Thread: Winchester primer fail

Murom - initially LR in a 25/06, then SR in my own .223. Strong loads in both cases but no problems with Federal or Fiocchi. Not tried Winchester lately, gave them away when it appeared that the brass-coloured generation was relatively under-sized, around .0008" according to me. Not much, but enough to cause loose fit in pockets prematurely.

Originally Posted by dogmatix

I'm using Murom small rifle primers, no problems.
I heard it was their pistol primers that had the issue, hence Reloaders in Auckland won't sell the pistol primers, only small and large rifle.

Good to know but winchester just lost by meager business. A new bolt is way out of my budget

I have done a lot of reloading for pistol revolver shotgun and rifle using Winchester primers and have never had any trouble with any of them

Brass that's had the primer pocket swaged wrong will also do this

Originally Posted by Spanners

Brass that's had the primer pocket swaged wrong will also do this

Swaged?

Originally Posted by Spanners

Brass that's had the primer pocket swaged wrong will also do this

What he said

The Dillon super swage is the worst for it as the cases lay down and if not perfectly adjusted ramp on 1 side of the pocket and do exactly what posted in the pic
My 223 Tikka boldface is pocked to hell from it
Brass getting dumped

Hi,

We just noticed this in the last few weeks. We have had numbers of these fail in moderate 308w loads recently in target shooting, So 1~3 failures per bag on 12. It looks like the current winchester primers are crap. Try a lighter load, we dropped from 45gr 2208 to 44.5 and find we seem to be mostly ok. If we go hotter to get out to 1000m though we get more failures.

Yuk!

Yip i had 4 do it before i discovered the pitting. photos shit but u get the jist

Ever told Winchester about it and see what they say?

If you spend a couple of minutes on Google there is a few pics etc to be found.

They will know and would do fuck all if i complained other than give me more shitty primers. Pick your battles.

The usual explanation from the primer companies is that the primers have been exposed to ammonia ions after leaving the manufacturer .
This etches the stressed part of the primer cup leaving a week point which fails under normal pressure.

Federal had this happen with small rifle primers years ago.
I use Rem 7.5 sr primers in 6 PPC .

Pity as the Winchester plated primers were very good.

The Russian primers do not seem to have this problem.

Glenn

I asked my club armourer and he's saying he thinks its possibly the old batch of winchester primers that came in and did this some years ago now being sold again due to the shortages. Certainly if Id bought these recently I'd be going back to the gunshop and getting them to pay for a new bolt.

After that there is always the disputes tribunal.

regards