Primer falling out? Dangerous situation?

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BigK75

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Quick question guys:

I made some bullets for a friend of mine. It was .223 remington with winchester small rifle primers. I was using 26.5 grains of Varget Powder and 55 grain SP bullets.

My buddy had once fired brass. We had reloaded them once and then on the second reload, I noticed that some of the primers had a tough time going in. I pressed harder and eventually they went in. My buddy fired them and there was a mis-fire when he took it out after 60 secs and the primer fell off. Of 50 bullets this happened to 3 bullets. I think this is a super dangerous situation, am I right? What could be causing this?

Thanks,

Claude
 
Sounds like your load is developing excessive pressure. Expanded primer pockets are a pretty sure indicator that your pressure is way too high.

If you check any reloading manual it will give you suggestions for what might be causing it. I would pull whatever remaining bullets you've got and start over, this time reducing the powder charge by fifteen percent (15%). Work up from there. (BTW, throw out (do not re-use) the brass with the expanded primer pockets - they're scrap.)
 
Very common problem in high pressure loads, I see this a lot in my 7m Rum, and 30-378. Bottom line your pressure is high.
I know the brass is done when the primers will not seat properly, and they fall out. However i get 3-4 Xs fired from mine.
 
FYI, Federal brass is notorious for loosening primer pockets after a few loads, even if pressures are not unduly high.

It doesn't make sense that your primers are having a tough time seating and then falling out after being fired. Are you using military brass? Military brass has a crimp on the primer pocket that must be removed. (I use a simple neck de-burring tool or a primer pocket uniforming tool for this job.)

I like to always make sure that my pockets are clean and uniform before seating a primer. These days, I use a pocket uniforming tool for cleaning, uniforming -- everything. I simply chuck it into a power drill and run it into a primer pocket after I've decapped a case.
 
Something isn't right here. Hodgdon's data shows that you are a full grain below maximum. By any chance are you using mil-spec brass? It sounds like you had cases with crimped primer pockets and you tried to push the primer past the crimp.
 
Yesterday I noticed there was a piece of powder stuck in the Lee hand priming tool. Once I took it out the primers started going in easily do you think that misalignment might have caused the primer to get crushed on the way in?

Thanks for all the help guys.

Claude
 
He had stated that they were misfires, and when the shooter took the round out after waiting the appropriate time, the primer fell out of the case. There was no indication that they backed out due to firing.

Make it a habit to look at the primer after seating to make sure it has not gone in sideways, upside down, etc.... I have crushed a few primers due to having it turn on its side in the Lee Primer, you can usually tell right away as it genarally makes it tough to get the case off the shell holder. If, when you are priming, some primers just slip right in with no resistance then cull the case. I have had a few 7mm and 22-250 cases that I tossed due to primers that were moving around in the primer pocket, and these were only after 1 or 2 firings.

Paulinski said:
I think anything over 26 grains in .223/5.56 is very warm load.
Click to expand...
26.5 grns of Varget with a 55grn bullet is well under max load.
Bullet Weight (Gr.).......Order BW....... Powder....... Bullet Diam........... C.O.L........... Grs........... Vel. (ft/s).......... Pressure............. Grs
55 GR. SPR SP................. 55............ Varget.......... . .224".......... 2.200"............. 25.5............. 3174.............. 41,300 CUP.......... 27.5C
 
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Miss fires?
Flash hole plugged?
I think the guys are on the money with the military brass. If you are using a warm load, and you add military brass, you suddenly have a HOT load.
Plus, military brass has a primer crimp, making seating more difficult.
IMO, you should get nice new brass and work up a new load.
 
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