problems that afflict hand-loaders. Some of those issues are: excessive OAL, high primers, and improperly-sized cases. Here Mr. Pilant explains how to avoid these common problems that lead to “headaches at the range.
I had some gentlemen at my house last fall getting rifle zeros for an upcoming elk hunt. One was using one of the .300 short mags and every 3rd or 4th round would not chamber. Examination of the case showed a bulge right at the body/shoulder junction. These were new cases he had loaded for this trip. The seating die had been screwed down until it just touched the shoulder and then backed up just slightly. Some of the cases were apparently slightly longer from the base to the datum line and the shoulder was hitting inside the seating die and putting the bulge on the shoulder. I got to thinking about all the gun malfunctions that I see each week at matches and the biggest percentage stem from improper handloading techniques.
One: Check Your Cases with a Chamber Gage
Since I shoot a lot of 3-gun matches, I see a lot of AR problems which result in the shooter banging the butt stock on the ground or nearest solid object while pulling on the charging handle at the same time. I like my rifles too well to treat them that way (I cringe every time I see someone doing that). When I ask them if they ran the ammo through a chamber gage, I usually get the answer, “No, but I need to get one” or “I didn’t have time to do it” or other excuses. The few minutes it takes to check your ammo can mean the difference between a nightmare and a smooth running firearm.
A Chamber Gauge Quickly Reveals Long or Short Cases
Size Your Cases Properly
Another problem is caused sizing the case itself. If you will lube the inside of the neck, the expander ball will come out a lot easier. If you hear a squeak as the expander ball comes out of a case neck, that expander ball is trying to pull the case neck/shoulder up (sometimes several thousandths). That is enough that if you don’t put a bulge on the shoulder when seating the bullet … it can still jam into the chamber like a big cork. If the rifle is set up correctly, the gun will not go into battery and won’t fire but the round is jammed into the chamber where it won’t extract and they are back to banging it on the ground again (with a loaded round stuck in the chamber). A chamber gage would have caught this also.
Oversizing cases also causes problems because the firing pin doesn’t have the length to reach the primer solid enough to ignite it 100% of the time. When you have one that is oversized, you usually have a bunch, since you usually do several cases at a time on that die setting. If the die isn’t readjusted, the problem will continue on the next batch of cases also. They will either not fire at all or you will have a lot of misfires. In a bolt action, a lot of time the extractor will hold the case against the face of the breech enough that it will fire. The case gets driven forward and the thinner part of the brass expands, holding to the chamber wall and the thicker part of the case doesn’t expand as much and stretches back to the bolt face. If it doesn’t separate that time, it will the next time. When it does separate, it leaves the front portion of the case in the chamber and pulls the case head off. Then when it tries to chamber the next round, you have a nasty jam. Quite often range brass is the culprit of this because you never know how many times it has been fired/sized and in what firearm. Back to beating it on the ground again till you figure out that you have to get the forward part of the case out.
Just a quick tip — To extract the partial case, an oversized brush on a cleaning rod [inserted] and then pulled backward will often remove the case. The bristles when pushed forward and then pulled back act like barbs inside the case. If you have a bunch of oversized case that have been fired, I would dispose of them to keep from having future problems. There are a few tricks you can use to salvage them if they haven’t been fired though. Once again, a case gage would have helped.
Two: Double Check Your Primers
Another thing I see fairly often is a high primer, backwards primer, or no primer at all. The high primers are bad because you can have either a slam fire or a misfire from the firing pin seating the primer but using up its energy doing so. So, as a precaution to make sure my rifle ammo will work 100% of the time, I check it in a case gage, then put it in an ammo box with the primer up and when the box is full, I run my finger across all the primers to make sure they are all seated to the correct depth and you can visually check to make sure none are in backwards or missing.
Three: Check Your Overall Cartridge Length
Trying to load the ammo as long as possible can cause problems also. Be sure to leave yourself enough clearance between the tip of the bullet and the front of the magazine where the rounds will feed up 100%. Several times over the years, I have heard of hunters getting their rifle ready for a hunt. When they would go to the range to sight in, they loaded each round single shot without putting any ammo in the magazine. On getting to elk or deer camp, they find out the ammo is to long to fit in the magazine. At least they have a single shot, it could be worse. I have had hunters that their buddies loaded the ammo for them and then met them in hunting camp only to find out the ammo wouldn’t chamber from either the bullet seated to long or the case sized improperly, then they just have a club.
