Henry Rifle Forums

I went to the range with my henery 45-70. Shooting my reloads 400 grain cast wih H4198 with 36 gr. At 1600 fps. My primer was CCI 200. 30 rounds. And had 6 misfires. Not withstanding the correct procedures for missfire. Good indent on the primer. Decapped and found no abnormalies. This brick of primers have never given me a problem as yet. They are a few years old actually about 15 years. Hate to trash a almost full brick of primers but I'm thinking that is what I will do. Going to try Winchester lg rifle primers next. Any thoughts?

first, welcome to our forum, happy to have you join us .... over time, I've had some misfires while using primers that were decades old .... most fired, some didn't .... our Henry 45-70 is one of our favorites .... looking forward to your continued reports as you figure things out .... please take a look at our How Many ? thread (link below) and add yours to our community's total


http://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic.p ... d8c#p72080

Welcome from Wickiup Junction, Oregon!

They are a few years old actually about 15 years.

Primers are funny. I hear of people using primers from the days of wood trays and they all fire to some only a few years old that are very unreliable. Probably all to do with weather and how they are stored. I am using some old 'white box' Remington SRP (early 70's I think) and have been loading them in 9mm, .38 Special and .223 and other than one misfire in my Ruger PCC a couple weeks ago (and it fired on a 2nd try) I'll continue to use them in plinking ammo. They have all fired in my CZ and the one misfire in the PCC might have been due to a light primer strike considering it is designed for pistol ammo and these primers seem harder than new ones.
They are very tight in 9mm cases whereas 'modern' SRP will load in 9mm cases with no problem.
Six misfires seems like a lot and if this were to continue at that rate you might have to dump them - if you don't like pulling rounds apart. Did you try to fire them a 2nd time?

I have older primers also but the climate in Colorado is normally dry. Im not sure where you are at but I havent had any issues with older primers that I can remember. Im thinking the same thoughts of how were they stored.

Welcome from the Show-Me-State!
Enjoy your wanderings on the Forums....lots of good stuff here.

Welcome from the TV Oregon!

Welcome from Alberta. Good luck fixing your issue.

I have had primers that were over 30 years old and they all went bang when they should. They were stored inside the house but for the first few years there was no A.C. . Even with the muggy Florida summers they worked . I did have some Remington 405 grain 45-70 ammo that I had to pull the bullets on about 15 rounds from a box of twenty because they would not fire.

First time this had happened?
Are these the only rounds you have had an issue with?
Have you shot any off the shelf ?

If nothing previous, it's probably the primers.

Were they properly seated?

Welcome to the forum from CT. Thanks for posting about this issue. Good luck.

It's stories like this that keep me buying factory ammo.

Absolutely no help from me on your issue (not a reloader), but WELCOME to the forum from KC! As you can see already, lots of great knowledge and generous folks willing to offer their advice and thoughts!

Well, first thank you very much for the feedback. Primers we're stored in my loading area open to air in my garage. Hot in the summer mild in the winter. This is the first time this firearm miss fired. I've put 3 factory boxes thru it and all fired well. Puzzeled as I've loaded hundreds of other rounds with primers that we're stored in the same way with no issues. Pulled that box of primers and dumped it. I'm going to load 10 more rounds with another box from the same brick. And see. Thanks sgain

steveutu wrote:Well, first thank you very much for the feedback. Primers we're stored in my loading area open to air in my garage. Hot in the summer mild in the winter. This is the first time this firearm miss fired. I've put 3 factory boxes thru it and all fired well. Puzzeled as I've loaded hundreds of other rounds with primers that we're stored in the same way with no issues. Pulled that box of primers and dumped it. I'm going to load 10 more rounds with another box from the same brick. And see. Thanks again

Hello & Welcome aboard, from a small place here in W. Tenn.
You never said if you tried any of them twice or not?
Hope you have better luck this try if not, may be faulty primers.
I've only been reloading for about ten years so I don't have any really old primers.

RP

It's stories like this that keep me buying factory ammo.

This is an unusual situation to have this many misfires - even from 'older' primers and should not be a condemnation of reloading. It might prove to not even BE a primer issue and could be firearm related.
I have been reloading for 40 + years and can count on both hands the number of misfires I have had - and not need all fingers - and thats inside of a six figure number of reloads.
This also does not include the number of .22 duds I have had - which by far exceed reload misfires.

Keep the primers and use them for plinking loads, buy new for hunting or comp shooting.
Nothing like a misfire to highlight you trigger control, look at the positive it will certainly highlight any flinch you may have.

220 wrote:...Nothing like a misfire to highlight you trigger control, look at the positive it will certainly highlight any flinch you may have.

Old primers may depend on how they have been stored. I have some CCI pistol primers I bought over 40 years ago and they still work great. Always been in my house. But who knows. Tried any in another rifle or different caliber?

I had the some random misfires with my first H010 that always fired second strike. The transfer bar was contacting the firing pin at the very top but not completly leaving a 2/3 circle mark on the bar and peening over the edge. The rifle went back for the mag issue so did not investigate further.