Blown primer- in a factory round!!!

charlie brown · 12-14-2003, 05:25 PM

I shot my 8mm Mauser VZ24 yesterday and when looking through the brass, I found one with the primer flattened and partially blown out. The loads were Remington 170 RN Core Lokts. The primer is flattened completely and is blown out .020 inches! All of the other 19 rounds are perfect in the primer area. The firing pin dent is perfectly round, there is no other high pressure sign of any form. No cratering or anything. Was this just a bad round? I have never had this problem with a factory round before- pistol or rifle. I've not heard very good recviews about Remington quality lately, so its not a total surprise. Has anybody else experienced this before?

Drilling-Man · 12-14-2003, 05:56 PM

Have you had the head space checked in that rifle? I've seen that happen in the past with guns with excessive head space.

I've also seen it when a handloader, pushed the shoulder back too far when resizeing the case, creating excessive headspace.

Over the years i've found factory ammo with the primer up side down (pistol round), the primer side ways and crushed (Federal), bullets seated so lopsided the round wouldn't even chamber (Winchester), and all sorts of other things!!

I even had a "new" Ruger 357 mag. revolver come in, that the cylinder wasn't chambered all the way down!! It would only allow 38 spl's go in less than 1/2 way!! How did they test fire that one???????????????

charlie brown · 12-14-2003, 06:02 PM

Yes, I did have the headspace checked with this rifle. That was one of my concerns when I bought it. A lot of Mausers (including mine) get bolts mixed when they are imported, so I had the headspace checked when I bought it. The gunsmith said that everything was fine. I'm thinking it was just a weak primer or something. There is no soot or anything around the edges of the primer at all.

Vapodog · 12-14-2003, 08:44 PM

This is the type of sign that one hates to ignore.....but that's exactly what I'd do....unless it happens several more times.....then something is wrong and steps should be taken to find the problem.....the issue seems to be minor so far.....

Don't it drive ya up a wall??????

Briman · 12-14-2003, 11:38 PM

Was the correct headspace guage used? There are two types of 8x57 guages they differ on the shoulder angle. Not sure if it would give you a false safe headspace reading, though it could do the opposite.

I would look for a shiny ring around the head of the cartridge to indicate excessive headspace- if you see a shiny ring, bend a paperclip into an 'L' shape and sharpen the end of the short leg of the 'L'. use it to feel for a depression on the inside where the brass might have stretched near the casehead. If you don't feel anything on severl cases, I wouldn't worry about it.

It doesn't suprise me too much that a remington load for 8x57 would have a primer backing out. A 170 gr bullet shoul dbe pushed almost nearly 2800 fps in a normal load and remington pushes theirs around 2400 fps. Its severely underloaded and the primer needs a certain level of pressure to seal to the primer pocket. Do you notice any black soot around the primers? Its a dead giveaway that gases are leaking past the primer.

eldeguello · 12-15-2003, 07:14 AM

Quote:

Have you had the head space checked in that rifle? I've seen that happen in the past with guns with excessive head space.

I suspect that somehow this particular round got an excessive charge in it. The U.S. 8X57mm ammo is underloaded by a wide margin, and basically is very mild! Since only one round looks bad, I'd say it is NOT a case of excessive headspace in your rifle!