Four: Confirm All Cases Contain Powder
No powder in the case doesn’t seem to happen as much in rifle cartridges as in handgun cartridges. This is probably due to more handgun ammo being loaded on progressive presses and usually in larger quantities. There are probably more rifle cartridges that don’t have powder in them than you realize though. Since the pistol case is so much smaller internal capacity, when you try to fire it without powder, it usually dislodges the bullet just enough to stick in the barrel. On a rifle, you have more internal capacity and usually a better grip on the bullet, since it is smaller diameter and longer bearing surface. Like on a .223, often a case without powder won’t dislodge the bullet out of the case and just gets ejected from the rifle, thinking it was a bad primer or some little quirk.
For rifle cases loaded on a single stage press, I put them in a reloading block and always dump my powder in a certain order. Then I do a visual inspection and any case that the powder doesn’t look the same level as the rest, I pull it and the one I charged before and the one I charged after it. I inspect the one case to see if there is anything visual inside. Then I recharge all 3 cases. That way if a case had powder hang up and dump in the next case, you have corrected the problem.
On progressive presses, I try to use a powder that fills the case up to about the base of the bullet. That way you can usually see the powder as the shell rotates and if you might have dumped a partial or double charge, you will notice as you start to seat the bullet if not before. On a progressive, if I don’t load a cartridge in one smooth stroke (say a bullet tipped over sideways and I raised the ram slightly to reset it) Some presses actually back the charge back adding more powder if it has already dumped some so you have a full charge plus a partial charge. When I don’t complete the procedure with one stroke, I pull the case that just had powder dumped into it and check the powder charge or just dump the powder back into the measure and run the case through later.
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The ammunition and reloading component producing divisions of Vista Outdoor will become a new separate company under the name “The Kenetic Group” with NYSE ticker symbol “HUNT”. The Kinetic Group enterprise will make and sell CCI, Federal, Remington (ammunition), Speer, and Hevi-Shot products. The establishment of The Kinetic Group will follow the planned spin-off of Vista Outdoor’s Outdoor Products operations. The Kinetic Group will continue Vista Outdoor’s Sporting Products sales and manufacturing.
Vista Outdoor Inc. (NYSE: VSTO), the parent company of 41 brands that design, manufacture and market sporting and outdoor lifestyle products worldwide, has announced its new name and identity that will be effective following the planned spinoff of Vista Outdoor’s Outdoor Products business.
“The Kinetic Group will be our name moving forward after the separation…” stated Sporting Products President and CEO Jason Vanderbrink. “To hunters and shooters, their favorite brand of ammunition will take center stage as it always has — they’ll look for CCI, Federal, HEVI-Shot, Remington, and Speer on the shelf, at events and online.”
Vista Outdoor will become The Kinetic Group, a name that represents the energy behind the company and its leading ammunition brands. The Kinetic Group will trade on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSO) under the stock ticker “HUNT”, and the brand will feature a North American ram logo. Sporting Products leaders unveiled The Kinetic Group’s branding this week at the CCI-Speer ammunition factory in Lewiston, Idaho.
“The performance of our products is so often measured in energy on target. Kinetic energy is the force behind our world-class brands and exhibits the spirit of the 4,500 American workers who represent our company,” said Vanderbrink, who will be a director on The Kinetic Group’s board of directors post-spin. Joining Vanderbrink on The Kinetic Group’s leadership team are Andy Keegan (CFO) and Jeff Ehrich (General Counsel and Corporate Secretary). Gary McArthur will continue as interim CEO of Vista Outdoor until the completion of the spinoff.
On the new TheKineticGroup.com website, the company explained its company mission:
“Energy is what propels us and inspires us. It defines our products, drives our purpose, and champions our freedoms. Our brands and products give us the ability to unlock freedom, harvest game, protect us, and unite us. Our thirst and our passion to capture and build upon this energy is never extinguished. We are America’s ammunition. We are The Kinetic Group.”
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Do you know how gun primers are made — how the explosive elements are applied into those tiny cups? Find out by watching this video filmed at a Federal ammunition factory. It starts out with empty primer cups loaded, 1000 at a time, into trays using vibration (0:05 time-mark). While much of the process is automated, there is still a significant role played by production workers who apply a green, paste-like charging compound to the inside of hundreds of primer cups.
At the 0:17-second time-mark you can see the factory worker “charging” the primers with the priming compound. After the cups are filled, then the plate of cups “mates up with a plate of anvils” (0:40 time-mark). Then the primers are unloaded from trays and inspected.
