Popped Primers

[FortRock]

I had my first experience with popped primers at the range a few days ago. Shooting a 7.62 AR. Am looking for feedback about the cause of this. I was running 168 gr Nosler ST's over 37.5 gr RL-10x at 2560 fps. Thanks....

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[MarkAd]

what do you mean by popped primers? Once we establish that then we can start throwing mudballs at the wall and see what sticks.

 

[FortRock]

The primers popped clean out of their little pockets!

 

[Mark W.]

Your brass is crap. The primer pockets are to big.

 

[pry]

I just experienced this last weekend while reloading some .223 with some brass of unknown origins. I know the pockets will wear out over time from just being reloaded but I also swaged this brass before I reloaded it and was wondering if that could cause the primer pockets to become lose? I use the dillon super swag and probably could have backed it off and not swaged so aggressively.

 

[Certaindeaf]

A lot of guys will enlarge their primer pockets enough that they'll no longer hold a primer well in just 1-2 reloadings.. that's their prerogative.. personally, I like mine to last longer and load accordingly.
And only swage pockets that need swaging.. I'd never swage a pocket that wasn't staked/crimped.
Also, it's my opinion that a hand primer such as the Lee allows one to asses the condition of the primer pocket while seating the primer very accurately.. and they are fast.
A loose primer will easily tie up a gun until you can take it apart, find the primer, remove it and then get it back together.. a bit more than tap/rack/bang.

 

[FortRock]

I really appreciate the info. These brass had in fact had swagged pockets due to crimp removal. Will inspect all the prepped brass and move swagged brass to the bolt-gun container. Thanks. I was hoping it wasn't a premature or out-of-sync bolt blow-back. .308 modern sporting rifles are pretty high energy.

 

[AMProducts]

There are two things here... you were using military brass, which usually has a thicker web, which can mean higher pressures. Given your velocities, this doesn't sound at all like the case, which makes me look at your superswage.

Frankly, I don't like the superspwage at all, other than you manually adjusting the support mandrel, there is nothing to keep you from swaging the pocket too deep (which is what sounds like happened). If all brass had a uniform thickness over the flash hole, this wouldn't be an issue, but since it is, there's little to be done about it. Reaming is a vastly superior process for removing pocket staking and it can be done very simply with a few dollars in tools.

 

[SinisterSouthpaw]

I've never had a popped primer; I retire my brass before that can happen, I guess or do not work it too hard. I have had some pooped primers, those being primers that did not ignite for one reason or another or which failed to ignite the powder charge.

And now a word from our sponsor: The use of premium brass precludes this type of problem since you know where it came from and how many firings it has experienced in addition to the fact that superior alloys last longer and any primer pocket carving is done by you by choice and not necessity. In the long run, for serious/high volume shooters--the better brass ends up being the less expensive choice.

 

[Certaindeaf]

It really sounds like he over-swaged those pockets.. oh and it's swage, not swag or whatever.. swedge is perhaps proper also? Anyway.
If the brass truly had crimped/staked primers, it was/is indeed once fired.. it still could have been half funky meaning the actual artifact was fired in a particular brass destroyer of one sort or another (machinegun yadda).
The only real practical and quick way to know if that pocket is proper is by seating the primer by "hand".. with a "hand primer".

 

[usagi]

swaging or reaming too much. simple as that.

when you swage/ream to remove the military crimp, do as little as possible.

 

[best defense]

If you have ever loaded the brass with hot loads, the primer pockets probably stretched out. There is a tool to fix that, but they will stretch again. It is time for some new brass.