No, its worked up loads from 73 to 75 from last week, and 75 to 77 this week
primer cratering and boltface pitted
- Thread starter TackDriv3r
- Start date
Bad primer? Its possible . Seen it in Rem LR (mine), Federal and many Win, online.
http://s338.photobucket.com/user/joe1944usa/slideshow/Firearms and Reloading/Primer Gas Leak
http://s338.photobucket.com/user/joe1944usa/slideshow/Firearms and Reloading/Primer Gas Leak
hogpatrol
Gold $$ Contributor
Tac, Don't get your shorts all twisted up about my post. Your first post was somewhat lacking in information, like work done on the action, who did it, and no background on your reloading skills. We don't know you from Adam and these forums are replete with rookies asking for advice and thinking it's ok to use the same loads with different make bullets all the while disregarding length and bearing surfaces.
As far as reloading 25 years, I've got another 30 on top of that and I've never had your issue, never had a torched bolt face either. Whatever the reason, I hope for your safety you get it figured out.
After I clean the case necks, I turn the case upside down and tap a few times to make sure there is no foreign material, try to wrap a thin strip of fine steel wool on a 30 caliber bronze brush and see how hard its to take it off. You make it sound like I use a big wad of steel wool inside the necks.
Spinning bronze brushes with a drill is common to clean case necks of soot and lube.Well to be honest with you, I assumed my gunsmith did a look over on all parts when he did the rebarrel job and action truing before I received it last week. I assumed wrong and No I did not chamfer the primer pockets and the rifle is just a week. I already emailed him and sent him the pics and waiting for his reply on Monday.
And was the Berger a hunting or target type bullet?
Looks to me you're exercising proper caution in your reloading techniques. I have always used the one tenth rule when working up loads since I started reloading in 1968! Multiply your load by one tenth and that is the increment you should use for that case. So a 6BR, 30gX.1= .3 increment, a 7mm Mag. 77grX.1=7.7 ,or a 22 Hornet 14g.X.1=1.4. This is the minimum increment that it will take to effect a change depending on the size of the case. Two things I always do when starting with new brass, especially as of late, is make a note of the head diameter and the headspace of the new case. That way I know how the new brass is reacting to my loads.
Correct that you don't know me does not mean you guys can call me rookies and whatever you like to call people when an issue arises and slam them on their posts when someone asks for help with an issue. I would not be calling you out or call you a rookie, or say you should not be reloading or don't have any knowledge on reloading or say you don't have any background on reloading skills, etc, etc, but I would try to help you out with the issue, but I see some on here act like big shots. ;-)
Hunting, orange box.
Wash the bolt is the only thing you would do? Geez, with the cratering around the firing pin hole on the bolt face is an accident waiting to happen, look at the pics. I would send the rifle / bolt off to get the bolt face fixed before I attempt to shoot this rifle again.
I'm sorry, just trying to explain what happened to that one case. It certainly looks like something other than powder was liquefied when that round was fired. The rest of your cases look OK. Todays brass is made so it will fit all rifles and it's usually undersized. That's why I recommend knowing your brass dimensions before working up loads. It's not unusual to see cases stretching several thousands to fit a chamber even a custom chamber. This is not alarming but normal. In the case of the 6PPC look at how much stretching is going on to fireform the case from a 220 Russian!After I clean the case necks, I turn the case upside down and tap a few times to make sure there is no foreign material, try to wrap a thin strip of fine steel wool on a 30 caliber bronze brush and see how hard its to take it off. You make it sound like I use a big wad of steel wool inside the necks.
RCBS, Sinclair and others make case neck brushes.....they are nylon. While some use bronze to get the necks down to virgin brass....I WANT the carbon layer for lubricity......and to impede the bullet from cold welding to the case over time. If you insist on bronze I would only use premium bronze brushes like Pro-Shot, Harts, or Dewey. I have seen the cheaper ones start shedding bristles on their first pass down the bore. Keep in mind the bronze brushes were not designed to be spun by power tools even at moderate rpms.
Yes, it looks like a liquid form flowing from the primer, like a chemical reaction, its weird looking though.
Of course virgin brass has a smaller volume than fired brass, so I make sure I start low and work up.
That is so true, I have seen bronze brushes shed their bristles, I never use them to clean my barrels, only the nylon brushes. Most of the time I load and shoot the next few days or so, but I never thought carbon layer in the necks would benefit, but I'll keep that in mind. Thanks
ELD_X has a longer bearing surface than the 210 VLD, its why I assumed the powder charge is fine. I used 77.6 grains for the ELD, no pressure signs at all. Check the pics.
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To be honest, I have no clue. My gunsmith should know, its why I am contacting him on Monday. No, I did not chamfer the primer pockets, only squared the pockets with a primer pocket uniformer.
Really? The ELD-X 212 bullet has a longer bearing surface than the VLD 210. The ELD-X 212 is longer and shot very well, under .3 MOA on my first trip to the range without any tweaking to seating depth or powder charges. Seated .020 off the lands. That would make a fine hunting bullet.
While there have been some good points made to the contrary, I see no signs of pressure on any of the xases and most seem quite mild. There has been an issue with some primers doing exactly as the op's primers have...albeit, I did think the issue was limited to winchester primers. I would do as some have suggested and contact the primer manufacturer. I have heard of them paying for the bolt repair, too.
Based on the lack of pressure signs along with the issue having been identified in other rifles, I think it was a very rare bad primer.
Based on the lack of pressure signs along with the issue having been identified in other rifles, I think it was a very rare bad primer.
Now that is a primer fault. No flattening of the primer at all, round,uniform pin strike with no cratering, no sign of ejector swipe. I can see where you had a case. The OP, not so much. Not saying that I haven't done it, but switching bullets without backing down the charge could contribute, as well as mismatching load data from different sources. I wish you luck with whatever you do, but I wouldn't try to push that rifle/cartridge combo any further.
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