Black smoke from gas vent hole. Should I be worried?

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woofer2609

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I am shooting a Ruger American 223. Very pleased with the accuracy of the rifle. I have been using this rifle as a test bed for my beginning reloading.
I was at the range yesterday, firing off some new loads with a new bullet variety.
Previously I have used Hornady 55gr #2265, but switched to #2266, same 55gr.
I am using Aguila brass that I give the primer pocket a *slight* chamfer with my RCBS deburring tool (common practice on all my brass).
I am using Hodgdon H335 powder as well as starting to use Hodgdon BLC(2).
I was shooting a load of 25gr of 335 behind a 55gr #2265 bullet. After firing, I noticed black smoke slowly escaping through the right hand side of the rifle from between the stock and action, and through the gas vent hole. The powder can it came in says Max load of 27.5gr, Lyman's says 25.1 gr., so either way I was within limits.
I left the bolt closed for 30 seconds, then opened it and ejected the case. It looked normal except for a very slight imperfection around where the primer was seated, the primer was slightly deformed, but not unlike anything I've seen before.
The black smoke was very slow moving, and there was a slight burnt plastic smell as well.
I inspected the bolt face and it looks as new.
Rifle went on to fire 10 more rounds fine.
Thoughts please. Should I be concerned?
 
Remove the primer from your problem round and inspect the primer and primer pocket. Check for any area that might have any gas leakage, you might have had a bad primer or primer pocket that allowed some leakage.

Never assume your primers and primer pockets do not have defects, and a magnifying glass on your reloading bench is good thing to have.

Also having a priming tool with good feel when seating primers will tell you more than you think.

All your primers should be seated below flush with a very slight primer crush that seats and preloads the primer anvil.

I uniform my primer pockets and this insures all the primers are seated to a uniform depth.

primerprimer_zps37434dbb.jpg
 
Thanks bigedp51 (looks like a P-51B).
Thanks for the above good info.
I always make sure my primers are dimpled (below the surface) I may have pressed one in too far. I'll remove and examine the suspect primer.
 
Sounds like the gas escaped from a primer.

Do other primers show flattening?

The fact that the books shows that your load was good in THEIR rifle in no way means it must be safe in yours. With your barrel and chamber that load could be over the limit.

As a beginner (or anyone one for that matter) you do not start test with max loads that might be way over max in your rifle.

Load 22.0, 22.5, 23.0, 23.5, 24.0, 24.5 and see how your rifle cycles and groups. With H335, one of my rifles is best with 22.5 and another with 24.5.

If you want some accuracy, try 68 or 69 gr match bullets. The BLC2 would be a better choice for them.
 
Ganderite said:
Sounds like the gas escaped from a primer.

Do other primers show flattening?

The fact that the books shows that your load was good in THEIR rifle in no way means it must be safe in yours. With your barrel and chamber that load could be over the limit.

As a beginner (or anyone one for that matter) you do not start test with max loads that might be way over max in your rifle.

Load 22.0, 22.5, 23.0, 23.5, 24.0, 24.5 and see how your rifle cycles and groups. With H335, one of my rifles is best with 22.5 and another with 24.5.

If you want some accuracy, try 68 or 69 gr match bullets. The BLC2 would be a better choice for them.
Click to expand...

This was a load I worked up to, always starting 10% below maximum. I've shot 50 or so rounds through at this (25.1 gr H335 load).
I think it was a case of an improperly seated primer, and yes, some gas escaped.

I punched out the primer and found this:
https://goo.gl/photos/ssEx3jTrCHpL9Ane9

It looks like the primer was punched through.
https://goo.gl/photos/HjybDaGNbNre7NJeA
I'm thinking I did not seat it deep enough, or it sat on an angle.
Thoughts?

The primers were CCI Small rifle primers.
And yes, from my results, H335 seems to work better with these 55gr pills better than BLC-(2)
 
I find using brass from cheaper ammo with crimped primers a bit of a pain. Even reaming primer pockets there is always some that are hard seating or crooked/ inconsistent for me anyway so I just chuck any that are suspect. Not worth damaging the bolt face for a cheap case and a 2 cent primer.
 
My initial reaction was burnt oil but I would still investigate further. It does tend to sit in locking lug recesses even after running a clean patch through and most use just a drop on the gas tube joint.
 
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