Bad primer?

[Restoule]

Hello everyone, first time posting here. I come to this forum all the time but couldn't find my answer this time so I decided to join! Reloading is awesome so far, I've been doing it for about two months. Almost made my money back from the initial investment. So here goes my question. I had a really funny sounding shot when I fired one of my reloaded rounds. Inspected the case before firing another round and the primer had a pin hole through the corner of it. Sadly it damaged my bolt. Was this pin hole caused by something I did, or just a faulty primer? I ended up firing the rest of my rounds and out of 250 rounds only one did this. Anyways, here's a few pictures.

 

[Black Tail Hunter]

I have had this happen 1 time. My caliber is notorious for blowing primer pockets out thus the primer wont seat tight like it should. I suspect that piece of brass had a loose primer pocket and that's why it leaked out the back. When you seat your primers pay special attention to how the primer feels when you seat it. If it feels like it goes in too easy then your pocket is probably compromised and you should discard that piece of brass.

 

[Restoule]

I tried to get pictures of it in detail. But that's what I thought at first, I made a tool to shrink the pockets back to original size(benefits of being a machinist). It works awesome for the ones that seem loose. This case in particular was not loose as it doesn't have the ring cause by my tool. The primer actually had a hole in it. The gas didn't escape along the side of it. I have decapped some live primers, is there anyway I could of damaged the primer?

 

[Black Tail Hunter]

Oh, well in that case I bet it was a primer anomaly. Not likely something you did by seating it IMO.

 

[Dosh]

R, is the gray stuff around the primer a sealer?

 

[Restoule]

No its carbon around the radius. No sealer. It was a wlrm primer. I think I'm going to use the fed 215m. Kind of sad that it damaged my rifle. Anyone had issues with the winchester primers?

 

[Rich Coyle]

The only ones I had pierce were Winchester. Federal 215 magnums are hotter. You might have to back off a grain or two with them.

 

[Restoule]

I'm thinking you're right. I put the old primer into the case again to see if it was loose. It was tight so I put it into a case that I knew was loose and it was still loose. So I guess it was just a bad primer. I love everything about Winchester. It just sucks that the first batch of primers I buy from them was bad. I want to see if anyone else had problems with them?

 

[Restoule]

Sorry that was for black tail Hunter.

 

[Restoule]

Is not the load. I shot 72 grains of retumbo with minimal signs of pressure. These loads were 69 grains. I don't have a chronometer but the accuracy is way better with the lower load.

 

[Gunpoor]

I have used Winchester primers in handguns and rifles for 20 years of reloading, from 204Ruger to 338RUM and have never had a primer do that. I don't know what would cause all the carbon on the case head of your fired brass, but this tells me something isn't normal. It looks as though the carbon ring is from hot gases leaking between the primer and primer pocket. I have never had carbon on the case heads but have had carbon on the case body from low pressure loads that didn't stretch the brass enough to seal the chamber. There is definitely something weird going on with your handloads.

 

[Rich Coyle]

I have used Winchester primers in handguns and rifles for 20 years of reloading, from 204Ruger to 338RUM and have never had a primer do that. I don't know what would cause all the carbon on the case head of your fired brass, but this tells me something isn't normal. It looks as though the carbon ring is from hot gases leaking between the primer and primer pocket. I have never had carbon on the case heads but have had carbon on the case body from low pressure loads that didn't stretch the brass enough to seal the chamber. There is definitely something weird going on with your handloads.

It the bad primer, not his loads; except the use of that bad primer.

 

[LoneTraveler]

Been There Done That and my 700's got the scars to prove it. Many years ago I bought about 300 Large rifle primers. I am not sure of the brand now. I loaded a box of 20 cases for my 270 Win. Out of the first 8 shells 3 of the primers had black rings around the primer 360 degrees. Right in the bend of the cup a small hole not much larger than a hair. Looked at the bolt face, Had 3 gas cuts. Pulled the rest of the bullets out of shells. To save cases, bullets, and my bolt face. Junked the primers and kept a primer box so I not buy that lot again. Something about the primer cup material, Either impurities in the brass or the annealing was off and the cup cracked when it was formed. Crap Happens.

 

[Gene]

The gray ring between primer pocket and primer makes me wonder. Carbon would be black. Did you seal the primer in place? Defect in the primer pocket? Perhaps bad primer. Any other primers from that lot do the same?

If it etched the bolt face, your rifle is not ruined, and will continue to shoot fine.