primers flattening with no other signs of pressure?

[ButterBean]

I have been measuring shoulder bump with my lock n load set and I have been about 3-5 thousandths bump as I do not want a stuck case during a hunt and would rather overwork the brass. Is that too much?

.002 is the standard but you'll be fine where your at

 

[Bigeclipse]

No I'm not saying that your doing anything wrong at all, it just looks really deep from that angle

That picture shows the unfired primer seated deep. How deep? Curious...
Also agree to look at headspace again and verify bump.
I had a primer uniformer go bad once and scrapped some brass.

Here is a picture of factory fired ammo from the same gun against the rounds i just loaded. The factory fired ammo is on the right. Both flatten a bit but the factory fired is less

 

[Wedgy]

The outside edges are still round and no real cratering yet so I would say you could still go up slowly and watch for the other signs then call it a day.

 

[19 Badger]

I haven't been real impressed with Winchester rifle primers. Sold what I had on Gunbroker. Lol. Like mentioned before, they look like they are seated deep, I had a hard time getting them to go in for enough on Hornady 6.5 brass. I like them seated anywhere from .004"-.007" below is what I shoot for. A little less shoulder bump maybe too.

 

[Bigeclipse]

I haven't been real impressed with Winchester rifle primers. Sold what I had on Gunbroker. Lol. Like mentioned before, they look like they are seated deep, I had a hard time getting them to go in for enough on Hornady 6.5 brass. I like them seated anywhere from .004"-.007" below is what I shoot for. A little less shoulder bump maybe too.

How do you even measure the depth? I have never measured to be honest. Lastly, how would you control the depth using a hand primer? If you cant, is there some other priming solution I should be using? Thanks!

 

[19 Badger]

With good brass (lapua,Peterson etc.) and good primer (Federal, CCI) I get very consistant seating measurements. I just use the end of my caliper to check that it is seated below flush. When I used Winchester and Hornady brass the measurements were all over the place...

 

[Bigeclipse]

With good brass (lapua,Peterson etc.) and good primer (Federal, CCI) I get very consistant seating measurements. I just use the end of my caliper to check that it is seated below flush. When I used Winchester and Hornady brass the measurements were all over the place...

ok. I only use lapua brass for the most part. Do you use a hand primer or something else?

 

[antelopedundee]

I am not. I heard lapua brass was pretty uniform for primer pockets. I am seating as deep as my hand seater allows. That is how I was tauYou're doing ok with your seating.ght and never had an issue. Every primer I have ever seated looks that deep. Have I been doing it wrong?!?

You're doing ok with your primer seating.

 

[19 Badger]

I just use a hand primer..RCBS

 

[twister]

Is this a new rifle? Did you really clean it very well some solids don't play well with all jackets even if it was only shot for proofing. If not new did you see pressure issues before?

 

[Plinker147]

Some primers show pressure easier than others. It looks like those are Remington's? I haven't used any so I cant say how those react. but a flat primer is telling you there is pressure. I have flattened primer on low end book loads and the pressure signs were correct. Copper bullets can build pressure on low end book loads. I would chrono if you can to see where your at. I would also go through other options that have been mentioned before increasing charge loads. I would not increase powder charge until you have figure a few of the other parameters out.

 

[Bigeclipse]

Some primers show pressure easier than others. It looks like those are Remington's? I haven't used any so I cant say how those react. but a flat primer is telling you there is pressure. I have flattened primer on low end book loads and the pressure signs were correct. Copper bullets can build pressure on low end book loads. I would chrono if you can to see where your at. I would also go through other options that have been mentioned before increasing charge loads. I would not increase powder charge until you have figure a few of the other parameters out.

They are Winchester primers in lapua brass. I am using 131 grain Hammer Hunter bullets which supposedly have lower engraving pressure than like weighted mono bullets so typically can reach speeds of 100fps faster than other bullets which I am not near yet. These are 131 grain hammer hunter bullets and the low end charge was 40 grains of varget producing 2700fps speeds while the charge I worked up to was 43.6 grains varget and produced 2875fps. ALL the primers, no matter the charge, look like that including with other bullets I have loaded. Also, that being said, I did post a picture above of a factory fired round as well and you can see that one flattened a bit as well. Not as much as the reloads though. This is out of a 21inch barrel for a 7mm08 so definitely on the shorter side.

 

[ButterBean]

I wouldn't worry about it ,I'd just keep shooting

 

[Orange Dust]

it is as deep as the primers can go and they all look like that. Maybe a funny angle or maybe they are all too deep? Can too deep primer be a problem?

Most likely culprit is headspace. In this case created by pushing the shoulder back too far. Not the only thing that could cause it, just the most likely.