.243 Win Primer seating issue

[teebirdhyzer]

I have been working on load development for my new Shaw .243 barrel. Today I began loading some of my Winchester brass for the second time. It started as new unfired brass, and I shot all fifty rounds with various loads, charges etc. over the last several days. Around 4 or 5 of the fifty pieces of brass will not allow the primer to seat itself flush or below flush on the second loading. I am using a RCBS hand primer tool, and the primer is obviously sticking out past flush. Two questions

1. Could this be a sign of high pressure in one of the loads I tested?

2. Is it safe to load and fire these pieces of brass with the primer not completely flush?

thanks for the help guys!

[GaCop]

Is it possible you missed cleaning the primer pocket on those cases? Did all primers seat as they should on the first loading? What did the fired primers look like?

I wouldn't try shooting the cases that have the high primers. Carefully run those cases into the sizing die until they punch out the old primer and check the pocket closely. You may have to use a pocket uniformer and recut the pocket. Without pictures of the fired primers, it's hard to make a definitive judgement about the loads used.

[squirrelsniper]

1. Could this be a sign of high pressure in one of the loads I tested?

That would be highly unlikely as that would require the strongest portion of the case move rearward. You would have had a catastrophic case failure before that would have happened.



2. Is it safe to load and fire these pieces of brass with the primer not completely flush?

Safe? Probably, but there might be an extremely remote possiblility of setting off the primer if the bolt was slammed shut. However, a misfire would be a lot more likely for two reasons. First, if the primer is contacting the bottom of the pocket, you might crush the primer upon closing the bolt, which then makes it less likely to detonate properly. On the other hand, if the primer is not against the bottom of the pocket, the firing pin strike may just drive it deeper into the pocket without setting it off.


Is it posible that the primer pocket was out of spec from the beginning and the primers didn't seat properly the first time either?

The other possibility is the primers themselves are out of spec.

[keeki]

it may be the primer out of spec. Decap it and try another primer

[teebirdhyzer]

thanks for all the replies guys. it is very possible that the cases were out of spec to begin with, and I just did not notice until the second loading. I use a loading tray for staging while priming and charging with powder, and because they are not on a flat surface, I just didn't notice. On this loading, I noticed that a couple of the rounds were much longer when i measured them after seating the bullets. I set one of them on my bench, and it wobbled around. This made me look much more closely at all of them. I even pulled the bullets and deprimed the ones that were messed up and re-primed them . The primers still will not seat correctly. Anyway, I tossed those five pieces of brass in the trash at lunch today, so no more worries. i just wanted to make sure it wasn't a pressure issue. I had noticed some slick shiny ejector type marks on some of the brass, and wondered if I was flirting with the high end on this load. There is not sign of sticky bolt or anything, just the shiny spots.

[frank1947]

winchester brass is just not the best, it does some strange stuff in very little time, but everyone told you right.