Primer with Missing Anvil
- Thread starter kleeber
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No first hand experience but it is done on high speed equipment and 'stuff happens' once in awhile even with the best quality control. IMO
Ivan the Butcher
Member
All Berdan primers have no anvil! So, yes I've seen a couple hundred thousand.
In today's primer shortage, QA/QC is kind of lacking. Some Federal 9mm
ammo a friend bought didn't go off, when we broke them down, The primers were anvil free!
I never had a primer problem for the first quarter million or so, Then my main supplier had roof damage and wet primers. After three times being told that the bad primers were gone, I needed to be sure, so I never bought another primer from them! That solved my problem.
Ivan
Ivan
In today's primer shortage, QA/QC is kind of lacking. Some Federal 9mm
ammo a friend bought didn't go off, when we broke them down, The primers were anvil free!
I never had a primer problem for the first quarter million or so, Then my main supplier had roof damage and wet primers. After three times being told that the bad primers were gone, I needed to be sure, so I never bought another primer from them! That solved my problem.
Ivan
Ivan
ArchAngelCD
Moderator, SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
I'm happy to say I never had a primer problem with any brand primer I've used. (from 7 or more companies)
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If you make a couple of gazillion of anything you will screw one up once in a while. I remember some years back a big-time professional shooter lost a match due to a dud factory new cartridge. When he took it apart there was no hole from the primer pocket into the cartridge case. Like the man said, excrement occurs.
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Anything is possible considering their production of Primers is probably at record levels now. Still, considering how many they are cranking out, ONE primer Anvil missing is relatively meaningless. There is no such thing as 100% in anything!
And so the reason for training sessions for a "dud" is once again justified - no matter how low the possibility is.
And so the reason for training sessions for a "dud" is once again justified - no matter how low the possibility is.
Started reloading in 1958...mostly shotshells but metallic too. Having loaded over 1 1/2 million rounds I remember one rifle primer without any compound and a few Federal shotshell primers that didn't go bang. The Federals had a recall on them. I may have had a few failures to fire over time but can pretty much say they were my fault. Now I have had quite a few failures in 22 ammo over the years. I once had a 22 Long round that I kept moving in the chamber of my ol Winchester 69. It fired after something like 9 or 10 strikes. Most of the poor 22s I have had have been in the last 12 or so years. Mostly Thunderbolts and some Winchesters...one CCI.
Now I wish I could find a use for the approx 20,000 Number 57 and 69 shotshell primers I have
Now I wish I could find a use for the approx 20,000 Number 57 and 69 shotshell primers I have
I am amazed at how few primers, out of the billions produced, are really "bad". I started reloading around '69 and can remember one primer that had no anvil, in the mid '70s. I can not remember many (any?) dud primers, but few that were FTF because I did something wrong. I've used a lot of CCI and Winchester primers, and less Federal, Remington and Wolf, all sizes and "powers", off and on since '69 and still can count the "bad" primers on one hand...
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I neglected to say that this was from primers I bought in 2018. I, too, am amazed by the low failure rate in an item that costs just a few cents.
Thomas M. Black
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In 49 years of reloading I’ve never had that happen. A few years ago I bought some new W-W 38-55 brass and one case didn’t have the flash hole punched. That’s the only time I’ve seen that.
Tom
Tom
Skeet028. I gotta ask how the hell do you keep track of how much you’ve loaded. I’ve been loading since the mid to late 60’s and honestly don’t have a clue how many thousand primers, pounds of powder or tons of bullets I’ve processed. I know I spent three years shooting heavily in IPSC and burned through apprx 600-700 rds a week but that’s all I know then there was pins and plates, cowboy etc. it’s kind of a big happy blur.
S&WIowegan
US Veteran
I've been handloading for 30 yrs. and I can only remember finding one empty cup when I dump 100 primers into a flip tray. I actually keep records of all my handloads so I could add them all up and get a number of handloads. Could but I won't.
I only use Federal, CCI and Winchester primers.
I only use Federal, CCI and Winchester primers.
Funny this topic came up. About a year ago I found a Federal 150 without an anvil. I’ve probably still got it lying around somewhere in my loading room. Only one I’ve ever seen. I’ve been handloading since 1967. No idea how many primers I’ve used.
Actually I used to keep very good records of all the ammunition I loaded. Until 1996 I kept every receipt for my reloading supplies even from the gun club etc.. After '96 except for my shotshell loading I decided it wasn't worth doing any longer. For the first 17 years I even kept every fired primer. Thought they would be worth something for scrap...not much by the way. When I moved out here in 2005 I even found 1 1/2 15 lb powder kegs of fired primers I hadn't gotten rid of when cleaning up and packing for the move. I finally threw all the old records away except my copies of the 4473s I had from my shop. I even pitched the last of them in 2017 after more than 20 years. I do remember my wholesale price on shotshell primers from the mid 1960s as being under 5 dollars a thousand. 15 and 20 lb kegs of powder were really cheap too at about 1.50 a lb. I didn't make a lot of money on my gun shop sales but it paid for my shooting expenses and added a little money to the checkbook at home
I have been reloading for over 50 years and have certainly reloaded over 150,000 cartridges. Never had one bad primer. Not one.
gwpercle
Member
I've never seen one without an anvil either in 54 years of reloading , the light weight of an anvilless (that's not a real word is it ) primer usually triggers the reject mecanism ... they have the machines going full speed and this one got by all the checks ... even the inspector who's a person (overworked ?) You may want to run out and buy a Lottery Ticket ... you just beat some extremely high odds .
Gary
Gary
