Pin hole in primers

[justoutdoors]

I've got a 338 rem ultra mag in which I have reloaded for and had 3 primers develop a pin head sized hole in the edge of the primer melting some brass as well as the some of the face of the bolt, these are Federal 215m primers. these loads for this gun are below max and show no extraction difficulty. I suspect the age of the primers may be an issue, but the age is not known at this time(a friend of my son gave him 5000 primers) but am not certain. I'm using new Remington brass .
Does anyone have any ideas what would cause this to happen?

 

[Eaglet]

Anyone?

 

[ss7mm]

When you say "below max" do you mean according to a reloading manual or according to your observations and field tested data?

Have you chronographed any of the problem loads and if so, how did the velocities compare to what you normally have been showing?

Did you do any case prep on the brass before loading?

Can you remember how the primers felt when seating them?

 

[Gunpoor]

It sounds like these primers are wrong somehow. They might be old or defective or whatever but I would advise trying new primers. I have loaded the 338RUM and used Win. Magnum rifle primers without any problems.

 

[AJ Peacock]

When you say "below max" do you mean according to a reloading manual or according to your observations and field tested data?

Have you chronographed any of the problem loads and if so, how did the velocities compare to what you normally have been showing?

Did you do any case prep on the brass before loading?

Can you remember how the primers felt when seating them?

Is there any chance you deburred the inside of the primer hole? Or increased the primer hole in any way? I've seen this lead to all sorts of pressure/primer problems.

AJ

 

[gamehauler]

AJ,
How, Why
I thought this was a recommended step
for consistent ignition?

Mike

 

[AJ Peacock]

AJ,
How, Why
I thought this was a recommended step
for consistent ignition?

Mike

I saw a primer HOLE tool that made the holes too big and caused more pressure back into the primer. Done correctly, deburring only helps.

AJ

 

[justoutdoors]

This was brand new brass I only resized it , I did nothing with the flash hole. There were no indications of pressure. The primers are not cratered, easy extraction of cases from the chamber. As far as chrongraphing I haven't got to that yet. The load was under a max load in the manual. checked C.O.L. all was good. According to the specs.
Also the Primers all felt good and snug when I put them in

Thanks for all replies

 

[boomtube]

"Does anyone have any ideas what would cause this to happen?"

Yeah. It's defective primers. The cups are either too thin or too brittle and the pin holes develop at the bend of the skirt to the top of the cap. I had a similar brick of Remington primers to do the same thing years ago. Don't think it's dangerous but those little burn marks on the bolt are unsightly and the smoke in my face was disconcerting. I pulled the bullets, dumped the powder, pushed the bad caps out, replaced them, then reassembled several boxes of ammo. "Oh, bother!", said Poo. And me too.

Hopefully, you can exchange what's left. If the dealer won't take them back, and he may not, contact the maker and expain your problem; they should replace them.

If that won't work, you are stuck, like me. I religated mine to low pressure cartridges; 45-70, 30-30 and .35 Rem. They do fine for that.

 

[justoutdoors]

"Does anyone have any ideas what would cause this to happen?"

Yeah. It's defective primers. The cups are either too thin or too brittle and the pin holes develop at the bend of the skirt to the top of the cap. I had a similar brick of Remington primers to do the same thing years ago. Don't think it's dangerous but those little burn marks on the bolt are unsightly and the smoke in my face was disconcerting. I pulled the bullets, dumped the powder, pushed the bad caps out, replaced them, then reassembled several boxes of ammo. "Oh, bother!", said Poo. And me too.

Hopefully, you can exchange what's left. If the dealer won't take them back, and he may not, contact the maker and expain your problem; they should replace them.

If that won't work, you are stuck, like me. I religated mine to low pressure cartridges; 45-70, 30-30 and .35 Rem. They do fine for that.

Those were my suspicions but I wanted a confirmation on this, Thanks a bunch Boomtube. At least the primers didn't me cost anything.