Primer catastrophic failure in Tikka T3 CTR 223rem

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bearhunter

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Took the Tikka CTR to the range today to sight it in with the new to me Zeiss scope. This rifle loves 77 grain Berger HP ELD bullets and its 1-8 twist barrel accomodates them well, even if I do have to seat them deeper than I like to be able to use the magazine.

It's not really a problem as the powder charge that's safe isn't being compressed.

My charge is 24.0 grains of BLC2 over CCI450 primers.

I had put about 20 rounds downrange without a hiccup and everything looked good. No flattened primers, no craters, all was well.

When I took the last shot, I felt something on my face and it felt like dust.

When I tried to extract the case, no extraction.

Dropped the mag and tried again, nothing.

Pulled the bolt and the extractor/plunger and spring weren't in it and the face of the bolt was BLACK with carbon fouling.

Luckily, the extractor and plunger were just laying loose in the lug recess but the plunger spring had disappeared.

When I looked inside the receiver with a flashlight, the case was still in the chamber but the primer was nowhere to be seen.

I tilted the rifle up so that I could catch the extractor and plunger, which were fine, and the case just dropped out of the chamber.

No pressure signs on the case, other than the rear end was covered in soot.


So when I got home, I installed another primer in the pocket of the offending case and it was "tight"

Measured the case and compared it to the others and they were identical, no expansion or signs of an expansion ring.

This rifle has a tight chamber.

Luckily I had a spring that will work until I can find an original replacement so I could put the extractor assembly back into working order.

This is the first time I've had a primer fail in such a drastic manner, without any signs to give me a reason for the failure.

Now to find a Tikka bolt parts kit for this bolt.

None of the suppliers in the US have any in stock so I'll try Stoeger Canada.
 
Wow...So a primer with a defect just atomized itself?

Happy you're okay and the rifle took care of you. Bummer about the bolt parts though, but overall it held up well eh?
 
24 grains of BLC2 is a decent charge and if the bullet was set back any amount greater than your regular load could go from mild to wild in a hurry.
How does your firing pin look?
 
Wow! Glad you are OK. Yet another good reminder for everyone to always wear eye protection when shooting!

Was the bullet seated into the lands, or off lands?

Before the incident did you get some chronograph data for that load to see how it compares to the reloading manual's max charge velocity?

In my comparison tests of CCI 450 mag primers (in my 6.5 x 47L), they produce about 20 to 40 fps faster per charge weight compared to Federal 205 Match primers.
 
Wondering about the spring and when it came out?
Check the barrel bore for any signs of the spring being pushed down bore when the last shell was fired. Also check the barrel for any sign of bulge.
It is possible a part of spring was wedged between shell base and bolt face when fired.
Wear safety glasses and gloves when testing.
 
Pushing that 77 Berger into the case to make the mag length will raise pressure too.. did you check your load in the Berger manual ? Or just guessed it will be alright ?
What about the case ? New - once fired - mixed head stamp - military case ?
 
The load is safe in the Berger charts

The spring likely fell out and I didn't see where it went, when I pulled the bolt back initially. Maybe it broke up into bits?????

The flash hole wasn't blocked, the bullet even entered the same group on the target.

Bore is clear.

24.0 grains is on the high end of the chart, but I worked up to that accuracy node from 22.0 grains of BLC2.

The bullet is seated so it actually has about .065 in jump to the leade but in this case, with such a long bullet for caliber, the bullet is still in the neck of the case while entering, so OK.

I'm quite happy with the rifle's capability to handle this type of failure. The spring should be available somewhere. None of the normal suppliers have them in stock, including Stoeger. The spring I have will work but it doesn't have quite enough tension IMHO.

IMHO, the fault was the primer. There was nothing left of it to indicate why it failed.

My main reason for posting this was just to show that no matter how careful you are, components can and do fail.

I took the rifle out this morning, around 6:30 am, right after the rain stopped. It functions fine and shoots as accurately as ever.

I pulled all of the bullets, 80, last night, before posting and all of the powder charges were 24.0 grains on the nose. I weigh all of my CF rifle charges, rather than depend on the powder measure.

I reloaded five of them with 24.0 and ten with 23.0 grains of BLC2 over the same CCI450 primers. Slightly different points of impact between the two loads.

What I was looking for is to see how the primers looked after firing. If you put the two groups of cases beside each other, there is no visible difference, or measurable difference with a micrometor.

