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Primer Material Failure?

S3th

Indecisive
Full Member
Minuteman
Oct 14, 2018
2,107
1,646
Greensboro NC
I shot at a match today (took home 4th) and experienced my first blown primer.

The load is 41.3gr of H4350 behind a 140gr ELDM, CCI 450 primer, brass Alpha OCD 6x reloaded brass, and the barrel had been cleaned roughly 90 rounds before this happened.

On this shot I made impact and all following 8 shots were impacts. All brass fired after the blown primer show no head stamp markings due to the pits in bolt face, damage, etc.


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Did do some pitting damage to my bolt face. Thoughts on this too?

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Last edited:
What’s your velocity?
41gr of h4350 is hot in my experience but many people will claim to shove more in the case.
If you haven’t had any more issues I’d blame it on a fluke primer.
 
Your load is a typical 6.5 creed load, I have had at least 5 different 6.5 setups and 41-42gr seems to be the norm.

It could be a bad primer but it seems like the primer pocket is somewhat deformed, remove the primed and check the
pocket. A pin gauge would make it easy.
 
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I while having no proof don't think it was just a primer but maybe gremlins maybe a coven of witches that cursed you .no really it honestly looks like maybe you had space between the primer and the bolt face allowing pressure to push out through a weak spot between the case head and the primer , are you sure that case was only 41.3 gr of h 4350 and not 44 gr of something else ? Id personally get a lottery ticket today while what ever angle is still watching over you .
 
Hard to tell - generally I’d point to the brass but you think you would’ve noticed it bring too easy or hard to prime
 
Fluke primer, OR damaged primer.

You would be amazed how loose you can make a primer pocket before its catastrophic.

No over pressure because primer didnt flatten, and the dent isnt showing signs.

Throw it out, or put in on a bullet board "wall of shame" and carry on
 
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I’ve used 42gr of 4350 for years with Lapua and it’s not really hot at all. I did get a hot batch once that was way hotter than normal. Does the flash hole look normal?
Yeah I run 42.64gr of H4350 for my 6.5cm in lapua but it's with a 130gr otm bullet @2850 MV. It's warm but not super hot.
 
I had this happen before, just once. Either a damaged primer or primer pocket. Small, you can't see it. But it is enough to allow some of the burn to back out the flaw in primer pocket. How many firings on brass? I have only had this happen one time and still do not know why. I would not worry to much, but if you have numerous firings on brass I would replace it. By multiple I mean near 10 or more firings on brass. I run Alpha OCD and have guns at 10+ firings without issue but if I start seeing any issues I ditch it.
 
I've had a few Winchester LR Primers blow in my R700 300WM. The bolt face is etched way worse than yours, but it still hammers.

I think as long as the extractor and ejector still function, you'd be ok but I am far from an expert.

Hope this helps.
 
Few years ago a lot of people got burned by some bad Winchester production. Don't ever use Winchester in Federal brass is my new rule.

Fortunately you didn't weld your ejector into its bore. Looks like it happened right on top of the ejector. Wonder if that's the case due the added "unsupport".

I doubt you will see performance changes on that slight memory of the blow by.
 
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On the close up of the case - is that a sliver of metal in the flash hole or fuzz?
 
That’s why it is important to hand prime using a 21st Century tool.
I quite like Pete and 21st Innovations (they changed their name for some reason) and have bought a few products from them.

But please help me understand how their priming tool has any relationship to this primer failure?

Or were you just having a bit of fun?

Thanks
 
I quite like Pete and 21st Innovations (they changed their name for some reason) and have bought a few products from them.

But please help me understand how their priming tool has any relationship to this primer failure?

Or were you just having a bit of fun?

Thanks

More time for handling individual primers which facilitates detection of defects.
 
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