Pierced primer

[Idahojoe]

Had my first pierced primer yesterday working up a load. I have been using mag primers with ball powder. The pressure wasn't super high according to primer flattening and bolt lift. Any thoughts what cause may be? Thanks, Joe

[Blue Avenger]

what caliber and what is your pin protrusion?

[Eric in NC]

Excess pin protrusion, oversized firing pin hole (a fairly common issue on Savage bolt heads), chipped or otherwise sharp firing pin tip, or high pressure!

[trappst]

Was the weather hotter than your usual shooting conditions?

Ball powder, mag primer and hot weather can raise pressures in a hurry!

[Budweiser360]

Could also be a bad primer. I shot about 800 rounds of the same load using CCI BR-4's and then I tried some Federal 205M's with the same load and pierced 2. No pressure signs anywhere. Sometimes you just get a few bad ones in a box.

[Idahojoe]

IT was a hot day. Checked protrusion, .055. Along with pushing the top I had the 129 SST set too long. Thanks for your help. Joe

[hifly78]

Never had one. Does the savage vent it nicely. Any debris in your face. Any injuries? I have a 12 VLP DBM in .223 rem. My pin protrusion is also 0.055"

[Dirk]

.055 pin protrusion sounds kind of long to me. I never had any trouble with my FP's set to .035 protrusion.

[dolomite_supafly]

.055 pin protrusion sounds kind of long to me. I never had any trouble with my FP's set to .035 protrusion.

+1, I have all mine set at .035 +/- .005 and have never had a problem with a primer not going off. Conversely I did have some pieced primers in my wife's 45 ACP Savage because the pin was protruding too far. I don't remember exactly how far but when I put the gun together I didn't think anything about the protrusion until I pieced a primer.

Dolomite