.223 brass problems

[tlshootst]

Last weekend I took my son prairie dog shooting. He was shooting my Tikka varmint .223 On the second day of shooting we had just moved to a new dog town, the gun was cool, about 75 deg. day and he took about 3 shots then he said Outch, what was that? I ejected the bolt and the claw extracter was broken. The case had blown the primer back in pieces. Hot gasses hit his cheek right below his right eye. It didn't do any damage and didn't really bother him. I felt bad because I left the safty glasses at home. From now on we both will be wearing glasses, he was damm lucky. I have been reloading for 25 years and never had this happen with any of my reloads before. I just started loading for .223 this year. I never had one before, always shot 22-250 for years.
I had 200 rounds of brass from BlackHills(blue box) and 100 rounds of winchester brass(shot once) all mixed up in a pail. I loaded all the brass randomly with 21 grains of 4198 IMR Win. primer, 55 g. V-max. I noticed the BH brass about every 5 or 10 shots the primmer was pushed out a little or fell out when the case was ejected. When I seated the primmers with a RCBS hand primmer I noticed alot of the primmers seated in the case without much resistance, almost loose. The Win brass looks normal after being shot. I am going to pull the bullets and throw the rest of the BH brass away, I don't trust it. I shoud have been more suspect of the brass when the primmers seated so easily.
I didn't think mixing the brass up would matter with a mild load. I wasn't after 1/4" accuracy.
Anyone have any ideas on what went wrong?

 

[rdc]

While your pulling the bullet's check each charge and write the charge down and the case type.

Hodgon's max load for IMR 4198 is 20.4 3122fps 53,600 PSI.

Winchester 223 cases are know for having the most room in them. This equates to allowing more powder. If the BH cases were military they will definately hold less than the Win cases and would blow primers. FC and Rem cases also are quite a bit less than the Win. That is why we use the win cases to shoot 80g SMK at 600 yds.

Most 22-250 cases are about the same in case capacity. The same cannot be said about the 223!!

I have also over loaded before and lucky I was unhurt. I read the label on the cartidge notes wrong and loaded 53 g of H4895 instead of H4350 in a 270 win. The Tikka took it and there was no primer or rear of half the case. It was my wake up call and I had been reloading for 28 years!!

 

[britz]

My Speer #11 manual says that 22 gr of that powder is the max load, so if you are using thick brass it could cause a pressure build up. Also, maybe a silly thing to say, but if your case length is too long and hitting the rifleing this would also cause major pressure build ups. If your bullet is on the lands, it will cause a slight pressure build up too. But generally speaking, if you are experiencing loose primer pockets after a couple loadings, you are shooting a hot load for your rifle.
Good luck, Mark

 

[tlshootst]

I have the same speer manual. I thought 1 grain below max would be ok. I trimmed all the brass before loading and I'm shure the bullet is not seated into the lands. I should have started 2 grains below max. I have read millitary brass holds less powder than other brass. I'll stick with Win. brass from now on.
Thanks for the info.

 

[britz]

I would have thought you would be safe with 1 grain below max too, But there is only a 2 grain difference between them. The reason I thought you had a reletivily hot load was the damage done to your cases.
I haven't loaded for a huge amount of rifles, but I do know that some rifles will take a hotter load than others (I think mostly due to barrel twist, chamber demensions, headspace...). I would back off the powder a little adn see if you still have pressure signs. You have a good point on the mil brass too. THicker brass = less powder room = more pressure.
good luck, Mark.