I have had my Axis II in .223 for a few months and have put about 2-300 rounds through it. Beginning with the first round through the rifle it has always cratered the primers. At first I thought it was because of my reloads were using CCI-400 primers and from what I have read, the majority of .223 Axis owners have commented that the CCI-400 is too thin. BTW the cratering was happening with a start load, middle load or close to max load. It didn't matter. Luckily I was able to purchase some CCI BR-4. CCI-450, CCI-#41 and Remington 7 1/2 primers to test. I tested a bunch of Lapua brass with different loads of Varget and a combination of all the listed primers. Same result, every single round was cratered! Okay so for the last resort I figured that I would break down and buy some factory 223 to test to eliminate my reloads as the issue. I tested 5- different brands with speeds between 2650- 3050 FPS and low and behold every primer was also cratered.

My question to all you knowledgeable shooters' is whether or not I need to worry about this or is it an inherent problem with the .223 Axis II and I should just live with it? Oh and I should add that the rifle is very accurate at 100-300 yards and has never actually blanked or pierced a primer. All my brass is Lapua that only gets shot through this rifle and the shoulder only gets bumped .002". I know for a fact that the head space is good also.

Thanks in advance for any help, comments, etc.. Tom