Interesting Hornady Frontier .223 case..

G

Grant.

New member
Was sorting through about a thousand .223 cases I've been picking up at the range, mostly FC, LC, RP, some Hornady Frontier, yada yada. I noticed one Frontier case...



Fired in an AR, more than likely. I think the primer must have blown out of someone's gun, turned around, and as the carrier recoiled back, the inertia seated the primer below flush!? I looked through the flash hole; sure enough, there's a very pretty and uniform primer strike visible through it. The primer looks clean cause it spent 4 hours in a tumbler; there is no compound left. Never seen it happen; anyone's thoughts? :D
 
Funny, that looks like the anvil of a primer that had been seated upside down. You can't really tell though as there is no depth perception available in a picture. The case is also depicted where one cannot look beyond the primer hole to see light from the other end of the case. Let us know what you find.
 
Emerson Biggies said:
Funny, that looks like the anvil of a primer that had been seated upside down.
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It sure does, doesn't it?? It was definitely fired, and was definitely factory ammo. Here's a picture from the case head side. This case hasn't touched a press since it came from the factory; I was just sorting brass and noticed a backwards primer that had indeed been fired!!

Have you ever seen anything like this, where a primer turns around and gets re-seated in a semi auto during recoil??

 
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Marco Califo said:
You need to Deprime. If it is live, wear safety glasses and wrap a towel around it.
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It has indeed been fired. I'm just curious as to whether or not anyone has seen a primer blow out during firing, flip around, and re-seat itself. Just a neat little anomaly, and a reason not to shoot Hornady Frontier, I suppose!! :p
 
Never seen one flipped completely upside down. The odds must be very small of that happening. But I have seen primers blown out and reseated, they look like someone did a bad job of seating the primer. Also seen the primers turned sideways in the primer pocket. Always on reloaded cases, though, never on factory stuff.
 
Neither have I! I'm not sure if this was in my AR or in someone else's, but regardless I was really confused when I saw the anvil perfectly seated backwards below flush on a round I knew had been fired.

I swear I didn't just seat a fired primer, either!! It hasn't been sized or touched at all aside from tumbling and sorting. I can't imagine the how small the odds really are!
 
Witch way is the pin strike facing? hard to see in the pic but could have the primer been seated upside down then been struck? looks like an indent on the anvil.
 
I'm positive that Frontier primers are crimped in. Not saying that it couldn't get pushed out but no way it's flipping around (while the case head is up against the bolt face mind you) and re-seating into that pocket. Also, one can never tell what happened to brass scrounged from the range, someone could've easily tossed out their reloading scrap.
 
brasscollector said:
I'm positive that Frontier primers are crimped in. Not saying that it couldn't get pushed out but no way it's flipping around (while the case head is up against the bolt face mind you) and re-seating into that pocket. Also, one can never tell what happened to brass scrounged from the range, someone could've easily tossed out their reloading scrap.
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You're not kidding. I have no idea what's going on with this case. I had a couple Frontier cartridges a few years back that I got for a good price, so there's a chance these were fired in my rifle, if they actually really are factory.

308Loader; there's actually a pretty little primer strike on the other side, visible through the flash hole. This thing puzzles me cause I have no idea how this coulda happened!
 
Is the primer strike in ward or outward in the flash hole? I'm thinking it would be a long firing pin strike to make an out ward dent in the anvil and cup top. just guessing here. likelihood of the primer flipping 180 degrees and seating it self proper is nil. Other probability might be that the spent primer was re-seated upside down and round was pulled before dumping in the range bin {I've never done that :)}

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what I have experienced with some on press priming systems, the spent primer can fall into the the priming system on the press. spent primer falls into primer cup, system wont load new primer, seats old primer... (lee 4 hole - love the turret - great press for pistol) if one inspects his completed rounds it will be nonissue.
 
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308Loader said:
Is the primer strike in ward or outward in the flash hole? I'm thinking it would be a long firing pin strike to make an out ward dent in the anvil and cup top. just guessing here. likelihood of the primer flipping 180 degrees and seating it self proper is nil. Other probability might be that the spent primer was re-seated upside down and round was pulled before dumping in the range bin {I've never done that :)}

edit:
what I have experienced with some on press priming systems, the spent primer can fall into the the priming system on the press. spent primer falls into primer cup, system wont load new primer, seats old primer... (lee 4 hole - love the turret - great press for pistol) if one inspects his completed rounds it will be nonissue.
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Its facing as if it was seated normally, shot, and then flipped around. The indent on the primer cup is facing inward towards the case head if you're looking down through the case neck.

I swear these have never touched a press, not by anybody but Hornady! The priming compound is gone (it was in a wet tumbler) and the anvil is compressed as if it had been seated normally. No firing pin mark on the anvil itself.

:confused: It's very puzzling to me because I KNOW this was once-fired factory ammo... I have about 20 other of the same Frontier cases that I sorted out after tumbling the other day. Maybe I'm going crazy, but I've never even loaded .223!! I've never even opened the 223 die box! The more I think about the carrier actually properly re-seating the primer after having it blow out, the more it sounds completely impossible. I'll keep searching to see if this has ever happened before.

Also, there's no crimp on the primer pockets of these cases. I'll check and see the depriming force on one of them with a hand deprimer when I get the chance. God Bless :)

Edit: Primer pocket was loose and I could easily punch the primer out with light pressure by hand using a spare firing pin. Too lazy to get the deprimer haha. The primer is bulged out towards the cup significantly, and there's LOTS of evidence of primer blow out and kabooms with this ammo around the internet. I am definitely not shooting any more of it; I'll pull it down if I have any left. My guess is that it did indeed blow out and get flipped around, and that the only reason this happened is because of the high rate of primer blow out with this ammo.

Edit edit: This is indeed 5.56 ammo, by the way. I have .223 Wylde chambers in my rifles, so it handles both .223 rem and 5.56 perfectly fine. :)
 
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I've never seen this, either. Can't explain it. If it blew out it should have been tossed during ejection.

Did you have any cases missing a primer in that bunch?
 
It was a setup. Someone pushed it out, then seated it backwards and threw it on the ground. You fell into their trap!! :D
 
This happened to me a few times after depriming, I threw my cases into my media tumbler. Some spent primers were in there and it shoved them in there backwards.
 
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