Blown primers on win brass

[conan32120]

Now to be honest these were range scrounged but that leads me to believe they're only once fired. Popped out the primers and brass seems good, yeah or nay on reloading them.

 

[2ndtimer]

Let me guess, Winchester primers? Hopefully older ones in the blue packaging, as they had a bad run of those years back. Those pin prick holes on the radius of the primer indicates defective primers, not brass. You could try them again with a different primer, or in abundance of caution, scrap the ones that showed the leak.

 

[mdi]

Inspect/measure pockets to make sure they aren't too big ID...

 

[Nature Boy]

Win brass primer pockets tend to run on the large size and Win primers tend to be undersized.

The combo of the two spells trouble

 

[bfalcon00]

I would check the primer pockets with go/no go gauges. If it is just a handful of cases I would scrap them and not worry about it.

 

[hps1]

Loose primer pockets (for whatever reason) usually cause primers to blow out, or at the very least back hard against the bolt; defective primer cups can cause pierced primers. Federal had a bad run quite a few years ago and said it was caused by improper alloy. Based on the pinholes in primers and rounded shoulder of primers, my guess is bad primers. A loose cup will allow the primer to be pushed back hard against bolt face and flatten primers, somewhat like high pressure does.

You should feel the difference when seating primers if head expanded on brass or primers too small. I'd try seating primers w/hand priming tool if you have one and if snug fit you're good to go.

 

[emb]

I had some of those Federal primers. But they blew out on the outside edge of the primer. They told me that the batch had been exposed to ammonia on their end. I sent them the remainder of the brick of primers, the spent cases with the blown primers still in them, my load information, and they promptly sent me 5000 new primers. Winchester may do the same. I would be careful continuing to use that lot of primers until you know what happened. If I hadn't of been wearing safety glasses, I might have eye damage. As it was, I had 2nd degree burns on my face. Not bad, but enough to get your attention.

 

[Nature Boy]

Take a look at your bolt face. I’m betting it’s etched from the gas escaping

 

[Varminterror]

1) It's Winchester 243win brass - deep analysis here might be overthinking it. They're easily replaced and aren't expensive.

2) Loose pockets cause gas vents like that - a slight fail in the seal of the cup to the pocket allows flow, and then high pressure flow jet-blasts a pinhole like you see, and burns your bolt face. Since these were range pick-ups, sure, your boltface didn't take the damage this time, but you have indication of failed seal in the recent past of this brass, so how bad do you want to etch your own boltface with these, just for the value of $3 worth of brass?

3) If you insist on recovering this brass, run a pick around the wall of the pocket - does the tip of your pick catch on the jet burn? In the photos, it looks like the pocket wall is compromised, so there remains a path for the jetting to recur on subsequent firings.

4) If you insist on recovering this brass, gauge the pockets. Are they oversized, or were the primers undersized, or was the load over pressured? Gauging the pockets is cheap, fast, and easy.

I wouldn't personally choose to pit my bolt face for $3 worth of Winchester brass.

 

[Charlie98]

Having had that very exact thing happen to me... with Winchester primers... I would vote to scrap that brass and move on with your life.

While I'm 99% certain those are some of those horrible Winchester primers, I don't know that... for all we know someone was hotrodding the load, or had other pressure issues... and now you are mixing possible compromised brass into your stash.

Further... my Rule #1 is 'I don't use anyone else's mystery rifle brass. Period.' You picked those up off the ground... you really have no idea what those have been through.

 

[Charlie98]

Here... as a reminder of what happens with pierced primers, or blown primer pockets...

Is this worth $5 of 'free' brass?

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Take a look at your bolt face. I’m betting it’s etched from the gas escaping

Now to be honest these were range scrounged but that leads me to believe they're only once fired.

Not the OP’s bolt face. He just picked them up at the range.

Now, I can only say what I do so this is just a wag but, unless you’re talking semiautomatic pistol brass, I take everything I brought full back to home empty - UNLESS there’s something wrong with it. Like blown out primer pockets, for example.

Will my spent brass fool anyone into thinking they’re new? Nah. Probably not.

 

[Nature Boy]

Not the OP’s bolt face. He just picked them up at the range.

Ahhh, I see now. Never mind

 

[Varminterror]

If it makes you feel any better, I had a run in with some really bad 243win brass from Winchester 7yrs ago... The flash hole punch had obviously been bent some time during production, and was punching crooked and malformed flash holes through the web. These were not double struck, but were punched with a bent punch tip - the holes were swept like a triangle through the web...

 

[lordpaxman]

The visible pin holes in the primer cups are very concerning. I have some older Win LR primers in the stash. If the OP needs the brass, just do a check on the primer pocket and move on.
RMR’s got WIN .243 brass that was pulled down, I have a bunch of it and have been doing load work up with it. The initial load workup was done with Federal brass, and with everything else equal, the Win brass clocks in about 40-50fps slower than Fed.

 

[tmd16556]

I’d consider trying to save them if they were a hard To get cartridge like 250 Savage. 243 is common enough to buy new or wait for less questionable range pick up brass to come along.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Dead thread. OP ghosted it.

 

[AJC1]

Dead thread. OP ghosted it.

He got a batch of brass last night

 

[Charlie98]

Dead thread. OP ghosted it.

What?!?! NOTHING is over until WE decide it is!!! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

 

[conan32120]

I have not ghosted it, just playing with all the new brass AJC1 sent, and I do have a job I gotta go to unfortunately

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

I have not ghosted it, just playing with all the new brass AJC1 sent, and I do have a job I gotta go to unfortunately

Aha! Well, that’s okay I guess.

 

[Soonerpesek]

What?!?! NOTHING is over until WE decide it is!!! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

Great movie….!!!!!

 

[rocirish]

When did the Germans ever get to the pacific?

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

When did the Germans ever get to the pacific?

1943, after the Russian invasion. The Axis Powers lost their overland routes to Asia and sought naval support. The German and the Italian navies operated submarines and raiding ships in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, notably the Monsun Gruppe.

 

[rocirish]

submarines are a whole different thing than bombing Pearl Harbor.