Odd 7.62x54R "Malfunction"

[Grastmatt2552]

So today, I went to the range with my 1938 M91/30. Everything went great, except one round of my surplus ammo seemed to be a dud. I took the necessary precautions for a misfire, and everything else fired flawlessly.

Misfires aren't uncommon in surplus ammo, but here's what strikes me as odd.
When I got home I pulled the bullet from the "misfired" cartridge, looked inside for some reason, and there was NO primer at all! [ROFL1]
All it had was a brass shell of a primer, but nothing more. The indent from the firing pin is all I see.

Has anyone else gotten this weird flaw in their ammo?

[flan7211]

Was it russian? I've heard some yugo and romanian 7.62x54r with missing primers. Your best bet is czech silver tip for quality control.

[Grastmatt2552]

See that's the funny thing, it is Czech silver tip. It's the first one that hasn't fired.

[flan7211]

That's really surprising. I'm nearly aghast at that. Can we see some pics? Romainian was usually the worst at missing elements of ammunition, since 91/59's were used as guard rifles and not front line necessary.

[Grastmatt2552]

I can try to get pics of the inside. Pics of the ammo itself too?

[Grastmatt2552]

I looked it up, and it is indeed Russian. The silver tip threw me off, since mine is silver tipped.
Inside of casing
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb317/freestyle2341/IMAG0079.jpg

Outside shell and bullet
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb317/freestyle2341/IMAG0080.jpg

[rondog]

OK, you're messing with my mind here. That ammo "should" be Berdan primed, in which case you would only see two tiny little holes inside the case. If there's a big hole in the bottom, then that's a misformed case. With Berdan primers, the "anvil" portion of the primer is actually a bump formed on the bottom of the case itself, and the "primer" is just a cup with the priming compound in it. Sounds like you got yourself a deformed, mutant case. Compare it with one of the fired cases, look inside 'em with a little flashlight.

[Grastmatt2552]

That's not a hole you see, that's the indent from the firing pin. All the case has is the brass shell of the primer.

[rondog]

What I'm sayin is, if you look inside any other 7.62x54R case, all you'll see is two very tiny holes. You can't see the primer at all. And you sure can't see the indent from the firing pin. If you removed the Berdan primer (which is damn hard to do), you'll see a bump in the center of the case where the primer was, and those two tiny holes. The bump is the anvil of the primer, but it's actually part of the case and not part of the primer. I still say you have a deformed Berdan type case, the anvil part wasn't formed properly.

Just my theory anyway.

[mcantar18c]

I'm with rondog. Looks like you had a primer with no anvil to set it off.

[Grastmatt2552]

Ah okay I see what you're saying now. That's Russian ammo for ya.