I shot an 8-stage IDPA match yesterday at Lower Providence (near where the Oaks Gun Show is held), or more accurately, I should say I almost shot an 8-stage match. I finished 7 stages and came within 11 rounds of finishing the match with the 8th stage when I had a game-ending malfunction. With five and a half targets (the aforementioned 11 rounds) to go, my trusty S&W 625 locked up tight. Couldn't pull the trigger and couldn't open the cylinder. I know that your thinking, "Ha! So revolvers never malfunction huh?". This was my first ever DNF.

My first thought was that bullet creep may have been the culprit, but holding the gun up to the light revealed daylight clearly visible at the B/C gap. Second thought was that the ejector rod had unscrewed itself, thus locking things up. Smith discovered this was a problem ages ago (60's?) and reverse threaded the ejector rod. It still happens occasionally and I thought I was the victim of that rare occurrence. I called my gunsmith from the match and left a message. He responded by the time I got home and told me to bring it over to him this morning.

He at first thought the firing pin had broken as he couldn't get a feeler gauge through the frame between the back of the cylinder and the recoil shield. So he disassembled it. No broken firing pin - in fact not a gun malfunction at all (so there!) - it was an ammunition malfunction. When seating the primer it rolled the one side of the primer cup up so there was a small protrusion that extended just beyond the cartridge base. Not enough that the cylinder wouldn't rotate, but when that round was fired, it backed it out just enough for it to bind up solidly against the recoil shield.

As Roseanne Rosannadanna used to say, "It's always something."

Adios,

Pizza Bob

Could it have been caught if you inspected all rounds prior, or was it unnoticeable with a quick check?

I do a quick visual check when I load the rounds into the clip - but I'm mostly looking for primers that seated upside down. The piece of primer cup was below flush with the cartridge head - as I said, the cylinder rotated fine, until that round was fired.

A really close inspection might have noted the slight anomaly but not the quick visual that I do.

Adios,

Bob

I’m curious as to how often you guys, who use the press to prime, get a failed primer install?

I’ve been a reloader for a few decades, started on a rock chucker and a lee hand primer. Of course my reloading setup has evolved, but I just can’t prime on the press — I just never got use to that forward motion, the priming stroke.

I’ve tried it on both my 650 and LNL — drove me crazy — I found myself checking every other round for proper primer seating before it advanced to the next stage.

I hand prime everything — in 30 years I’ve only had 1 cartridge make it to the firing line with a flipped primer — .223 and I saw it as I was loading the mag — my lee hand primer has seen some miles, it’s getting worn, from what I understand it’s irreplaceable other than someone elses used unit from ebay. I get rolled primers occasionally but I know it immediately. Most of the time I can salvage it.

So I ask,out of curiosity,  How often does your press screw up a primer install?

I had a flipped primer once. Luckily it was the very last shot on the very last stage at a USPSA match. I fired the shot, saw a bright blue flash (I was between barrels and under some wood), and the gun didn't recoil normally. I stopped, stood up, showed clear, and asked the RO if he noticed anything strange, he said yeah, that last round didn't hit anything and didn't sound right. I dropped the moonclip into my hand and that is when I noticed the flipped primer.

1 hour ago, Heavyopp said:

So I ask,out of curiosity,  How often does your press screw up a primer install?

Not the press - the person who loaded the primer tube (relevant to flipped primers). I've had maybe  4 or 5 in 4000 rounds. Caught all but one when loading the rounds into the moon clips.

As for the rolled primer cup - could have been the press (not fully indexing) or an anomaly with the primer pocket.

Adios,,

Pizza Bob

3 hours ago, Pizza Bob said:

I do a quick visual check when I load the rounds into the clip - but I'm mostly looking for primers that seated upside down. The piece of primer cup was below flush with the cartridge head - as I said, the cylinder rotated fine, until that round was fired.

A really close inspection might have noted the slight anomaly but not the quick visual that I do.

Adios,

Bob

Its a 625; you are doing a lot of extra handling by loading-up the moon clips (unlike, say, a .38 or .357) .  If you didn't notice it then; it was probably an un-noticable defect.

 

Sorry for your bad luck Bob, at least it wasn't disastrous. Was that factory ammo or your reloads?

6 hours ago, Heavyopp said:

I’m curious as to how often you guys, who use the press to prime, get a failed primer install?

I’ve been a reloader for a few decades, started on a rock chucker and a lee hand primer. Of course my reloading setup has evolved, but I just can’t prime on the press — I just never got use to that forward motion, the priming stroke.

I’ve tried it on both my 650 and LNL — drove me crazy — I found myself checking every other round for proper primer seating before it advanced to the next stage.

I hand prime everything — in 30 years I’ve only had 1 cartridge make it to the firing line with a flipped primer — .223 and I saw it as I was loading the mag — my lee hand primer has seen some miles, it’s getting worn, from what I understand it’s irreplaceable other than someone elses used unit from ebay. I get rolled primers occasionally but I know it immediately. Most of the time I can salvage it.

So I ask,out of curiosity,  How often does your press screw up a primer install?

Ive done thousands of rounds on 3 Loadmasters and no bad primers. I only use CCI and Winchester primers/

52 minutes ago, kc17 said:

Sorry for your bad luck Bob, at least it wasn't disastrous. Was that factory ammo or your reloads?

No biggie. I got to shoot all but 11 rounds of the match. Now if it had happened on the first stage, I'd have been pi$$ed.

Adios,

Pizza Bob

Sorry, that stinks.  At least you completed most of the course and it wasn't anything serious.

Hey.   Even with the dnf.  You stillcame in first place for revolver.   Yeah.  Tiime to load your own.    Its an omen.