I am reloading once fired American Eagle (federal) brass with Winchester small rifle primers and am having primers falling out. hottest load is 26gr Vit 140 with Hor 68 gr match bullet. not real hot load. Any ideas? Thanks
primers falling out
- Thread starter blaster
- Start date
either you are not seating the primers all the way because of debris or you brass primer pockets are junks. What cartridge?
If that is a .223 Rem load...I don't know where you got that recipe but you are well over 70,000 psi according to my sources. The primers should fall out and your bolt face may be getting eroded. Recheck your loading data. JMHO
The load the OP mentioned is not that far from what Lapua has published ((.1 Grains high) assuming .223 Rem), not saying you can't be over pressure but it does make me curious if you simply got a bad batch for brass. Have you used the combination of this projectile and powder in other brands of brass without problem before, if so did you check case capacity of the AE brass before switching your load to the different brass?
Federal A.E. 223 brass is notorious for loose primer pockets after a firing, or two...going back more than a few years. Couple that with the fact that you might be shooting a hot load and the phrase 'no shit Sherlock' comes to mind.
Change brass and/or lower your load a little bit if you want a bunch of cycles, otherwise, live with 'one and done'.
Chris
Change brass and/or lower your load a little bit if you want a bunch of cycles, otherwise, live with 'one and done'.
Chris
Was at a match this past weekend. Guy shooting next to me was firing a mix of brass and having major problems with blown primers. It happened 3 times, all Federal.
26 grains is on the hot side, and depending on cases used can either be ok or not. I get away with 26.4 N140 with RP brass but occasionally get the odd blown primer (CCI 400). If I interchange with Lap brass I get blown primers and sticky extration at under 26gr. I thnk Chrisgarrett summed it up pretty well.....
Blaster, I don't know where you got the load from, but from those inputs, QuickLoad shows about 78,000 psi; WAAAY too hot! Federal tends to produce very soft brass to begin with, but anytime you're losing primers after one firing, that should tell you something. You're a full grain over what Hornady shows as max in their latest manual using this combination of powder and bullet, but with a Winchester (superior to Federal, in my opinion) case. Lapua does not have a load using this bullet, but we did use both our own 69 grain Scenar and Sierra's 69 SMKs in similar loads. By comparison, you're over a full grain above what we ran into as max with the Scenar, and just a bit more than what we ran into as max with the 69 grain SMK. Whenever you switch or exchange components from a load, you need to start the development again from well under what you were previously using. Carve that in stone, and don't ever forget it.
You need to scrap that brass, reduce your loads and start over at a minimum load. Work up from that point, AND STOP when you begin to see pressure signs. I don't care what a book or manual says, if you're seeing pressure signs like this in your rifle, that that load is too hot in that rifle.
Where did you get that load? I've looked at the Viht page, all I was able to find was load data for the 69 sierra-25.9gr, and the 69Scenar at 24.7gr, but was unable to find the 68gr Horn bullet load data listed. There is at least 1.2grains of powder, MAX load difference between the Sierra and the Scenar, are you saying the 69gr Sierra is the correct data to use with the 68 gr Hornady projectile? I'm having trouble finding the source.
May I suggest you back that load way down, fire a string (let's say 10 rounds-virgin, and 10 rounds once fired) and see if the pockets are still enlarging. I believe you are running an OverMax load, and if you are firing from an AR platform (not a long throated bolt gun), it is' way' overmax.
Another thing you need to consider is that you have replaced a Federal primer with a Winchester. In my experience once a Federal primer has been in a hole, that is all that will fit remotely snug in that hole. I have had this problem for years using Federal primers. That is one reason I use CCI only, unless a Federal; came out of that pocket. Not withstanding your load is likely hot as hell fire.