Primer “Mysteries and Misconceptions” Article
There is an excellent article about primers on the Shooting Times website. This authoritative Shooting Times article explains the fine points of primer design and construction. The author reveals some little-known facts about primers and corrects common misconceptions. Here are some highlights:
Size Matters
Useful Trivia — even though Small Rifle and Small Pistol primer pockets share the same depth specification, Large Rifle and Large Pistol primers do not. The standard pocket for a Large Pistol primer is somewhat shallower than its Large Rifle counterpart, specifically, 0.008 to 0.009 inch less.
Magnum Primers
There are two ways to make a Magnum primer — either use more of the standard chemical mix to provide a longer-burning flame or change the mix to one with more aggressive burn characteristics. Prior to 1989, CCI used the first option in Magnum Rifle primers. After that, we switched to a mix optimized for spherical propellants that produced a 24% increase in flame temperature and a 16% boost in gas volume.
Foiled Again
Most component primers have a little disk of paper between the anvil and the priming mix. It is called “foil paper” not because it’s made of foil but because it replaces the true metal foil used to seal early percussion caps. The reason this little disk exists is strictly a manufacturing convenience. Wet primer pellets are smaller than the inside diameter of the cup when inserted and must be compacted to achieve their proper diameter and height. Without the foil paper, the wet mix would stick to the compaction pins and jam up the assembly process.
At the request of our readers, we provide select “Deals of the Week”. Every Sunday afternoon or Monday morning we offer our Best Bargain selections. Here are some of the best deals on firearms, hardware, reloading components, optics, and shooting accessories. Be aware that sale prices are subject to change, and once clearance inventory is sold, it’s gone for good. You snooze you lose.
NOTE: All listed products are for sale to persons 18 years of age or older. No products are intended for use by minors.
1. Midsouth — Primers in stock $80-$100 per thousand
⏺ Finally primer prices are dropping — Aguila primers are 8 cents each
Quality primers are remain in short supply, and some vendors are still charging crazy-high prices. Thankfully, Midsouth has primers in stock at attractive prices. For example, the Aguila Small Pistol Primers are $79.99/1000 while CCI #400 Small Rifle Primers are $94.99/1000.
2. Sportsman’s Warehouse — Father’s Day Sale through 6/18/23
⏺ Sale through June 18 — deal on guns, optics, gear
The Sportsman’s Warehouse Father’s Day Sale continues through June 18, 2023. Save on all your hunting and target shooting needs over at Sportsman’s Warehouse during the Father’s Day sale. With big discounts on optics, rifles, pistols, ammo, gun safes, and shooting gear, you’ll find plenty of bargains for both yourself and your father. And here’s an amazing deal — with the purchase of a large Liberty safe you can get a free rifle or shotgun!
3. Grafs.com — Frankford Arsenal F-1 Press, $122.99
⏺ Versatile press, good primer exit, plus built-in light
Here’s a handy, single-stage press with some cool features. The new Frankford Arsenal F-1 press has an open front for easy case placement, plus a built-in LED lamp at the top (great for inspecting cases). And after decapping, spent primers go straight down a tube into a handy, clear, twist-off catch cylinder (as on a Forster Co-Ax). We think this would be an excellent secondary press used for decapping or bullet seating. This intro price — just $122.99 at Graf & Sons — is a great deal. NOTE: This press does NOT have priming capability — you must prime cases with a separate tool. Also, the power cord for the LED light is NOT included. For more details see Frankford Arsenal F-1 Press Review. NOTE: If this sells out, the F-1 Press is available from Midsouth for $128.99.
⏺ Excellent powder scale/dispenser with advanced features — $100 savings
The latest-generation RCBS ChargeMaster Supreme is one of the best powder scale/dispensers you can buy. This unit has good accuracy and can use an external battery pack for loading at the range. This new-model ChargeMaster Supreme works with the FREE RCBS Reloading APP and has 50 memory tags for your favorite loads. Save $100 now with RCBS Instant Savings.
5. KYGUNCO — Father’s Day Sports Afield SAFE Sale, Save 47%
⏺ HUGE Savings on large capacity safes
All serious shooters should have a full-sized sturdy gun safe that can hold a collection of long guns and handguns. If you need a new gun safe, KYGUNCO is running a great Father’s day sale on Sports Afield Gun Safes. You can save $617 on the big 40″-wide 64-gun safe, or save $566 on the 35″-wide 56-gun safe. These are great prices on good fire-rated safes.
6. MidwayUSA — AR-Stoner Uppers — $99-$299
⏺ Get a complete AR Upper for the price of a good barrel
Have an AR project? Right now MidwayUSA is offering great deals on AR-Stoner Uppers. There are over a dozen options, with both stainless and nitride-coated barrels, and either conventional or side-charging models. Along with .223 Remington (Wylde) there are 6.5 Grendel and 450 Bushmaster options. Our first choice would be the .223 Rem side-charging model with 18″ stainless barrel, now on sale for just $249.99, a $100.00 discount. All barrels are fitted with muzzle brakes. If you already have an AR barrel, check out the stripped billet Upper with 15″ M-LOK Handguard for just $99.99, a 41% savings.
