30-30: Popping Primers - Factory Ammo

This can also happen if you are not holding the lever tight against the stock when you are sitting at the bench target shooting. If your thumb isn't around the top of the wood tight, when you pull the trigger the bolt will move back a small amount and the result will look just like your pictures.

I broke my wrist very badly when I was a kid and it healed slightly off where it should be. When I sit at a bench with a straight lever action stock it becomes very painful to me after about 10 shots so most of my hunting levers have a pistol grip style stock which is comfortable to shoot.

Probably not your problem since it is only a certain type of brass but I thought I would add it for information's sake if some else ran into the problem down the road.
 
H4831 said:
I wish he would have explained "popped" primers better, or better yet, post a picture.
In shooting lingo, popping primers means you have been out shooting.
Does he mean they are punctured, protruding, leaking, blown out of the case, or what?
With a rimmed cartridge, like his 30-30, headspace is controlled by the extractor and how far the cartridge is from the bolt face when it's in the loaded position.
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Thank you H4831 - your statements and advice were spot on. I emailed Henry Rifles this morning and they suspected the same thing - headspace, likely a bolt issue. Turned out it could have been the extractor and/or the bolt. As for the bolt, I will never know as I went to Cabelas in the afternoon and the rifle was replaced without question. They also made the statement that it was the first replacement (Henry) they had ever done. The extractor failing the previous night at the range the evening before sealed the deal.

Later, I received emails from Henry, including the President (Anthony himself), whom wrote emphatically that they were going to make arrangements to replace the rifle. Now that's customer service.

They want to know the results of the replacement rifle. Once it stops raining here.
 
I have had headspace issues with two different M94 Winchesters. Both were bought new.

One was/is so tight that some lots of brass will not chamber. I need brass with thin rims.

The other seemed to be hugely excessive. I phone Winchester and they questioned that I really knew what headspace was. I sent the rifle in. They acknowledged that it had an incorrect part and headspace was huge. It is fine now.

With a new rifle, deal with the problem. The manufacturer wants to know about it.
 
Maximum headspace ie the distance from the back of the shell to the front of the bolt face should not exceed .004" or a bit more for a high pressure round and on lower pressure shells you can get away with perhaps up to .010" but you will have primers protruding and you are walking on shaky ground in my opinion. Not sure what the Henry is like that you are shooting but it sounds like either the head space is excessive/ rim recess is too deep or you have some slack in the linkage to the bolt

cheers mooncoon
 
Low pressure loads

sobo4303 said:
Went to range today. Fired off 40 rounds...all is well. The new rifle performs flawlessly and NO protruding primers.

Thank you Cabelas and Henry Rifle Corp.
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Primers backed out usually indicate primer pressure exceeds cartridge pressure and is easily fixed by increasing powder charge or buying better quality ammo. If rifle had headspace problem a light colored ring would form forward of the rim. When a primed cartridge is fired without powder charge and bullet you get backed-out primers.
 
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