204 primer cratering and misfires

[ghermitage]

My hunting buddy has just taken delivery of a Rem 700 VSSF II 204 Ruger. He shot it for the first time on Saturday. The temperature at the range was 34 degrees celsius,93 Farenheight), which is warm but not at all unusual in this country in the summer.

There was a packet 32gr VMax Hornady factory loads, and his loads used Remington brass, Federal GM205M primers and AR2206H powder,same speed at H4895). Bullets and charges were
,1) 32gr VMax with 27gr powder
,2) 32gr VMax with 28.3gr powder
,3) 40gr VMax with 26gr powder
,4) 40gr VMax with 27gr powder.

Two things were noticed, and of course they may be unconnected.
About 7 of the factory loads misfired, but none of the handloads did. Secondly, all of the factory loads that went bang and all of the handloads showed appreciable primer cratering but was somewhat less with load,1).

Is there some problem which has symptoms of both misfiring and primer cratering?

 

[Sidewinder]

You might try Remington 7 1/2 primers as they have a thicker metal than most and seem to handle the higher pressure. I shot some in that temperature or more this summer without a problem with my Savage 204. It is a fun caliber.:thumb:

 

[Silverfox]

ghermitage-- While your loads don't appear to be of the "HOT" variety as to the powder charge compared to what I have shot in my .204 Ruger rifle, you may have a "tight" barrel, a dirty barrel, your powder scales may be off and you are getting heavier charges than you think.

Other than the cratering, what do the shoulders on your primers look like? Are they still round like they are out of the primer package or are they squaring off and flattening? If the shoulders are still round and you aren't experiencing any undue bolt lift, perhaps all you need is to have your bolt bushed.

I have had to have the bolts bushed on each Remington 700 rifle I have owned. I had Greg Tannell do the work and he did a fine job and I got super fast turn around time. Even with mild loads the primer metal was flowing back in around the firing pin hole in the bolt. After bushing, no more cratering.

For the misfires, I don't have any experience with that. If you haven't done it lately, maybe it would be a good idea to take your bolt apart and completely clean it. Maybe it is dirty enough to cause the firing pin to hit the primer with too little force. Another thing to look at while you have the bolt apart would be to ascetain if the firing pin bent? Just throwing things off the top of my head. I hope you get the problem solved.