7. Midsouth — Primed Brass (Hornady) from $45/100
⏺ Save money by buying brass already primed
Tired of paying too much for primers? Well Midsouth is running a sale on primed brass. Available cartridge types are: .220 Swift, .250 Savage, 6.5 Creedmoor, 6.8 SPC, .280 Ackley, 30-40 Krag, .303 British, .35 Whelen, and .357 Magnum. NOTE: Based on the photos, all this primed brass comes from Hornady. There are some very good deals. For example, the 6.5 Creedmoor and 6.8 SPC primed brass (Hornady) are botg just $69.99 per hundred (70 cents each). And the .347 Mag primed pistol brass (also Hornady) is just $44.99 per hundred (45 cents each).
8. Amazon — Caldwell The Rock BR Rest, $132.99
⏺ Good basic rest for varmint work and sighting-in rifles
Right now the green-framed Caldwell Rests are deeply discounted on Amazon. If you’re looking for something you could use in competition as well as varminting, check out the Caldwell Rock BR at $132.99. The Rock BR model is stable and works well for varmint shooting. If you want something lighter and more basic, the Rock Deluxe at $88.19 is an decent value.
9. Amazon — Neiko Digital Calipers, $25.89
⏺ Very popular calipers — good for numerous reloading tasks
Even if you have a good set of calipers, you may want to get one of these Neiko 01407A Digital Calipers. A top-selling digital caliper on Amazon for many years, this Neiko tool features a large LCD Screen and measures up to 6.0 inches. With over 20,000 customer reviews, this product has earned an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars. It’s hard to go wrong for $25.89, even if you just use these as a spare set for measuring group sizes and case trim lengths.
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The U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) has published a great series of reloading “how-to” articles on its Facebook Page. This post covers key factors to consider when loading ammunition for Match Rifles and Service Rifles, with a particular focus on self-loading “gas guns”. Visit the USAMU Facebook Page regularly for other, helpful reloading and marksmanship tips.
We offer some “cardinal rules” to help new gas-gun handloaders with safety and efficiency. These address both Match Rifle and Service Rifle versions of the AR15, M1 Garand, M1A, and M110. However, they can also improve safe reloading for many other auto-loaders such as M1 Carbines, FALs, SIGs, etc. The author distilled these principles many years ago to help focus on the essential aspects of these rifles.
RULE ONE: Service Rifles Are Not Benchrest Rifles
Gas-guns require a relatively loose fit between ammunition and chamber (vs. bolt actions) for safe, smooth operation. Many techniques, such as neck sizing and keeping cartridge headspace quite tight, are popular in the extreme bolt gun accuracy realm. However, they are of little value with Service Rifles, and some could even be hazardous. Before adopting a specialized technique, seriously consider whether it is appropriate and beneficial in a gas-gun.
RULE TWO: Never Compromise Safety to Obtain Accuracy
Example: If choosing a brand of great, but ultra-sensitive match primers offers possibly better accuracy at the risk of slam-fires in your design of rifle, don’t do it! You are issued exactly two eyes and ten fingers (best-case scenario). Risking them trying to squeeze 0.25 MOA better accuracy out of an M1A, etc. simply isn’t worth it.
RULE THREE: Tailor the Precision to Your Individual Skill and Your Rifle’s Potential
This has been addressed here before, but bears repeating for newcomers. If you are struggling to break out of the Marksman Class, or using a CMP M1 “As-Issued,” then laboriously turning the necks of your 600-yard brass is a waste of time. Your scores will improve much faster by practicing or dry-firing. On the other hand, if the reigning champions anxiously check your scores each time you fire an event, a little neck-turning might not be so far-fetched.
Verifying Load Improvements — Accuracy hand-loading involves a wide variety of techniques, ranging from basic to rather precise. Carefully select those which offer a good return on investment for your time and labor. In doubt? Do a classic pilot study. Prepare ammo for at least three or four ten-shot groups with your new technique, vs. the same with your standard ammo. Then, pick a calm day and test the ammo as carefully as possible at its full distance (e.g. 200, 300, or 600 yards) to verify a significant improvement. A little testing can save much labor!
This video explains the procedure for ordering an M1 Garand from the CMP.
