Bergara small rifle primers creator’s

[Jab1134]

Recently had my 6.5 creed Bergara lrp rebarreled so decided to get Lapua small primer brass and I loaded them up with the lightest charge in the book to form to my chamber but now that I’m going threw them all and all have creators ( while firing wasn’t concerned about pressure cause load was very modest and never checked primers while firing . I should have thou ). I hear I should only use large rifle primer brass , is this true with Bergara actions?

 

[Can't group Jim]

I'm using the small rifle primers in my Bergara. I'm running the Federal match with no problems.

 

[Vodak]

Mine is prone to cratering as well. Pretty disapointing for a rifle in that price range. First gen LRP for me, what about yours? I had heard they made some change with the newer ones to prevent it.

 

[Can't group Jim]

I know on mine I tried the CCI 450's first and about every 3rd round wouldn't fire, but the Federal match's have been fine.

 

[Vodak]

Weird, the Federal's are supposed to be a thinner softer cup too. I would think they would be more prone to cratering. How old is your rifle? You may have the newer firing pin set up.
I hope you just had a bad box of the CCI's, I've always had good results with them in the past, and I'm supposed to be receiving an order of them in a couple of days.

 

[Can't group Jim]

Mine is just a couple months old, so it might have the newer pin.

 

[matchbook454]

As a Bergara owner myself I personally have not had encounter this problem as I am not shooting SRP however while doing research for loading I have come across this problem quite a bit. I’ve read that as long as you are aware of this and see no other pressure signs it’s not too big of a deal and a lot of people just live with it. Not sure I could though. Some guys are having their firing pin hole bushed. I Have an HMR Pro in 6.5 CM and am curious as to what I’ll see with handloads. Personally I’d get mine bushed but others just live with it as they say aye that it’s really not a problem as long as you are not seeing other pressure issues. Please don’t take my word for this, just do a little more research. I think that I read all of this on Bergara Enthusiasts FB page. Just do a FB search on their page and you should find it. Good luck!

 

[supercorndogs]

I see ejector marks on at least 2 case heads in that picture. Whats your load?

 

[Jab1134]

I see ejector marks on at least 2 case heads in that picture. Whats your load?

39.5 grains of h4350 with a 130 gr nosler rdf very very modest load for a 27” Krieger barrel . Load was the lightest in the book to just fire form brass to the new chamber

 

[Jab1134]

Mine is prone to cratering as well. Pretty disapointing for a rifle in that price range. First gen LRP for me, what about yours? I had heard they made some change with the newer ones to prevent it.

Pretty sure mines first gen too had it for 4 years now and just re barreled the action

 

[Jab1134]

39.5 grains of h4350 with a 130 gr nosler rdf very very modest load for a 27” Krieger barrel . Load was the lightest in the book to just fire form brass to the new chamber

Also I’m using small rifle primers cci br4 primers

 

[Jake the dog]

My B14 cratered everything, and started piercing primers when I went to small primer Lapua with Federal 205M's. I swapped for a Premier bolt with small FP and haven't had anymore issues.

 

[Jab1134]

My B14 cratered everything, and started piercing primers when I went to small primer Lapua with Federal 205M's. I swapped for a Premier bolt with small FP and haven't had anymore issues.

I have a premier lrp version so I already got the premier bolt and still creator

 

[Vodak]

The newer premier bolts are supposed to have a smaller pin than ours have.

 

[Jab1134]

Mine is old , I’ve had mine for a number of years

 

[whatsupdoc]

I am on my second barrel on my b14 and it has always cratered primers, got tired of it and had the bolt bushed now no more issues.

 

[Rocketmandb]

I see ejector marks on at least 2 case heads in that picture. Whats your load?

My Bergara bolt caused ejector marks out of the box on most shots. The spring was too stiff. I had to send it back to get fixed. Once it was done I had no issues.

 

[chevy_man]

Look at the edges of the primer. Is the cup still round or is it squaring off?

I don't trust craters as a sign of pressure. I've had different batches of primers show more/less at the same velocity on the same load. So long as you're not piercing them I'd just roll with it.

From what I can see of the pictures you're nowhere close to pressure. When the primers start pushing back and flattening is when you've found the upper limits.

 

[supercorndogs]

My Bergara bolt caused ejector marks out of the box on most shots. The spring was too stiff. I had to send it back to get fixed. Once it was done I had no issues.

Those moons on his brass aren't from a stiff ejector spring. It could be a burr around the hole, but thats why I asked for more info. One of them looks like it swiped some of the L off Lapua, but the picture is too blurry to get a good look.

39.5 grains of h4350 with a 130 gr nosler rdf very very modest load for a 27” Krieger barrel . Load was the lightest in the book to just fire form brass to the new chamber

At what charge weight did you reach pressure? Whats your OAL and how did you reach that number? Was the load data you found in Hornady brass? Whats the capacity difference between Hornady and Lapua? In most cartridges Lapua brass has less capacity than Hornady.

Does Bergera have a chamfer on their firing pin hole like Remington? If so expect everything to look cratered.

 

[Jake the dog]

Mine is old , I’ve had mine for a number of years

Can you measure your FP diameter and fall. The small FP should be about .060.

 

[Jab1134]

I am on my second barrel on my b14 and it has always cratered primers, got tired of it and had the bolt bushed now no more issues.

So the small primer is that beneficial to either brush ur bolt or up grade to a new version of the premier bolt ?

 

[Vodak]

Jake- the pin on mine measures 0.075, and the pin hole is about 0.080. Don't have a set of pin gauges on hand but that's pretty close.

Jab-Yes having a bushing and small diameter pin installed, or the new bolt and firing pin will reduce the primer cratering.

 

[whatsupdoc]

My bolt was bushed to .060, no more issues. I just did not want to take a chance of piercing a primer.

 

[Paqueo]

My Bergara B14 HMR 6.5CM also crater small primers on Lapua cases.
I’m using CCI BR4 primers not so sever.
Tried Federal Match but were worst and had one punctured
If its too much try harder primers like CCI 41