Well I thought I posted this 2 hours ago and looks like nothing showed up so am trying again.

Hello boys and girls from Texas. Having some issue with WLR primers in my revolver. Using a Ram Prime which I have used for years in single shot handgun, and all of my rifles and never had any issues with misfires until recently. Could be something else but want to get some opinions to help get me going in the right direction.

Shooting a 460 S&W. Darn thing shoots great with factory Hornady loads. 200gn at 2200 fps. Whipped up a recipe straight out the Hornady handbook with some 240 gn HP and used WLR primers. Guess what? Had a few that did not fire and some that fired the second time. See pics of primers that did not initiate. Went back to the factory ammo and worked great.

Ok with that said I was very careful not to seat the primer to deep if you can do such a thing. Did not help.

Advice needed or I am just relegated to shooting factory and that's OK. But I would like to experiment with different loads as all of us do from time to time. Had a couple of comments on the pics I posted in the gallery. One was primer seating and the other was weak trigger spring. Both good thoughts but can't relate to the factory rounds working and the handload not.

Tribal knowledge welcome......

Pics are viewed better in the gallery.

I had this happen on one of my custom revolvers. Turns out the seating depth was to deep on one hole of the cylinder.

My 460 did that at first. The problem was I wasn't seating the primers deeply enough. The first round would simply drive the primer without firing it, and the second impact would never fail to fire them. The fact that all the misfired rounds fired the second time is proof that you've got the same problem. Seat the your primers as firmly as you safely can. If you have a handheld priming tool, you'll feel when the primers seat properly.

That may be your problem right there. If you don't seat them fully the firing pin may on the first hit and not touch them off.

+2 On the above. Seat primers to the bottom of the primer pocket (but avoid crushing the primer). If not fully seated, the firing pin energy is used up moving the primer forward in the pocket.

Thanks for the feedback. Gonna look for a hand primer today. Using a ram prime now. Originally I thought I may have been seating too deep, maybe not. Of note some did not fire on the second time around. That happened late yesterday. Will make sure the seat is good and try a few. What primers does Hornady use during manufacture? Shouldn't matter but just curious.

I have a LEE hand primer and I have not complaints with mine.

Seat em to the bottom with a LEE auto prime. That's what I use.

Hopefully it is a matter of seating the primer fully. But I would mark the cylinder as to which hole the round is in the next time this happens. Make sure it isn't the issue I was talking about above. Hopefully the primer depth is your issue as it is a much easier fix!

Will do. Hope it's as simple as the primer depth. Thanks to all for the help.

In the past, I too used the ram prime. I had 2 misfires with rifles that didn't fire the 2nd time. I lost confidence in it and replaced it with a rcbs hand priming tool

Good news. Just a primer seating issue. Thanks again for all the feedback.

Well thought I had it all figured out. But after 3 misfires it's at the gunsmith now. Will keep y'all posted.

Hi Tex from CSRA--Reading your troubles w/460 reminds me of

the adventures shooting my PC 460 10 1/2".. This gun is UNIQUE

compared to shooting/loading ANY other handgun l have owned in

the last 50yrs..Without going into all the challenges, let me

say, "You cant load this ctg like you do 44s, 357s, or other

pistol calibers". lt has to be loaded like you do rifle ctgs.

Cases need to be trimmed. Primer pockets cleaned and uniformed.

Flash holes should be deburred inside the case too.. What l am

describing are benchrest loading techniques.. Two big headaches

for me were Hornady brass and dies... My opinion--There is better

out there...Hope you get the kinks out Tex. Smith&Wessons' 460 is

one of the finest out there..Enjoy...

ps.--Dont EVER shoot shorter 45Colt or 454 Casull rds in it..


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Posted this update in a couple places. Looks like it may not be the primers. Took the cannon to the gunsmith and appears S&W did not check the tension in the spring/hammer assemblage when they replaced the frame. What's happened to QA/QC. Gonna pick it up today. Smith says after he adjusted it, its shooting great. I think someone posted earlier about this same issue. Back to the bench and the woods. Looks like I may be able to hunt with it this year after all. Thanks to all for your replies to my original post.

Glad you got to the bottom of it.