RULE FOUR: Be Your Own Efficiency Expert
Serious Service Rifle shooters generally think of ammunition in terms of thousands of rounds, not “boxes”, or even “hundreds”. Analyze, and WRITE DOWN each step in your reloading process. Count the number of times each case is handled. Then, see if any operations can be dropped or changed without reducing safety or accuracy. Eliminating just two operations saves 2000 steps per 1000 rounds loaded. Conversely, carefully consider any measurable benefits before adding a step to your routine.
RULE FIVE: In Searching for Greater Accuracy with Efficiency, Look for System Changes
For example, instead of marking your 300-yard rounds individually to differentiate them from your 200-yard ammo, would a simple change in primers work? If accuracy is maintained, using brass-colored primers for 200 and silver for 300 provides an indelible indicator and eliminates a step! Similarly, rather than spending hours selecting GI surplus brass for weight and neck uniformity, consider splurging on some known, high-quality imported match brass for your 600-yard loads. Results should be excellent, time is saved, and given limited shooting at 600 yards, brass life should be long.
RULE SIX: Check All Your Primers Before Packaging Your Loaded Ammo
This seems simple and even intuitive. However, many slam-fires (which were much more common when M1s and M1As were the standard) are due, at least in part, to “high” primers. Primers should be seated below flush with the case head. The USAMU has addressed this at length in a previous column, but each round should be checked for properly-seated primers before they are packaged for use.
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Here’a useful article by Sierra Bullets Media Relations Manager Carroll Pilant. This story, which originally appeared in the Sierra Bullets Blog, covers some of the more common ammo problems that afflict hand-loaders. Some of those issues are: excessive OAL, high primers, and improperly-sized cases. Here Mr. Pilant explains how to avoid these common problems that lead to “headaches at the range.
I had some gentlemen at my house last fall getting rifle zeros for an upcoming elk hunt. One was using one of the .300 short mags and every 3rd or 4th round would not chamber. Examination of the case showed a bulge right at the body/shoulder junction. These were new cases he had loaded for this trip. The seating die had been screwed down until it just touched the shoulder and then backed up just slightly. Some of the cases were apparently slightly longer from the base to the datum line and the shoulder was hitting inside the seating die and putting the bulge on the shoulder. I got to thinking about all the gun malfunctions that I see each week at matches and the biggest percentage stem from improper handloading techniques.
One: Check Your Cases with a Chamber Gage
Since I shoot a lot of 3-gun matches, I see a lot of AR problems which result in the shooter banging the butt stock on the ground or nearest solid object while pulling on the charging handle at the same time. I like my rifles too well to treat them that way (I cringe every time I see someone doing that). When I ask them if they ran the ammo through a chamber gage, I usually get the answer, “No, but I need to get one” or “I didn’t have time to do it” or other excuses. The few minutes it takes to check your ammo can mean the difference between a nightmare and a smooth running firearm.
A Chamber Gauge Quickly Reveals Long or Short Cases
Size Your Cases Properly
Another problem is caused sizing the case itself. If you will lube the inside of the neck, the expander ball will come out a lot easier. If you hear a squeak as the expander ball comes out of a case neck, that expander ball is trying to pull the case neck/shoulder up (sometimes several thousandths). That is enough that if you don’t put a bulge on the shoulder when seating the bullet … it can still jam into the chamber like a big cork. If the rifle is set up correctly, the gun will not go into battery and won’t fire but the round is jammed into the chamber where it won’t extract and they are back to banging it on the ground again (with a loaded round stuck in the chamber). A chamber gage would have caught this also.
Oversizing cases also causes problems because the firing pin doesn’t have the length to reach the primer solid enough to ignite it 100% of the time. When you have one that is oversized, you usually have a bunch, since you usually do several cases at a time on that die setting. If the die isn’t readjusted, the problem will continue on the next batch of cases also. They will either not fire at all or you will have a lot of misfires. In a bolt action, a lot of time the extractor will hold the case against the face of the breech enough that it will fire. The case gets driven forward and the thinner part of the brass expands, holding to the chamber wall and the thicker part of the case doesn’t expand as much and stretches back to the bolt face. If it doesn’t separate that time, it will the next time. When it does separate, it leaves the front portion of the case in the chamber and pulls the case head off. Then when it tries to chamber the next round, you have a nasty jam. Quite often range brass is the culprit of this because you never know how many times it has been fired/sized and in what firearm.’Back to beating it on the ground again till you figure out that you have to get the forward part of the case out.
Just a quick tip — To extract the partial case, an oversized brush on a cleaning rod [inserted] and then pulled backward will often remove the case. The bristles when pushed forward and then pulled back act like barbs inside the case. If you have a bunch of oversized case that have been fired, I would dispose of them to keep from having future problems. There are a few tricks you can use to salvage them if they haven’t been fired though. Once again, a case gage would have helped.
