Rifle Denting primers

[statjunk]

Hey guys,

I'm helping a buddy reload. He went hunting and put some of the bullets in the rifle. Some of them. Not sure if this happens to all his cartridges yet, have a circle cut into the primer. Obviously this is due to the hole in the bolt face that the firing pin moves through.

I saw two cartridges like this and neither had what I would call a high primer.

Any ideas what could have caused this?

Thanks

Tom

[Howler]

Has to be a "high" primer. The only way the bolt face can touch the primer is if the primers aren't seated deep enough.

[skb2706]

did your friend fire the rounds or just chamber them ?

If just chambering them makes that mark then as was stated they are not seated correctly.

[BarnesX.308]

I agree. The key piece of information needed is whether the cartridges were fired.

[driftrider]

If this is happening just when they're chambered, then something's wrong. I doubt this is the case, because even if the primers were seated high, they would just be pushed into the pocket by the bolt face as the bolt cammed into battery.

I suspect that the OP is talking about cratering caused by the pressure of the round swaging the primer cup around the firing pin and into the firing pin hole. My Remington does this every time even with very light starting loads, so it's not a sure sign of pressure problems. Now if the normally curved outer edges of the primer were also flattened and squared off, and the primer was flat flush with the base of the case, I'd suspect pressure might be a problem.

Does he have any other signs of excess pressure like sticky bolt lift? What type of rifle is it?

Mike

[statjunk]

Guys these are unfired rounds. The only way that the primers were high is if the bolt face pushed the primer into the brass while it marked the ring. into the primer.

I felt the primer and it feels like it's flush to the brass.

I'm going to have to take a look at everything he's got.

You guys think that when he chambered the rounds it could have pushed the primer in enough so that I can't detect a high primer anymore?

Thanks

Tom

[Big Uncle]

You might want to have a look at his primer seating tool.

[Howler]

The primers shouldn't "just be flush" with the brass, they should be set in a couple thousanths below flush!

[Pawildman]

Have you checked the bolt face??

[statjunk]

I had him look at the bolt face. He said he doesn't see anything. Well the primer was flush so that has got to be the issue.

I'm glad that nothing went wrong!

Tom