Winchester primers rupturing. Help!

[SaskShooter]

Second time this has happened now. Once with my .243, once with my shiny new .300 mag. The primer seems to have blown out a small pinhole right on its edge. I'm not loading hot, and the only similarity between the two instances is that I was using the same Winchester WLR primers in both loads.

The primers rupturing is bad enough, but what's worse is that both of my rifles now have a little dent in the bolt face!

Is this OK, or do I have to FSU down at Winchester?

 

[Kevin Thomas]

There's actually two components to take a look at here; the case, and the primer. I've seen both give results like this. If the case is defective (usually a gall in teh wall of the primer pocket) it can allow gas to escape, creating this result. If it's the primer, I've seen small pinholes in the anulus or radius of the primer cup rupture, again resulting in this sort of damage.

Since you've seen it in two different chamberings (and obviously two different lots of brass), this leaves the primers. If the same primers were used in both the 243 and 300, I'd say that points out the problem pretty clearly.

Save the box, and give Winchester a call. They'll ask for the lot number, which will be marked on the box. Talk to them and see what they may be able to do for you, both in terms of replaceing the primers and possibly repairing the bolt faces.

 

[runshort]

Second time this has happened now. Once with my .243, once with my shiny new .300 mag. The primer seems to have blown out a small pinhole right on its edge. I'm not loading hot, and the only similarity between the two instances is that I was using the same Winchester WLR primers in both loads.

The primers rupturing is bad enough, but what's worse is that both of my rifles now have a little dent in the bolt face!

Is this OK, or do I have to FSU down at Winchester?

I realize this post was about a year ago but had the same problem this weekend with WLR primers.
Was the lot # CLL552G? The primers appeared to have a pin hole on the edge. And yes it did not do the bolt face on either rifle any good.
One rifle was a .25-06 Ruger with W - W cases and the other a .280 Rem. Using Remington brass.
Both loads were from 1.5 to 2.0 grains below book maximum and the same lot of primers.
Just wondering if you contacted Winchester on this and if so what was there response?
Thanks

 

[baldhunter]

Seems to happen to me too,about one in every fifty rounds or so in various rifles.I think Winchester primers are slightly smaller in diameter than other primers.If your primer pocket starts to get enlarged,this is when it happens.

 

[Ridgerunner665]

Its the brass cups on the primers... And a common occurrence, I've chosen to not use primers with brass cups.

 

[RickInFL]

That's happened to me on my Remington 700 5R and my M1A with WLR primers, I have a couple of thousand on hand that will not get used unless I absolutely have to. It has also happened with a couple of people over on the M1A forums I frequent while they were using WLRs.

 

[11 Charlie]

It happened to me in my .300 WBY.I called and they asked for the lot number. I thought I would be asked a lot of questions on loading, etc. but they just told me to pack them up and they would send UPS over to get them.They replaced the primers and told me they would fix the bolt face damage. The caveat was I had to send the gun to Weatherby, pay to fix it on my dime, then send them the invoice after it was paid in full. I talked with Weatherby and they offered to bill Winchester. I went back and forth but Winchester wouldn't bend and they wouldn't talk to Weatherby either. I gave up as I have a family and limited funds and I had a stroke not long after that and, at the time, I wasn't sure I would be around after the gun was fixed months later. The gun works fine as it was just cosmetic damage and Thank God I can still shoot it!

 

[SaskShooter]

Wow, guys haha thanks for the responses now!

In my experience, I had a couple more occurrences of ruptured primers since, but no serious damage. When I contacted Winchester, they were very apologetic and gave me contact info get the primers replaced and gun repaired. Unfortunatey, I didn't wind up pursuing it any further after contacting them because of limited funds and time.

 

[Jerry M]

Happened to me too! Worked up a load in my 40X in 6.5 Remington Magnum. I knew it was hot but backed off from the maximum charge on this rifle and settled on a load using the silver WW primers. Loaded about 300 with the brass ones and started popping primers left and right. Etched the crap out of my bolt face. I even pulled some of the 140 grain bullets and tried 100 grain, with the same results. You know what a pain in the a** it is to pull down 300 cases and re-prime them!!! Switched to CCI-250 without any further problems.

My advise is to get rid of these primers.

 

[Rich Coyle]

Winchesters are the only primer I had the experience with. I would use them only if I could not get good primers.

 

[Dgd6mm]

I bought 5000 of them about 5-6 years ago. I had quite a few do this in different calibers , new and used brass. My buddies and I bought at the same time and had them shipped together to save cost. All 4 of us experienced this.... Bad Primers, nothing else, I quit shooting them. Since I have bought the WSR primer and shoot them in my FTR .223, no issues what so ever. gun)

 

[DocB]

I've been considering WLRM primers due to availability locally. Has anyone experienced rupturing issues like these with WLRM?

Thanks, DocB

 

[Rich Coyle]

I've been considering WLRM primers due to availability locally. Has anyone experienced rupturing issues like these with WLRM?

Thanks, DocB

They seem to be okay.

 

[LoneTraveler]

My 700 Rem. 270 Win has a few gouges in the bolt face from this happening back about 1980 with some bad primers. Not sure what make they were now. There was small hole blown out right in the 90 degree bend in the primer cup. The metal the cups was make from was not annealed enough and small cracks must have occurred in forming. Then on firing they allowed a jet of gas to come through the primer into the bolt face. I have had no problem with WLRM primers so far in my 338 WM, or 300 WSM.