Hey All- I recently bought a 500 count lot of once-fired .223 brass that is sized, trimmed and primed. The brass is LC/7. I bought it privately but it originally came from Scharch (sp) / Top Brass. The brass was in a sealed plastic bag, along with dissecant ( the dissecant which had ripped open in transit I suppose). So I carefully cleaned off the drying material prior to use, inside and out. Also in the bag was a small note stating the primers were CCI and IIRC the number 401. I've since lost the paper.

I loaded up 20 rounds Sunday night and went shooting yesterday morning.

Out of 20 rounds, 4 did not detonate. Upon examination, the primers in these four instances look like they might be "hard"; the firing pin impressions are not as deep as on the detonated cartridges (I realize this may have more to do with detonation than anything else). I did try to fire the four in question again, and again received only "clicks"...no boom!

Wondering what to do; the brass looks great- no defects etc. I'm wondering if it could be a bad batch of primers?

Should I remove the primers and re-prime with known good primers (I've reloaded somewhere in the area of 250 rounds using other brass and Remington 7 1/2 BR primers with NO failures- same gun.

Even though I'm a once removed buyer, should I contact Top Brass?

Certainly NOT blaming seller- I'm sure he did not know. Any suggestions are welcome- Thanks! Brian