Two: Double Check Your Primers
Another thing I see fairly often is a high primer, backwards primer, or no primer at all. The high primers are bad because you can have either a slam fire or a misfire from the firing pin seating the primer but using up its energy doing so. So, as a precaution to make sure my rifle ammo will work 100% of the time, I check it in a case gage, then put it in an ammo box with the primer up and when the box is full, I run my finger across all the primers to make sure they are all seated to the correct depth and you can visually check to make sure none are in backwards or missing.
Three: Check Your Overall Cartridge Length
Trying to load the ammo as long as possible can cause problems also. Be sure to leave yourself enough clearance between the tip of the bullet and the front of the magazine where the rounds will feed up 100%. Several times over the years, I have heard of hunters getting their rifle ready for a hunt. When they would go to the range to sight in, they loaded each round single shot without putting any ammo in the magazine. On getting to elk or deer camp, they find out the ammo is to long to fit in the magazine. At least they have a single shot, it could be worse. I have had hunters that their buddies loaded the ammo for them and then met them in hunting camp only to find out the ammo wouldn’t chamber from either the bullet seated to long or the case sized improperly, then they just have a club.
Four: Confirm All Cases Contain Powder
No powder in the case doesn’t seem to happen as much in rifle cartridges as in handgun cartridges. This is probably due to more handgun ammo being loaded on progressive presses and usually in larger quantities. There are probably more rifle cartridges that don’t have powder in them than you realize though. Since the pistol case is so much smaller internal capacity, when you try to fire it without powder, it usually dislodges the bullet just enough to stick in the barrel. On a rifle, you have more internal capacity and usually a better grip on the bullet, since it is smaller diameter and longer bearing surface. Like on a .223, often a case without powder won’t dislodge the bullet out of the case and just gets ejected from the rifle, thinking it was a bad primer or some little quirk.
For rifle cases loaded on a single stage press, I put them in a reloading block and always dump my powder in a certain order. Then I do a visual inspection and any case that the powder doesn’t look the same level as the rest, I pull it and the one I charged before and the one I charged after it. I inspect the one case to see if there is anything visual inside. Then I recharge all 3 cases. That way if a case had powder hang up and dump in the next case, you have corrected the problem.
On progressive presses, I try to use a powder that fills the case up to about the base of the bullet. That way you can usually see the powder as the shell rotates and if you might have dumped a partial or double charge, you will notice as you start to seat the bullet if not before. On a progressive, if I don’t load a cartridge in one smooth stroke (say a bullet tipped over sideways and I raised the ram slightly to reset it) Some presses actually back the charge back adding more powder if it has already dumped some so you have a full charge plus a partial charge. When I don’t complete the procedure with one stroke, I pull the case that just had powder dumped into it and check the powder charge or just dump the powder back into the measure and run the case through later.
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It was bound to happen sooner or later. With the price of primers rising dramatically, and supplies being extremely restricted, we are now seeing pistol and rifle primers being marketed as “precious metals”, distributed through elite jewelry stores. With highly desirable match primers selling for $350 or more (per thousand) on GunBroker and other websites, primer makers have realized that primers are an exceptionally valuable product. Modern primers, which appear like tiny gold-colored pearls, can actually be marketed successfully through jewelry outlets and precious metals vendors.
The “precious primer” marketing trend is coming from Europe, home of the world’s leading jewelry empires. Primer maker Sellier & Bellot has started this trend, announcing that its primers will be sold through elite jewelry vendors Cartier, Tiffany & Co., and Bulgari. Not to be outdone, primer maker Fiocchi intends to market its high-grade primers through Damiani, Leviev, and Harry Winston outlets.
Starting in May, Sellier & Bellot primers will be put on display next to diamonds, rubies, and gold necklaces at Cartier, Tiffany, and Bulgari stores. Primer buyers will be able to purchase standardized primers, or special edition gold-plated primers with ruby-red internal cores. Initially the primers will be offered in sets of five, priced at $250.00.
Not to be outdone, Italian primer-maker Fiocchi plans to bring out its own jewelry line of primers, which will be offered in sets of four with Gold-tone, Silver, or Nickel finishes. These will be more affordable, with the silver-plated Fiocchis available for just $20 per set of four. There will also be a special 1000-pack of silver-coated primers for customers. This 1000-count Silver Collectors Edition will retail for $2500.00.
