Primer pressure signs

Y

yukon280

Member
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I was up at the range today working up some loads for my .280R, and it looks like to me I am getting some slight excess pressure signs on my primers, just some slight flattening.
bullets%20002.JPG

The left hand primer is a factory load 160 Gr TBT, the next three are 52 grains RL-19 under a 160 ABond, then the right two are 53 Grains RL-22 under same.
To me it looks as if the third from left, and the two on the right have some primer flattening.
No other signs.
Of note, my chamber is allowing me to load longer than standard COAL, but still set back off the lands as per. Would the longer COAL account for the flattening?
The 160 Gr TBT is actually shorter than standard COAL, but still shoots well.
The handloads are shooting very well.
Any thoughts?
Thanks folks.
 
If there aren't any other pressure signs and you're sticking to published data, your loads are probably fine. Flat primers aren't really a sure sign of excessive pressure except in conjunction with something else, like hard extraction.
 
Thanks for the info.
I'm fairly new to the whole re-loading game, so I'm still trying to get my pressure reading skills down pat, and am probably being pretty conservative. Not that thats a bad thing.
No other signs at all, easy to open after firing, easy to chamber.
Cheers.
 
The cratering around thefiring pin is caused by a rather large hole for the firing pin.
I don't consider any of the primers as being flattened. There is very little differnce between the factory load and any handload. Factory loads are not heavy loads, nor are these handloads, judging by the primers.
I would say to load up and shoot away.
 
Nothing I could add except they look like CCi primers and I read somewhere they were a bit 'softer' than others.
 
Federal primers are the soft ones, CCI are the hardest, and Winchester is in the middle.

I have no idea where Remington primers stand; they seem to be less common and they cost more than the other brands.
 
tjhaile said:
Federal primers are the soft ones, CCI are the hardest, and Winchester is in the middle.

I have no idea where Remington primers stand; they seem to be less common and they cost more than the other brands.
Click to expand...

My CCIs (small rifle) are stainless looking like that and my Winchester look brass colored. I thought I read on Saubier that the CCI were the softest. I could be wrong though. Maybe those are large rifle primes and I have no idea about them. Did I mention I've had a couple of rums today.:eek::D
 
From what I have read in published magazines (i.e., handloader, posts in other forums), the pressure indicators can (and often only do) appear after safe pressures have been exceeded. The more reliable indicator is to chronograph your loads - if the velocities are exceeding the published max velocities for your handload combo, then you are almost certainly over safe pressures.
 
KDX said:
My CCIs (small rifle) are stainless looking like that and my Winchester look brass colored. I thought I read on Saubier that the CCI were the softest. I could be wrong though. Maybe those are large rifle primes and I have no idea about them. Did I mention I've had a couple of rums today.:eek::D
Click to expand...

CCI are the hardest.
 
I agree that reading primers is a crude way to monitor pressure. if you work up a load and start to see primers flatten, you know pressure is going up, but it does not tell you where you are. Some guns show pressure much earlier than others.

I agree that using a chronograph to measure a factory load as a reference in your rifle is a very good indicator. There is no free lunch. When you exceed factory velocities, you are asking for trouble.

I used to work in the factory. We had far more powders to choose from than the handloader does, and we always tried for most velocity at lowest pressure. Many powders would give us the target velocity. We choose the low pressure route. So the handloader who matches the factory velocity probably already has more than factory pressure.
 
as others have already said, primer appearance is a poor way of judging whether or not you have a safe or unsafe load 3 inches from your face.

It is analogous to judging your tire pressure by looking at it.

Since the weak link to a blow-up is the brass case failing to contain the pressure, the best way to judge safety without tools or instruments is to simply fire the same load in a few cases several times, and see if the primer pockets loosen.

If your load does not loosen the pockets in 3-5 firings in the same case, whatever the pressure actually is, you are well below unsafe pressures for that particular combination of brass/powder/rifle/bullet.
 
rgv said:
as others have already said, primer appearance is a poor way of judging whether or not you have a safe or unsafe load 3 inches from your face.

If your load does not loosen the pockets in 3-5 firings in the same case, whatever the pressure actually is, you are well below unsafe pressures for that particular combination of brass/powder/rifle/bullet.
Click to expand...
--------------------------------------------
Yes, and another way of looking at it is if your primer pockets loosen, your load is a way too heavy. I have taken my loading outfit to the range and built up loads using the same case, over and over, for that very reason.
In every case I quit going up when the bolt started to stick, but even loads with the bolt sticking did not enlarge the primer pockets, at least not so it could be noticed, in seating a primer.
 
B. Donaldson said:
I would be more concerned with your primers cratering then flattened primers.
Click to expand...

Really??!! Cratered primers have been around since cartridges replaced front-stuffers. Many, Many military rifles exhibit cratered primers at very safe pressures, and so do many modern rifles. Cratered primers mean little if anything as far as pressures are concerned. Eagleye.
 
Here is a fairly flat primer. This one, a Norma factory load in 7x61, fired in a new Schultz & Larson rifle, shown with an original, early Norma factory load.
Note the nearly total absence of cratering, due to the well fitting firing pin in the S&L rifle.
The old 30-06, Dominion factory load, had one of the best factory loaded bullets, probably ever loaded in standard ammunition, the 180 grain Copper Point Expanding. My experience with it on moose was that it was superior to the Nosler partition. That copper point, shown in the next picture, drove down into a strong built bullet to expand it, then the whole thing hung together really well. One of BCs most well known grizzly hunters used nothing but it in his 30-06, and swore by it.
7x61002-1.jpg

7x61005.jpg
 
Cratered Primers

I can tell by looking at the primer that he is shooting a Remington rifle. With the Remingtons you will get cratered primers without flattening

Edge
 
EZED said:
I can tell by looking at the primer that he is shooting a Remington rifle. With the Remingtons you will get cratered primers without flattening

Edge
Click to expand...

Yes - caused by oversized firing pin hole. My Remington M700 craters at even the starting loads. Not much you can do if this is the problem.
 
BearClan said:
Yes - caused by oversized firing pin hole. My Remington M700 craters at even the starting loads. Not much you can do if this is the problem.
Click to expand...

you can try a new or the next stronger Wolff spring.

a weak spring causes cratered primers more often than oversized holes, in fact the 'rounded' appearance of the cratering in the original post leads me to suspect a weak spring
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom