Tried to use Winchester 777 209 primers in my Thompson Center Endeavor. I could not close the action and if I did get it closed

[schwings]

Tried to use Winchester 777 209 primers in my Thompson Center Endeavor. I could not close the action and if I did get it closed, hammer would not pull back???? Use Remingtion Clean Bore 209 without a problem. Tried the Winchesters in a Pro Hunter, did the same thing, couldnt pull back hammer or close right??? Whats up????

[John B. Snow]

That's an odd problem and, as you know, it shouldn't happen.

Based on your description I'm not quite sure what is going on. It sounds like you can force the action closed with the Winchester primer seated but that the hammer won't cock. I'm guessing that's because the action isn't actually locked up.

You could spend some time with calipers and taking measurements of the Remington and Winchester primers to see if the Winchesters are sitting higher in the pocket than Remington's. But really I don't think there's any point. Just stick with the Remington primers and call it good.

[schwings]

That is exactly what I did. Stuck to the Remington primers. I wanted to try a different primer for no other reason than just to try it. You could tell just by looking at the Winchesters they were bigger than the Remingtion primers. Upsetting because I had to watch the deer walk by and could not shoot.

[John B. Snow]

Yeah, those life lessons are the worst. I'm sure everyone on the web site could share a story or two about deer that got away thanks to some unforeseen gear issue. I know I've got a few.