The other day, I was working up a load for my buddy's .243. I was working with a 95 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip on top of Varget powder. We used the brass he had after firing several boxes of factory ammo. Most of his factory brass was Federal, but some was PMC and Winchester.

The load was 33.5 gr. Varget, which is 1.5 gr. under max. I seated the bullet out to the lands and then about .050 deeper. Accuracy was excellent. However, the primers on this load pushed out from the primer pocket about 1/32 or 1/16". It seemed to do this only in the Federal brass. There were no signs of excessive pressure. No cratering, no difficult ejection of the case. If it weren't a new rifle (brand new Remington 700 VLS) I would maybe suspect a bolt problem. The only thing that makes me wonder is the fact that the primers pushed in very easily.

Does any have an idea?