.223 primer pocket telltales?

B

badmatrix

New member
I was rooting around for stuff to reload and it will definitely not be any .223, I have so much brass if i needed it.

While looking through this box I noticed a few cartridges with blackened primers….. interesting.
 

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The blackening is usually caused by gas leakage because the primer cup is not sealing properly against the pocket.

A common, but not the only possible cause is the primer pocket has expanded too much.
 
I was going to ask if you know what brand those cracked primers are. Winchester had a problem for a while with their non-nickel-plated primers cracking and leaking because the brass cups were too thin, though they fixed that. I don't see any sign of excessive flattening on those cracked primers (nice rounded shoulder), and that suggests either that the crack started at the side due to a gas leak (you'll see when you decap them if it goes all the way to the lip of the cup) or that the brass in the cracked cups was overworked. As brass work hardens, the percent of length it can stretch before it breaks gets smaller and smaller. The firing pin can supply the final hardening blow, so excessive firing pin protrusion is another thing to double-check for.
 
Unclenick said:
I was going to ask if you know what brand those cracked primers are. Winchester had a problem for a while with their non-nickel-plated primers cracking and leaking because the brass cups were too thin, though they fixed that. I don't see any sign of excessive flattening on those cracked primers (nice rounded shoulder), and that suggests either that the crack started at the side due to a gas leak (you'll see when you decap them if it goes all the way to the lip of the cup) or that the brass in the cracked cups was overworked. As brass work hardens, the percent of length it can stretch before it breaks gets smaller and smaller. The firing pin can supply the final hardening blow, so excessive firing pin protrusion is another thing to double-check for.
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I will have to go back in the reloading log and see what was loaded and what firearm. They are either federal bench primers or Ginex.
 
This may be a stupid question--but were you maybe forcing the primer into a case with a military crimp on the primer without using a swager/reamer first?
 
Oh, good thought! Most of those cases, including the cracked primer culprits, appear to have a ring crimp indentation. We all know some of those turn out tighter than others.
 
Your brass is mixed headstamps. There are many possible variations. Since the brass is not homogenous, I do not think you will be able to reach a conclusion.
I suggest that you obtain better brass, all the same headstamp. Starline is very good and inexpensive. Lake City once fired is very good. I have 500 new LC, which are sometimes available from the LC operator.
Www.starlinebrass.com
Www.Gibrass.com
 
Hahahaha…i would like to see the same outcome: of course not.
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Sorry--didn't mean to imply you made a silly mistake.;) I may be imagining things--but it looks like on a few of the spent cases that did not leak/crack there is an impression on primer that looks similar to the ones that failed.:confused:
 
Hahahaha…i would like to see the same outcome: of course not.
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I've done it by mistake once. I had a bin of yet-to-be swaged cases sitting too near my press, and started picking them up and priming them. Several primed pretty normally, but then one showed up that wouldn't prime, and that's what clued me in that I was doing something wrong. I've not seen large rifle primers slip into an unswaged pocket that easily, but these 223's certainly did.
 
Unclenick; i have poked primers in 556 just to see if it could be done. like you said, some go just fine and some just flat balk! you can crush them flat and they still wont go.

but i was wondering why those cases look so rough? is that just the way the picture was taken or is the bolt face rough as a cob? and if the bolt face is rough that might affect primers too...
 
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