Thread: Hang fires

I was out with the new 7mm Rem mag this morning and out of 15 or so shots fired, I had two hang fires. First shot - I thought probably imagined it, and then halfway through there was another one. Click! - Bang!

Now Ive had this before with ancient Pakastani .303 military ball before. But never with modern factory or reloads,

This is new Fiocchi large rifle primers. (Win brass, IMR4831, and a nice old Sako)

Anyone had issues with Fiocchi primers?

Not really. I had the same issue when I first started using Fiocchi primers.

Thought it must be the primers, but once I sat down and started measuring everything I learned that my sizing die was not set up correctly for that specific chamber.

I were bumping the shoulders back to much.

Originally Posted by Jaco Goosen

Not really. I had the same issue when I first started using Fiocchi primers.

Thought it must be the primers, but once I sat down and started measuring everything I learned that my sizing die was not set up correctly for that specific chamber.

I were bumping the shoulders back to much.

Any tips on how to do this? Is a gunsmith required?

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No not at all, I just had to measure how much I were supposed to push the shoulders back, but I was lazy and thought, I'd just send it.

After I adusted the sizing die to only bump the shoulders 2 Thou back, everything was fine. No more hangfires - Im on my 3rd brick of Fiocchi primers.

I had a misfire with a Fiocchi LRP yesterday. Just lifted the bolt after 10 seconds and fired again with no problems. That's 2 from 45 that I've shot from this box of primers. The first one I ejected without thinking and got the heebie jeebies when putting it back in after I realized it might be a hangfire. The first one fired fine the second time as well.

A 4% failure rate isn't good...

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Originally Posted by Eat Meater

I had a misfire with a Fiocchi LRP yesterday. Just lifted the bolt after 10 seconds and fired again with no problems. That's 2 from 45 that I've shot from this box of primers. The first one I ejected without thinking and got the heebie jeebies when putting it back in after I realized it might be a hangfire. The first one fired fine the second time as well.

A 4% failure rate isn't good...

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I will take them off your hands

I have never been able to successfully blame primers for anything.

How old was the powder?

At the range on Saturday I think there were three different shooters had a hang fire. All very experienced reloaders using high quality rifles. One using WRE, one Fiocchi and not sure about the other. Annoying but it happens, not often thankfully. Feckin annoying when it happens while hunting but unless the animal is disturbed there’s usually time to reload. Just got to have the self control to wait a few seconds before unlocking the action, fecks up your day if it goes bang with an open action.

Guys I am not talking about a misfire, I am talking about a hang fire, in other words the primer was struck by the firing pin, and then it didnt go off for a split second.

Ah, thanks John. Hang fires can result from wrong propellant/primer combination. Propellant or primer got wet. Ball powder has a tendancy to clump up and would sometimes be difficult to ignite, I dont belief you used ball powder though.

Headspace can also cause hang fires but to a lesser extend.

Sorry for misreading, your origenal post.

Originally Posted by Jaco Goosen

Ah, thanks John. Hang fires can result from wrong propellant/primer combination. Propellant or primer got wet. Ball powder has a tendancy to clump up and would sometimes be difficult to ignite, I dont belief you used ball powder though.

Headspace can also cause hang fires but to a lesser extend.

Sorry for misreading, your origenal post.

I have had both with one lot of murom primers in a 6.5x55 when I started reloading. I had loaded 20 rounds in sets of 4 with slightly different charges. Found the one that worked best and then went and made 100 handloads of the same. Of that 100 I had about 13 misfires and another 4 with a hangfire and stopped using the loads until I figured out why. rechecked powder charges...(One misfire had no powder but I think I know what I did there....the others showed good primer strike, and one of the misfires showed the projectile almost out of the case. After working through it, It looked like I had either mishandled the primers or stored them incorrectly. I had purchased 200 and used 120 so had 80 to play with. Of those 80 quite a few failed too...The place i got them kindly let me have another half packet from the same carton and we tested those primers and they all worked 100% so were able to eliminate the cause from being the batch of primers....Most likely I had something on my hands (oil or perhaps case lube) or I had done something in the storage that allowed them to fail. It took me a long while to start reloading again (confidence knocked) but I now reload a few for the 303 I use so starting to relearn again....

Originally Posted by timattalon

I have had both with one lot of murom primers in a 6.5x55 when I started reloading. I had loaded 20 rounds in sets of 4 with slightly different charges. Found the one that worked best and then went and made 100 handloads of the same. Of that 100 I had about 13 misfires and another 4 with a hangfire and stopped using the loads until I figured out why. rechecked powder charges...(One misfire had no powder but I think I know what I did there....the others showed good primer strike, and one of the misfires showed the projectile almost out of the case. After working through it, It looked like I had either mishandled the primers or stored them incorrectly. I had purchased 200 and used 120 so had 80 to play with. Of those 80 quite a few failed too...The place i got them kindly let me have another half packet from the same carton and we tested those primers and they all worked 100% so were able to eliminate the cause from being the batch of primers....Most likely I had something on my hands (oil or perhaps case lube) or I had done something in the storage that allowed them to fail. It took me a long while to start reloading again (confidence knocked) but I now reload a few for the 303 I use so starting to relearn again....

The earlier Murom in the red boxes did seem to absorb moisture and would even corrode in their boxes. The green box / sleeve Muroms are 100% reliable in my experience. Stored exactly the same as the red boxes

Originally Posted by John Duxbury

Guys I am not talking about a misfire, I am talking about a hang fire, in other words the primer was struck by the firing pin, and then it didnt go off for a split second.

Had it thirty years ago with reloads done for me by local sports shop. Used win 760 and 110 GRN projectiles at about 3k they went baboom unless I pointed skyward,carefully lowered and fired them.... So possibly primers were struggling to ignite looser powder.weird thing is I've done same load many times since with zero issues. The double detonation was terrible for accuracy and flinch....

Yep, Click bang = hang fire
Click nothing = misfire
NRA NZ range rules for a misfire I think, IIRC, is to not open the bolt for 30 seconds and only then with the loading port facing the ground, or at least away from your mug.

Edit: From NRA NZ Rules Wait at least 30 seconds, the competitor may then turn the rifle on its side, so that the loading port faces the ground, and open the bolt. The competitor must ensure that his fingers and all other parts of his body are not behind the bolt.

Yeah, we all open and close the bolt and try again don't we? Imagine in the fraction of a second when you are recocking, the misfire decides to be a hangfire.