Thread: What happened ????

Ok so I don't consider my self to be an expert re-loader but I've done 1500 odd cases of 223. Never a problem...............till tonight. Shooting rabbits with 223 , all going well then pull the trigger and shit goes south big time.
The round sounds weird, I get a painful back spray of power and brass, a lot of smoke coming out of the action. The bolt is hard to lift and the spent round jammed hard into the bolt face.
Not pleasant and confidence is destroyed big time. However been a varmint shooting mad man and considering I cant find any blood and I can still see out of both eyes even though one does feel bruised I got rabbits in front of me and 20 rounds to go. I remember I have some sun glasses that will offer some / better than no protection. NOT HAPPY but get through without any other problems.
I have taken photo's guys and would like some opinions slash advice.
All cases trimmed.
All charges weighted / Hornady balance beam

Looks like a major pressure problem, case is ruined and the primer pocket is totally fucked, expanded and out of round. Huge gouge out of case rim where extractor has been caught up....
I got away lightly I know, face a bit sore but nothing really, gun ok and functioning .

One big lesson learned, from now on with my reloads I will wear shooting / safety glasses.

Glad you're OK. I never saw any shooters wearing eye pro at the range, I guess there's only a significant risk if you're reloading?

any chance of putting 2 measures of your load in he same case

Originally Posted by northdude

any chance of putting 2 measures of your load in he same case

Nah no chance, 26gr of 2206H is pretty full , not psychically possible.

Do you have other powders on the bench or could this have been the tail end of a hotter powder out of your powder thrower (making this the first round in a new batch)? Is there a chance any more could be the same? What brand of primer?

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Originally Posted by Feral

Do you have other powders on the bench or could this have been the tail end of a hotter powder out of your powder thrower (making this the first round in a new batch)? Is there a chance any more could be the same? What brand of primer?

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I only reload 223 and only use 2206h every time, I don't even use a powder thrower, use a scoop ( Lee ) and each and every charge is weighted and finished off with a trickler. I take my time and am pretty fussy and careful. CCI primers, all I use, primer wasn't pierced, the photo's show the case after I cleaned it, before it was black from the powder .....not the whole case just the photoed end .
Any more in the batch ??? who knows...gives me the shits.
I am starting t doubt my scales ( 2nd hand but look mint ) Neck tension ??? will be backing off charge to 25 gr from now on.

Loose primer pocket. The headstamp is not flattened at all.
Does look to be an ejector mark on the base but hard to tell.

Primer is cratered but not flattened so I am picking you had a slightly oversized flash hole, oversized pocket and a lot of blow back. Or just a bad primer tolerance.
The case head has seen a bit of heat due to the blowback.

Check all your other rounds for a snug primer fit. Tap the rim on a bench lightly to see if the primer unseat at all.


Do you use a small base sizing die?

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Was it possible that the case is a bit overlong?

I've had it happen twice. First time was in a 6.5x57AI Turkish Mauser, whoever had done the chambering phucked up, headspace was miles out, Alan Carr did the remedial work for me no problems after that, second time was in my .223 Jongmans trying 70 grain bullets, I loaded the projectiles out to far and guessing the projectile was jammed in the lands did similar to yours, lucky the Jogmans is a very strong action, had to hammer action open and the extractor had been blown off, Mitch Maxberry fitted a new extractor, (rifle still shoots bug size groups so no lasting issues)

Thanks for the possible answers guys, going to find a check weight for the scales. No problem with case length but I will check. Lee deluxe die set, fire formed , trimmed to length and neck sized.
Will be checking some other things also.

If its digi scales the cheaper ones tend to wander a bit I've also noticed when reloading for my 223 the federal brass has quite loose primer pockets compared to the PMC brass as well

So this is the results of checking everything this morning.
* Trimmed case length is good and inside max case length

* OAL is good, checked and re-checked, measured all un fired ammo and all seems good.

* checked all primer pockets, nothing loose, all flush. All hand primed so I can feel them slid in.

* checked scales, 40 gr V max weighted spot on 40 gr, not exactly a lab test weight but seems spot on.

I really don't know what happened which worry's me even more, nice when you find the problem and can make changes. When you can't your none the wiser.
Will be wearing my shooting glasses with reloads from now on.

Weigh the unfired ammo as well check your bolt face to

@viper, i live in Glenorchy and will be heading to Queenstown sometime soon, very big maybe today but quiet sure tomorrow. I am not an expert t all but i can drop in and have a chat and look at your set up for just some advise.
As i said, not an expert but i have quiet few K's of reloaded rounds without any trouble. R93 has a lot more experience than me i am sure and many others here can and will give very valuable feed back too.

Hope you are well thou…

Mac

What about an under load, perhaps you short loaded with 2206H. Too little powder can cause excessive pressure as well.