Suggested starting load is 22.0 grains and maximum load is listed at 24.7 grains of BLC2.

I'm hoping this is an unexplainable one off, due to component failure for whatever reason at the time. Temps during both times of firing was between 10-15C
 
Janeau said:
Pushing that 77 Berger into the case to make the mag length will raise pressure too.. did you check your load in the Berger manual ? Or just guessed it will be alright ?
What about the case ? New - once fired - mixed head stamp - military case ?
Click to expand...

That's a new one on me.

Where did you get this info???

Not saying it isn't true, just haven't run across it before.
 
bearhunter said:
That's a new one on me.

Where did you get this info???

Not saying it isn't true, just haven't run across it before.
Click to expand...

the Lyman reloading manual specifies min length for some of the high BC bullets and cautions against seating to mag length for use in semi auto match rifles. these rounds can be loaded to spec and dropped in through the ejection port. I think the 69gr sierra matchking is the longest bullet that can be loaded to mag length, longer bullets need to be seated out further.
 
I had a good primer scare myself while using an inertia puller years ago. I know the feeling of trying to figure out what happened. I’m glad you are ok. Don’t have much to add. Good reminder to wear glasses.
 
barsik said:
the Lyman reloading manual specifies min length for some of the high BC bullets and cautions against seating to mag length for use in semi auto match rifles. these rounds can be loaded to spec and dropped in through the ejection port. I think the 69gr sierra matchking is the longest bullet that can be loaded to mag length, longer bullets need to be seated out further.
Click to expand...

Thanx for this, much appreciated.

The rifle I'm using is a T3X CTR but I'm still cutting back the powder charge a bit, just in case the load was to hot.

I don't believe it was but erring on the side of caution is not a bad way to go.
 
todbartell said:
What's the velocity of the 24gr BLC2 77gr load?

Good thing you were wearing eye protection!
Click to expand...

Velocities are just under 2600fps in my rifle.

I have to wear eye protection or I can't see anything past two meters. I'm very near sighted, so glasses, large enough to protect my eyes are a must.
 
That doesn't sound like a very hot load, I shoot 75gr @ 2670 fps with 4895 powder and there's definitely not high PSI

Certainly was something up with either the primer or the casing. Could there of possibly been some stuck media from tumbling in the case?
 
You cannot compare BLC2 load with 4895. Some powder will reach max pressure before giving you the velocity someone seek. Not all powder are suitable for max velocity with normal pressure for a given load.

24 gr of powder ( max 24.7 stated) with a 77 pushed back in the case, that enough to be over pressure. OPs should get his data from a Berger reloading manual…. Then if bullet is pushed back..powder charge have to be reduced.
 
BLC2 is slower burning than 4895, so if he's getting lower velocity than I am with 4895, in the same length barrel, with an almost identical bullet, the PSI of his powder charge did not make the primer nuke

the CTR has a very long magazine length (at least 2.45") so I doubt he's having to seat the 77gr deeper than SAAMI spec length
 
todbartell said:
That doesn't sound like a very hot load, I shoot 75gr @ 2670 fps with 4895 powder and there's definitely not high PSI

Certainly was something up with either the primer or the casing. Could there of possibly been some stuck media from tumbling in the case?
Click to expand...

I wash my cases with Lemshine but don't tumble them in media.

The powder in the case was ignited and the bullet went into the same group as the rest, so the flame hole wasn't blocked.

These cases have been reloaded a few times but are still quite ductile. The primers are pushed out and the pockets get cleared with the decapping pin.

I agree with your assessment, there was a malfunction with the primer itself. I mentioned I put another primer into the offending case and it was tight.

I would love to say I'm 100% certain to have nailed down the failure but I've backed off my load to 23.0 grains of BLC2 and it hasn't had any negative effect on the accuracy or increased the group size but velocities have dropped to 2570 fps average over ten shots.
 
todbartell said:
BLC2 is slower burning than 4895, so if he's getting lower velocity than I am with 4895, in the same length barrel, with an almost identical bullet, the PSI of his powder charge did not make the primer nuke

the CTR has a very long magazine length (at least 2.45") so I doubt he's having to seat the 77gr deeper than SAAMI spec length
Click to expand...

The bullet is about .065 thou off the leade and still has enough room in the magazine so the cartridges don't bind.
 
Sounds like a one-off primer failure to me. Thin cup or improper heat treating maybe, who knows. Interesting experience and I'm glad you're no worse for wear.
 
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