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The last 18 months has been a frustrating time for hand-loaders, and particular competitive rifle shooters who want the very best components for their match loads. Some of the most popular powders, such as Varget and H4350, are very difficult to find. And the price of primers has skyrocketed, with vendors changing as much as $150-$200 per thousand of popular types such as CCI BR2s. And even brass for popular cartridges, such as 6.5 Creedmoor and 6mmBR has been in short supply. And there are dozens of scam websites now that claim to have primers and powder for sale. Be wary of ANY site that will not take major credit cards, but insist on CashApp, Zelle, Venmo Bitcoin etc. for payment.
Thankfully, there ARE some strategies that can help competitors keep shooting despite the component shortages. First, you can use different types of bullets for practice. Creedmoor Sports offers big-name factory seconds Practice Bullets in multiple calibers. Second, you can look for alternate powder sources if you can’t find the Hodgdon or Alliant powders you prefer. You’ll find a wide selection of Vihtavuori and Accurate powders in stock at many vendors and also look for Shooters World powders. Also if you check local gunstores you may get lucky and find the H4350 or Alliant Reloder 16 you need.
To help fellow shooters overcome the problems of component shortages, our friend Dennis Santiago recently wrote a good article for Shooting Sports USA. This article talks about strategies that can help you keep up your monthly round count. One is to use more available powder and bullets for off-hand practice, where the nth degree of load accuracy is less critical. Dennis also recommends connecting with fellow shooters in your area. You may find that you may trade one hard-to-find component you’ve got for the powder or primers you need. This Editor recently traded some CCI 450 primers for H4350 powder.
We recommend you read the article by Dennis. There are many good suggestions that can help you maintain your live-fire shooting skills, and still attend matches regularly during this time of shortages.
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Do you know how gun primers are made — how the explosive elements are applied into those tiny cups? Find out by watching this video filmed at a Federal ammunition factory. It starts out with empty primer cups loaded, 1000 at a time, into trays using vibration (0:05 time-mark). While much of the process is automated, there is still a significant role played by production workers who apply a green, paste-like charging compound to the inside of hundreds of primer cups.
At the 0:17-second time-mark you can see the factory worker “charging” the primers with the priming compound. After the cups are filled, then the plate of cups “mates up with a plate of anvils” (0:40 time-mark). Then the primers are unloaded from trays and inspected.
Primer “Mysteries and Misconceptions” Article
There is an excellent article about primers on the Shooting Times website. This authoritative Shooting Times article explains the fine points of primer design and construction. The author reveals some little-known facts about primers and corrects common misconceptions. Here are some highlights:
Size Matters
Useful Trivia — even though Small Rifle and Small Pistol primer pockets share the same depth specification, Large Rifle and Large Pistol primers do not. The standard pocket for a Large Pistol primer is somewhat shallower than its Large Rifle counterpart, specifically, 0.008 to 0.009 inch less.
Magnum Primers
There are two ways to make a Magnum primer — either use more of the standard chemical mix to provide a longer-burning flame or change the mix to one with more aggressive burn characteristics. Prior to 1989, CCI used the first option in Magnum Rifle primers. After that, we switched to a mix optimized for spherical propellants that produced a 24% increase in flame temperature and a 16% boost in gas volume.
Foiled Again
Most component primers have a little disk of paper between the anvil and the priming mix. It is called “foil paper” not because it’s made of foil but because it replaces the true metal foil used to seal early percussion caps. The reason this little disk exists is strictly a manufacturing convenience. Wet primer pellets are smaller than the inside diameter of the cup when inserted and must be compacted to achieve their proper diameter and height. Without the foil paper, the wet mix would stick to the compaction pins and jam up the assembly process.
Reloading components are in short supply these days, particularly powder and primers. But primers may be the biggest challenge these days — finding them may seem like a Quest for the Holy Grail. That’s a big problem for handloaders. You may be able to find substitutes for your favorite powder and bullets, but if you don’t have primers, you can’t even get started.
To locate primers these days, you must consider ALL possible sources: local gunshops, local private sales, sale tables at shooting club meetings, gun/hunting forum classifieds, large outdoor stores, and mail-order vendors. Then yes, worst case scenario, look at the auction sites such as GunBroker.
You need to be looking at multiple places — local vendors, gun clubs, big retailers such as Cabela’s and Sportsman’s Warehouse. And get creative — talk to shooting buddies, check for estate sales.
Consider all Possible Sources — Not Just Online Vendors
The guys who are scoring primers these days are resorting to old-fashioned methods — visiting small, mom-and-pop gunstores, checking local estate sales, and “networking” with local shooting club members. First, if you are not a member of a local shooting club, you should join for a multitude of reasons. We recently acquired some powder at a local shooting club meeting, exchanging some H4198 for Hodgdon Varget straight across. A Forum member recently scored both powders and primers at the estate sale of a shooting club member.
