[petey]

Sure does. I've had primers that wouldn't go off, more than one in a pack. Had to learn the hard way on that one. I never use that brand anymore. Of course that was in my earlier stages of reloading and a primer was a primer to me...just not the case.

Never handle your primers with your fingers, you could get oil on them. I used to prime my cases with the bench, but I use an RCBS hand primer tool now. It's much faster and you can "feel" what you are doing. My primers leave their package direclty into the feeder.

I'm a stickler about reloading, espically if you're shooting long range. I'm talking well beyond 500 yards. I've gone as far as even weighing my primers and sorting out the uneven ones, so everything matches! Believe it or not, even so small you do have variations. That's probably a bit anal, but I want no excuses other than the shooter. I weigh my bullets also and separate out the bad ones. Depending on the manufacturer, make and model I've had as little as 10 in a box of 50 that actually wieghed what they should have. Again, a bit excesive? Probably not, if you shoot those rounds through a cronograph. I've had high spikes in velocity when things were different. When everything is the same, it's always pretty darn close to the same velocity. Better groups, and it only makes sense.

I use nothing but Premium Benchrest primers now. I've never had a miss-fire. Once I found a brand that wouldn't fail, I stuck to it.

P.S. It wasn't the gun's fault either. Primer was fully indented. Plus I've tried the same miss-fired round in several different guns.

You can be a real stickler to acheive the maximum results, but you don't have to, to acheive better than factory load results. That Rem 700 is a good choice and it probably won't take you long to find many loads that are shooting sweet. Just how good is up to you. Cleaning is a key, and if you haven't shot it you can even as go as far as breaking in the barrel (even if it's factory). Clean it good after every shot for the first 20 rounds. Sounds like a pain, and maybe an old wive's tale but on all the guns I've broke in, they clean up easy and are darn accurate. Did the break in process accomplish this? No way to know!