Never seen a primer do this before.....

[moa_shooter]

that is what happens when your firing pin hits the primer to hard

 

[Stgraves260]

View attachment 147806 View attachment 147807 View attachment 147808 I was shooting some some loads today to try my new Lapua brass and I had two primers come out of the rifle looking like this. A guy at the range tried to tell me I had really old primers, like over twenty years old. They are Federal Small Rifle GMM, I have had them less then a year. Has any one seen this before and know what causes this? I have been shooting most of my life and reloading for a large part of it, I have never seen this before. The primer pockets where very tight when loading them, not sure if that's a factor.

I can tell you this just by looking at your pics. All of those loads are over charged. I can see what I call the ring of death. If you are not using temp stable powders then you can be in even bigger trouble. You definitely need to lower your charge. The hole in your primer is not do to the firing pin striking the primer to hard. It's caused by over charging your hand loads. Once the firing pin hits the primer it's locked down and don't move. Now when the powder ignites the gases escape through the path of least resistance. First the bullet end then the blow back is so extreme it's trying to blow the primer out of the primer pocket but the firing pin is in the way and it doesn't move so therefore it punctures a hole in the primer. For your safety Please!!! back your charge down.

 

[yorke-1]

As deep as the fireing pin indents are on all of the cases, I would measure the firing pin protrusion before I changed anything with my load to see if it's a bit on the long side. Call Ruger to see what the spec is.

Yep, check the protrusion. I just recently saw a rifle that was piercing primers and this is what I found.

If that pin were sticking out any farther it would have hit the base of the bullet! Too much pin protrusion will punch through a primer no matter what the pressures are like.

 

[bigedp51]

I have a Remington 700 30-06 that has a beveled firing pin hole in the bolt face like pictured below. And it creates your "ring of death" every time I fire a round and its not from over pressure.

The same "ring" on the primer can happen if the firing pin hole in the bolt face is a larger diameter than the firing pin. The cure for this if it causes problems is to have the bolt bushed

Below a Remington 700 bolt face with a bushed firing pin hole that is now smaller in diameter. And now the primer will not flow around the firing pin and into the firing pin hole. (your ring of death) And again this is not caused by high chamber pressure but by a sloppy firing pin fit in the bolt face that allows the primer to flow into the firing pin hole.

 

[MASH]

So I just pulled the bolt to look at the pin, haven't measured it yet nor have I got the spec from Ruger. I will try and get that tomorrow. I will stop by my LGS and see if have some CCI450's and give those a try. I would really like to make this brass work. I haven't thrown out all my others just yet.

 

[Randy Tidwell]

I have a Panda chambered in 6 Dasher, the only primer that would not blank was CCI 450s. (I hate CCI primers)

So I had the bolt bushed, solved the problem.

If you continue shooting it that way, will erode the bolt face. Change primers or have it bushed.

I also did not see any pressure signs in your photos.

 

[talltexanrancher]

A lot of great insight here. My 2 cents (from the school of hard knocks):
1. load is too hot
2. headspace issues
3. firing pin is defective in some way.
In your case, I vote strongly for #1.

 

[rsnell]

Hornady, 10th ed., lists 41.5 grains for a 140-143 grain bullet and Nosler, Guide 8, list 41,0 grains for a 140-

 

[rsnell]

Nosler, reloading guide 8, lists 41.0 grains of H4350 for a 140-142 grain bullet. Hornady, 10 edition, list 41.5 grains of H44350 for a 140-143 grain bullet.

 

[bigedp51]

From the Sierra reloading manual.

 

[SergeantD]

View attachment 147806 View attachment 147807 View attachment 147808 I was shooting some some loads today to try my new Lapua brass and I had two primers come out of the rifle looking like this. A guy at the range tried to tell me I had really old primers, like over twenty years old. They are Federal Small Rifle GMM, I have had them less then a year. Has any one seen this before and know what causes this? I have been shooting most of my life and reloading for a large part of it, I have never seen this before. The primer pockets where very tight when loading them, not sure if that's a factor.

Looks like your primers are not seated below flush and the firing pin is hitting them excessively hard. Whereas other primers look normal. Did you uniform the pockets? You said these were tight. Primers should seat not loose nor tight. If this continues you will ruin the bolt face.

 

[MASH]

Looks like your primers are not seated below flush and the firing pin is hitting them excessively hard. Whereas other primers look normal. Did you uniform the pockets? You said these were tight. Primers should seat not loose nor tight. If this continues you will ruin the bolt face.

They are seated fully, picture is probably a little deceiving.

 

[Bret GRAVELINE Graveline]

That happens fairly frequently with the 17 rem, remington came up with the 7 1/2 br primer which had thicker cups to cure the problem, I've been a 17 aholic for well over 40 years, I always felt the need to have two, the problem with that was someone I hunted with felt they needed one more than I needed two, in all i have owned a even ten, two remingtons six sakos a ruger number 1 and a kimber, virtually every one when approaching max loads suffered from this problem, switching to the 7 1/2 fixed the problem, they were not always the most accurate primer but more than good enough and reliable, but problem with punched primers was your end up with liners bullets inside the boot which often caused unsecured even after just one, so he sure to check for this, also the pearced primers blew a little carbon into the bolt which tended to ****** the firing pin strike, also causing misfires.

 

[MASH]

So I was finally able to get some new loads made up with some CCI 450's. Been busy helping out other people with some archery elk hunts. Hoping to try these maybe Tomorrow after work. I'll post the results of the new primer.