I had two rounds where the bullet did come loose, and lodged in the barrel.

For the two complete "dud" rounds that I brought home, the bullet appeared to have have moved ever-so-slightly, just a hundredth or so based on the cannelure location.

But even discounting those, I did have the two that lodged the bullet in the barrel. Plus, we had a few rounds that felt like hangfires; they were very brief, but it was a noticeable click-bang.

The more I think about it, the more a plugged flash hole seems unlikely.

I have had a little experience with reloading over the last couple decades and usually if a primer fires and there is no powder the bullet always leaves the case, even with unburnt powder the bullet should have pushed the bullet in to the barrel.....unless none of the primers expanding gasses made it to the powder......IMHO it is probably a combination of both. And either way I am sorry about your luck.

Not relevant to .223/5.56 but when I'm playing with medium bores, sometimes I can get away with large rifle primers and other times the loads require large magnum rifle primers, depending on the powder used.

If the bullet never left the crimp, then probably junk in the flash hole.

While talking with a lot of shooters in the competitive sports. They'll use small rifle magnum primers to get the guaranteed ignition that they want.

I've used a number of different primers for .223, including three different Wolf primers: small rifle, small rifle .223 (supposed to be a little hotter, and these are the ones that caused these problems), and small rifle magnum. Actually, come to think of it I think there was another 556 version too . . . .

But yeah, at this point I'm thinking that more flame = better.

Had no problems with Wolf Small Rifle Primers and AA2200 and AA2230 powders. But I had to check the primer holes since oftentime media is stuck in the ignition hole if not careful. Although had to run AA2200 near its max to cycle reliably.

I have switched to using wolf primers exclusively for 223 with fantastic results. I use hodgdon BENCHMARK powder, thats the powder the barnes company uses,in all their r&d testing for designing their 223 bullets.

I've used CCI small rifle primers with my 5.56 loads with H335 since I started reloading. I've never had a hang fire or failure to fire. Ignition occurs every time. This is with a M855 equivalent load of 62gr bullet and 25.5gr of powder.

Well, where the hell were you with this advice three months ago?!!11!!!!

Do you already have 2200 loaded? If so maybe wait till it gets a bit hotter out and there may be no issue. I don't use ball powders much but I have heard that they are a bit tougher to ignite and they can be quite temp sensetive.

I tested AA2200 in the summer and worked up from the starting 21.0 grains, to 22 then 23. 22 was quite not there but 23 was very good, although 23.5 is specified as the max load. But 23 gr works for me. For 55gr. bullets.

He was talking about a quantity of 2200 rounds.

Yes, I do have that many loaded. Good suggestion to wait; I hadn't thought of that.

If you have the time and inclination - you might want to do some experimentation. Randomly select rounds into two groups. Keep the first group of the rounds artificiality warm (100F) using a heating pad or hand warmer and fire them before they can cool off (they should retain heat for a while). Keep the second batch very cool.

If you see a significant difference in the FTF rate, then save the loaded rounds for summertime use (and you will know if its a primer heat, powder temperature issue).

Steve, if you can't find a heating pad I have one of these you can borrow. Lots quicker.

Heating pads are for sissys.

If you punch out a fired primer and find the anvil still protruding from the cup it wasn't properly seated.

Wolf Primers are especially bad for this as they are stouter than most other primers. While seating them, the anvil will contact the bottom of the primer pocket and it feels like it is fully seated. Add some more pressure and you'll feel the cup seat some more.

If the primer material isn't hit firmly after being slightly compressed while being seated it will 'fizzle' rather than sending out a large flame through the flash hole.

Did you check all the flash holes to see that they weren't blocked with cleaning media?


As for any remaining rounds you have loaded, put on a heavy glove, a face shield, and use your priming tool to re-seat the primers. I've had to do this with several hundred .223 rounds when I first started using Wolf primers. If you just 'squeeze' with the priming tool there is little or no danger the round will go off. I haven't had one do so in 30 years. It takes a good whack from a firing pin to set primers off.