Primer Indentation

[magenta]

Just picked up my new pup and this is my first post.  I put several magazines of Remington Golden Saber 124 gr thru the pup with no failures.  Picking up my brass I noticed a strange thing, there was no firing pin indentation in the primer.  Very Strange as all rounds fired perfectly.  I then tried some Speer Gold Dot 124 gr and all the primers showed a firing pin indentation.  Are the Golden Sabers primers that hard?  How did they fire?  Thanks for any information and I think i'll stick with Gold Dots. This is a really fine forum with loads of information.

[theirishguard]

welcome to the campfire, pull up a log and enjoy  Tom

[yankee2500]

magenta,
   Welcome to the group. No primer indent would be a very curious situation. You can't go wrong with the Gold Dots they seem to be one of the easier rounds to find.

John

[birdman]

   Magenta, first of all, please be welcome to the best forum anywhere. As to your question, I can only relate my own experiences. I have never tried any Remington ammo in my pups, but have had a LOT of hard primer issues with Remington in the past. On the other hand Richard S. (one of the most experienced pup owners on the forum) uses them almost exclusively and swears by them, so who knows? So my advice is just use what works for you. In my case that's Silvertips and Gold Dots. Again welcome and enjoy yourself.    Gene

[kjtrains]

Just picked up my new pup and this is my first post.  I put several magazines of Remington Golden Saber 124 gr thru the pup with no failures.  Picking up my brass I noticed a strange thing, there was no firing pin indentation in the primer.  Very Strange as all rounds fired perfectly.  I then tried some Speer Gold Dot 124 gr and all the primers showed a firing pin indentation.  Are the Golden Sabers primers that hard?  How did they fire?  Thanks for any information and I think i'll stick with Gold Dots. This is a really fine forum with loads of information.

magenta.  Welcome to the Forum and congrats on getting the pup.  As John and Gene suggests, use what works; excellent advice.  Again, welcome and enjoy the R9.

[tracker]

Golden Saber probably uses CCI primers which, according to my experienced gunsmith, are reliable but hard. Guns which tend to be light strikers might explain the lack of indentation. Federal now owns CCI but they also have a separate line of primers which is one of the best.

[Reinz]

Welcome to the forum magenta.

Hopefully Richard will chime in on this, his words speak with iron.
All I know is, if it were my gun and my ammo, even though it works, I would not trust my life with it  until I had a definitive answer.
I have one theory swimming in my head, but I do not feel comfortable discusssing it openly.

[kjtrains]

Reinz.  The Gold Dots showed a firing pin indentation which is why we say, use what works.

[ccoorreeyy]

High pressure can cause the primer to flatten back out.  Did they seem to "recoil" more than the gold dots?

[magenta]

Now that I look at the primers under a real bright light there seems to be a slight brass smear and you could be right about an overload even though the box is standard velocity.  The rim does not say +P but I could have gotten a bad lot.
The Golden Sabers seem to be fine in my Sig P-239.  I guess i'll stick with the gold dots.
I fired 43 Gold Dots with no ftf or fte so I put the last seven in my pup for carry.  Thanks for all the replys.

[tracker]

Trying to read primer strikes is akin to reading tea leaves but you are doing the right thing by avoiding them. Either high or low pressure, hard primers, light strikes, or other things could cause this frustrating problem.

[Richard S]

Tracker is correct about the comparability of reading primer strikes and tea leaves. In addition to the variability of primer hardness among (and even within) brands of ammunition, cartridges loaded to higher pressures can result in the primer's being flattened and even extruded back into the firing pin hole from the ignition force, as Corey has noted.

Since 124-grain Remington Golden Sabers come in both standard and +P loads, it is just possible that you had a box that was not correctly labeled. (Such happened to me once with another brand in .380 ACP.) In any event, since your R9 is producing obviously satisfactory results with the 124-grain Speer Gold Dots, it would seem that you have found your carry round.

Good luck.

_____

And lest I forget, welcome to the Forum!

[Reinz]

Reinz.  The Gold Dots showed a firing pin indentation which is why we say, use what works.

Obviously

I guess my post was not clear, I was referring to not using GOLDEN SABERS until I had a definitive answer, since that was his concern.

Sorry about that.

[yankee2500]

Reinz, I knew what you meant.  

John

[kjtrains]

Excellent, John!