Thread: What happened ????

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

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

i go with @R93 advice , it looks like loose primer , if it was too much oomph the primer would be flattened ....

I agree about the loose primer but I don't know how, I clean the pockets each time just to remove fouling from spent primer but that's only pocket bottom, the side walls don't get cleaned as such.

I would pick it's the case, and loose primer pocket too. Certainly not too hot, you couldn't stuff enough 2206h in a 223 case to really get in trouble. You would need a considerably faster powder to really get into strife. And you can under load 2206h quite considerably without issue too - the manufacturers recommend it for reduced loads, it is very easy to light so no detonation issues.

Hornady brass is horrible shit. It seems hugely variable. Weigh any empties you have and see what I mean. I believe they make some cases themselves and these are fine, but also outsource to every Tom dick and Harry when under pressure, so you never know what you'll get. I have once fired Hornady 308 cases you can nearly push a primer into with your fingers. Bin it.

I have measured factory rounds of Hornady in 7x64 and compared them to New Norma brass - you can almost visibly see how undersized the Hornady is. It shoots fine, but forget reloading the case afterwards. I thought I had a headspace issue for a while, but just utterly shit brass.

Did I mention Hornady brass is shit?

Thanks Zimmer , I know what you mean but like 7x64 says, you can't get that much in to really be way over, plus I am running less than recommended max loads.
Very interesting about Hornaby brass, it is on it's 4th reload so I think I will finish this batch off and bin it all.

I now have some nice new shooting glasses that turn the world a shade of yellow but I am glad to be able to see still.
The Tikka action gained some major respect after this also, seems plenty strong.

fWIW I use use 223 brass when making cases for my 6.5TCU,

I neck them up. They are fireformed the first time, loaded again and shot, loaded again and then biffed as I'm driving them quite hard.

I like the Lake city Brass, Federal is OK too, Geko also works well.

I have a good source of scrap brass though

If the primer pocket is uniformly oversized then you would be able to feel the difference when priming but if the pocket is slightly oval then you will still feel that resistance like a normal pocket, so I would rule it out.

Dude I am not ruling anything out, that's the problem with this dark art. Like using a Ouiga board, 99% of the time it's just a bit of edgy fun but 1% of the time it turns nasty .

'Wouldnt'

Viper if you still have the case try seating a primer in it to see how it feels. Sorry if this has already been suggested.

+1 for looking at the Hornady brass. I loaded 7mm rem mag cases and one separated after only a few firings. Lucky I noticed it when I was giving the rounds a polish after loading so avoided a nasty surprise! The other cases seemed fine so guessing one weak one. I binned the lot anyway to be sure. Primer pockets were not great for tightness compared to Norma which I changed to. In fact if I hadn't of found the separating case they were due to be discarded after the next firing for that reason.

Originally Posted by r87mm

+1 for looking at the Hornady brass. I loaded 7mm rem mag cases and one separated after only a few firings. Lucky I noticed it when I was giving the rounds a polish after loading so avoided a nasty surprise! The other cases seemed fine so guessing one weak one. I binned the lot anyway to be sure. Primer pockets were not great for tightness compared to Norma which I changed to. In fact if I hadn't of found the separating case they were due to be discarded after the next firing for that reason.

I am with you mate, I got 60 rounds to go, one failure so been a trill seeker once I have these 60 shot off they are going in the bin.

Whats your neck tension like, could this projectile have slipped in a bit further, giving a "compressed " load ? I know that ya case is going to be pretty full anyway but maybe that gave a higher pressure when jumping to the lands?