20 practical primers caved

[AndrewB]

If you shoot enough hot loads, you can gas cutting on the face of the bolt around the firing pin hole from primers leaking around their circumference. I used to see this on factory savage bolt faces when I was shooting them. Seems the steel was soft, bolt face would go concave after 100's of rounds, then the primers would leak. I changed the bolt head to aftermarket to fix the issue.

what does the bolt face look like? Is it flat? Is it cut around the firing pin hole?

Grasping at straws

 

[enrique]

Well I went shooting again using my own inserted primers of CCI 400 and CCI 450’s and no issues. Primers looked fine, so it must have just been really soft cups that were inserted in the norma pre-primed brass…
I think my chamber could be a little tight or normal (.233) and the Norma brass could probably use a turn of .0015-.0002 off. (Probably would have been perfect with a .235 chamber for this batch of norma brass)
The Norma neck thickness are measuring close to/or at 14 thousandth and I can‘t easily insert a bullet into a fired round. My loaded rounds measure right at .231 to almost .232.

Thanks for all the input, the gun is grouping well and primers are no longer cupping with CCI’s, probably flirting at the edge of pressure but primer pockets felt fine after de-priming and reloaded well also

Ps, it was a new bolt and rifle - Tikka t3 super varmint that I pulled the new 223 barrel and put a pacnor 20 practical at 22 inch length

 

[Fern]

Well I went shooting again using my own inserted primers of CCI 400 and CCI 450’s and no issues. Primers looked fine, so it must have just been really soft cups that were inserted in the norma pre-primed brass…
I think my chamber could be a little tight or normal (.233) and the Norma brass could probably use a turn of .0015-.0002 off. (Probably would have been perfect with a .235 chamber for this batch of norma brass)
The Norma neck thickness are measuring close to/or at 14 thousandth and I can‘t easily insert a bullet into a fired round. My loaded rounds measure right at .231 to almost .232.

Thanks for all the input, the gun is grouping well and primers are no longer cupping with CCI’s, probably flirting at the edge of pressure but primer pockets felt fine after de-priming and reloaded well also

Ps, it was a new bolt and rifle - Tikka t3 super varmint that I pulled the new 223 barrel and put a pacnor 20 practical at 22 inch length

That is awesome to hear. I been drooling on the super varmint but can’t convince wife I need it lol.
How do you like the rifle so far?

 

[enrique]

Lol Fern, trust me you need it. So comfortable and shoots so nice. Stuck a Harrels muzzle brake and tuner on it ,since it’s threaded, for just in case I feel like I need to play with a knob past 200 yds, even though it doesn’t really need it. Waiting to getting a silencer for it.. I’ll post a pic when I get home tonight. I really like it as much as my custom guns that cost me a lot more… probably would have been better to go with a 24 inch barrel but with a silencer it will even out