For the best chance of success, regularly check 6-10 brick-and-mortar locations in your region. One good way to do this is by combining forces with shooting buddies. Get together with 3 or 4 guys and collectively scout ALL the local gunshops and outdoor stores with shooting supplies. You CAN get lucky. For example, we regularly check a small gunstore in a nearby mall. Just last week we were able to find CCI pistol primers! Yes, deliveries are happening, you just need to check. And check often.
How to Find Primers — SEVEN STRATEGIES
1. Make a list of ALL local gunshops and outdoor supply stores within a 70-mile radius. Call them on a regular basis.
2. Join a local shooting club. Attend meetings where you can sell/exchange products. (We recently exchanged pistol primers for rifle primers we needed).
3. Join local/regional gun forums. You may find listings for “face-to-face” transactions where you can buy/exchange primers. Our AccurateShooter Forum also has a thread on Where to Find Primers.
4. Bookmark multiple vendor websites and check daily (we provide a list below).
5. Combine resources with some shooting buddies. Get together with 3 or 4 guys and collectively scout ALL the local gunshops and outdoor stores with shooting supplies. Assign each guy a different “territory” (perhaps close to his work locations).
6. Search your garage and storage areas. This Editor recently found 5000 Winchester Small Pistol Primers in an unopened box. These were left over from his IDPA and 3-gun days, years ago.
7. Consider APS Primers. CCI sells APS primers pre-loaded in plastic strips. These can still be found gathering dust in some shops. You can remove the primers from the strips, or simply buy an APS priming tool and use them as intended.
Online Vendors for Primers
Here are leading online retailers that sell primers (along with other reloading components). NOTE: Most of these vendors’ primer inventories sell out quickly. So you need to check regularly. Persistence will pay off, eventually. Primer shipments DO arrive, they just sell out fast.
Best Strategy for Online Primer Purchasing (Not Auctions)
With these (and other) online vendors, you need to check “early and often”. Primers may arrive and sell out in a matter of minutes. You should bookmark multiple sources and check them multiple times each week.
The primer shortage has been worsened by dramatically reduced imports of Russian primers.
WARNING — SCAM Websites Want to Steal Your Money
BEWARE of websites that list unlimited quantities of hard-to-find primers. In recent weeks we have seen five criminal scam websites selling reloading products including powder and primers. Here a quick tip — if the website does not take regular credit cards (MC/Visa/Amex/Discover) it is likely a scam site. And if you can order 200 8-lb jugs of Varget it is definitely a scam site! Bottom Line — beware of ANY seller without an established history, and be very wary of sites that only take Zelle, Venmo, and Bitcoin.
Last Word — About Online Auctions for Primers
We are seeing persons selling primers at crazy high prices ($200/1000!) via online auctions at Gunbroker and elsewhere. Be careful… very careful. Primers are a HAZMAT product. They may ONLY be shipped legally by Hazmat-certified businesses. Some of the Auction sellers are not HAZMAT-certified. If your primer shipment is seized or not delivered because the seller was not properly certified, don’t expect to get your money back.
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Oversizing cases also causes problems because the firing pin doesn’t have the length to reach the primer solid enough to ignite it 100% of the time. When you have one that is oversized, you usually have a bunch, since you usually do several cases at a time on that die setting. If the die isn’t readjusted, the problem will continue on the next batch of cases also. They will either not fire at all or you will have a lot of misfires. In a bolt action, a lot of time the extractor will hold the case against the face of the breech enough that it will fire. The case gets driven forward and the thinner part of the brass expands, holding to the chamber wall and the thicker part of the case doesn’t expand as much and stretches back to the bolt face. If it doesn’t separate that time, it will the next time. When it does separate, it leaves the front portion of the case in the chamber and pulls the case head off. Then when it tries to chamber the next round, you have a nasty jam. Quite often range brass is the culprit of this because you never know how many times it has been fired/sized and in what firearm. Back to beating it on the ground again till you figure out that you have to get the forward part of the case out.
It was bound to happen sooner or later. With the price of primers rising dramatically, and supplies being extremely restricted, we are now seeing pistol and rifle primers being marketed as “precious metals”, distributed through elite jewelry stores. With highly desirable match primers selling for $350 or more (per thousand) on GunBroker and other websites, primer makers have realized that primers are an exceptionally valuable product. Modern primers, which appear like tiny gold-colored pearls, can actually be marketed successfully through jewelry outlets and precious metals vendors.
