Help with primer issue

Reloading new brass for a 7mm Magnum. The brass is Nosler new brass. The primers are CCI250 and Rem 7 1/2. The rifle is Bergara Premier Approach and a Highlander. Over the course of 50 rounds fired......I've had 10 misfires where the primer never fired. The indentions are small. Factory ammo will fire every time. The protrusion of the firing pin is 0.53" from bolt face. On 2 of the cartridges that misfired I pulled the bullet, dumbed the powder and got the primer out and the primer never fired. So I took once fired brass.....loaded a new primer in it without resizing and the firing pin will ignite the primer. Do you think head space is the issue? I gave up on it at dark. Going to pick back up tomorrow with it. I don't think it is the rifles since factory ammo works. So if factory ammo works (you know there is a pretty good setback on those) and some of the new brass loads are not.....what gives?

Chad.....need some input and whoever else can solve this problem.

Are you sure you are seating the primers enough? The primers should be slightly below the case head if not the firing pin can seat them further and not dent the primer enough to make good contact with the anvil in the primer causing it not to ignite. In that case some of the energy of the firing pin is used to seat the primer and causes a light strike.

How deep is your primer below flush (or is it below flush)? You'll need to measure the depth with the back side of a caliper. Also, how are you seating the primers- hand primer, press, priming tool? Are your primer depth measurements consistent on multiple cases? The 7 Mag head spaces on the belt, so there's generally not a lot of slop to cause an issue. Most issues I hear of primers not going bang is from shooters priming on a hand primer, and the depth being off or inconsistent. Norma/Nosler brass has firm primer pockets and can be tough to get them seated properly.

How are you seating primers?

I’m agreeing with the other two guys—primers aren’t deep enough. Did you try to fire any of them a second time?

Also maybe the load calls for it or maybe it doesn't, I don't know. I always used Rem 9 1/2 magnum primers for 300 mags would use same if I was loading a 7 mag. The 7 1/2 is a large rifle primer I believe.

Chad

If you are using a hand primer can you seat the already primed primer deeper? I use one and gaining knowledge for the future if this ever happens to me.

Yes, very carefully!! But, I'd recommend pulling the bullet first if it's loaded ammo. If the round is already loaded, powder can get down into the flash hole and inside the void areas of the primer pocket. If you try to seat it deeper and there is powder there preventing the primer from going deeper, you can cause an issue.

Good thought on pulling the bullet first. Thanks for the info!!

I have seated the primers until they bottom out. They are all the same and below flush. That was a typo on the 7 1/2.....they were 9 1/2 magnum primers. I got some Winchester Magnum Primers and will try them tomorrow. Yes it is a hand primer but I like using it so I can feel when they do bottom out. I also have new brass coming again. Today I extracted the firing pin and found that on the side of the pin it is rubbing on the hole of the bolt face. So I took some super fine sand paper and buffed it smooth. Everyone is telling me on Sniperhide that it's a headspace issue. I have some head space gauges coming. Tomorrow I am neck sizing some of the fired brass and trying them in it. Some say I have pushed the shoulders too far back with the dies. Not sure.

Can I take the once fired brass.....stick it in the chamber, and with the firing pin out to where it won't cam.....can i keep closing the bolt and resizing the once fired brass until the bolt closes easier and that be my depth of the die?

Oh and I did try Remington brass and had the same result. About 15% of them don't fire.

The 7 Mag head spaces on the belt of the case, not the shoulder. So how would the neck sizing vs FL sizing solve your problem of head space? IMO, that's an unrelated issue.

When you say that the primer bottoms out, you still didn't answer the question on the measurement of primer depth. That's a critical measurement. "Below flush" is a vague description. If the primer is too deep, then you will have these issues. I'm trying to answer your question, but with minimal details.

If the chamber is cut wrong so it does not headspace off the belt then it could be but the belt is there for hedspece reasons.

You could do what you suggested and see if that works with a tight fit, head spacing off the shoulder.

The measurement Chd ask for could also help diagnose the issue

You said you are using cci and remington primers, do both brands of primers misfire? I had factory Remington rifle ammo that would misfire and handloads in a handgun with remington primers that would misfire. Changed to cci or winchester primers and all my problems went away. I even primed and fired empty brass and had misfires with the Remington primers and then primed the SAME brass with cci primers and all the primers went off. IDK how much you have reloaded but i have loaded a ton and i suspected my process first, cause usually when you have ammo problems with reloads it is your own fault, but in this case it was not. So try to isolate which brand of primer is not firing, if it is both, it probably is not the primers, but if it is only one, that brand of primer could very well be the issue

I took the firing pin out of the bolt assembly. On one side of the pin it was rubbing against the side of the hole coming out of the bolt face. I took some emory clothe and buffed it smooth. I then reset my die depth by running once fired brass back into the chamber and backing off the die until i got a smooth closing of the bolt.

Reloaded 5 sets of 3. All 15 shots fired. Shot 1 box of 20 factory Hornady Precision Hunter in 162 ELD X. All of them fired. And I got some amazing groups with the hornday factory's. Really no sense to reload after that.

So I guess the combination of what I did fixed my problem.