Loose primers?

M

mrswib

Guest
I have been shooting 6PPC for many years. I went to reload the Lapua Brass I just shot in a match and all 40 of them have loose primer pockets. Brass has only be used 5 times. The last time I did shoot 29.8 of 133, could this have been to hot??
 
mrswib said:
I have been shooting 6PPC for many years. I went to reload the Lapua Brass I just shot in a match and all 40 of them have loose primer pockets. Brass has only be used 5 times. The last time I did shoot 29.8 of 133, could this have been to hot??
Click to expand...

Is it the NEW Blue Box Lapua ?
 
Loose primers

I bought them weighed from Ron, came in blue box but do not know the original box?
 
mrswib said:
I have been shooting 6PPC for many years. I went to reload the Lapua Brass I just shot in a match and all 40 of them have loose primer pockets. Brass has only be used 5 times. The last time I did shoot 29.8 of 133, could this have been to hot??
Click to expand...


Sounds like you may have switched from one brand of primer to another with smaller diameter. They vary from one make to another. 29.8 grains of N133 is a pretty hot load; near the upper limit which most shooters consider to be 30.2 grains. Switch to Wolf SRM primers. They are larger diameter than Fed 205M.

Gene Beggs
 
I shot 30

Cases of blue box with an average of 30.2grs of 133 at the Nationals. Shot just the 3 gun. As far as I am concerned primer pockets are still fine...

5 of the cases were used non stop as sighter and the other 25 were rotated as record cases. So in reality they should have seen no more than 10 reloads including practice sessions. I used Fed 205M primers...

I ever say how much I LOVE 133????? LOL.... so many are not fond but I love that stuff.....

Calvin
 
Chip

I found a chip in the side of my deburring tool and hope it is the cause. Thanks for the input.
 
I don't think the cause of the loose pockets is your deburring tool but it could be. You likely put a bit too much powder in there. Not a bad thing if your rifle shot well. In fact, if your rifle likes it, who cares? Gas leakage will cut a circle in your bolt face but again, who cares if it shoots good?
 
Loose pockets are my usual way of determining when to retire brass. I typically shoot in the loads on the lighter side (27.9 to 28.3 of 133), and even then many firings will eventually loosen the pockets. Hotter loads definitely accelerate the process.

I know a few shooters with pass-through dies custom honed from a 41 Mag pistol die that shrinks the base of the brass and tightens the pockets up again. For max brass life, I would think this plus proper annealing might make cases 'like new'. For my purposes all the loose brass goes in a big box, reserved for the non-competitive harassment of prairie dogs.
 
Interesting thread.
I too have recently experienced loose primers for one of my barrels.
I believe that how you fire-form them has a lot to do with it.
I normally fire-form using three grains less than my match loading and any old 67 grain bullet that is handy.
This method pops them out nicely about 99% formed - maybe just the faintest radius left on the shoulder.
Now I had a new HV barrel made up and decided to fire-form with BM2 (Benchmark to you folks) filled the case to the bottom of the neck and away we went.
Well, they fire formed very well but after only three firings the pockets are decidedly loose. These are Lapua cases from the old paper packet too.
Load was 29.2 of Vit 133 - not as hot as many use down here.
I have not had this happen before with Lapua brass (it was a different story with the original Sako stuff), so it's back to the old method for me and no problems since.

Brendan A
 
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