Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Anybody had a Winchester Small Rifle primer leak?

Bought a brick a few months ago, as the price was right at a local store, and I try to keep some of all brands on hand for article testing. All the reports I'd heard about Winchesters leaking at a "corner" of the cup were about Large Rifle primers, but today I used some while trying different primers with the same bullet and powder charge of a .17 Hornet load.

The third round sprung a pinhole leak at the corner of the primer at the edge of the pocket, spraying powder residue and hot gas over the case head. Oh, and the shot was a flier, two inches to the left of the main (small) group. NONE of the other primers had any problems, even a soft-cupped Tula (Russian) primer designed for lower-pressure rounds like the .17 and .22 Hornet. According to Hornady, the charge of A1680 was under max for the 20-grain V-Max.

I've read a few similar accounts involving Winchester small rifle primers---the copper colored ones.

I've had it happen a number of times with Large Rifle and Large Pistol, but never with either of the small primers.

Got a picture of the primer? Did it crack the side of the cup like this, or is it a different failure mode?

Has Winchester ever made copper colored primers?

Yondering,

It's like the hole on the second photo, which is exactly what I've seen in the samples friends have of the defective LR primers. There's no crack in the side of the primer cup.

The crack can be hard to see, but it is the cause of the common WLR primer issue. The brittle cup cracks, gas leaks through the crack, causing the hole. Of course, you have to remove the primer to see the crack; it's only on the side of the cup not the back.

For clarification, both those pictures show the same primer.

I've experienced holes in old CCI 500 small pistol primers, but no cracks. In that case, the hole was from corrosion of the old primers, not brittle cups.

Which do you think yours is?

I decapped the primer upon returning from the range. There's no crack on the side, just the pinhole on the "corner."

I've not had any issue with Winchester SRP, just the large ones.

And those I did have leak were at pressures above 31 to 32 Kpsi. I had some .45-70 loads at that pressure with no trouble, but my M1 ruptured several with a load at 42 Kpsi.

I, lately, have gotten somewhat "gunshy" of WW components.

Yes, they do now. Changed it up a couple of years ago, I guess.

It became a common complaint in the high power community at the time Winchester stopped plating small rifle primers. Except, if I remember correctly, they were blanking and burning firing pin tips.

Jb, been using them off and on all week around Augusta in a 223 with no problems. BTW other guys are hunting bears up here did you get one? Muddy .

Are you confusing copper with brass? All non-plated Winchester primers I've seen are brass, not copper.

That's why I said "copper colored."

You must be color blind, I've never seen brass that in any way looked "copper colored". While I have never shot any Winchester small rifle primers I have fired thousands upon thousands of Winchester large pistol and large rifle primers without issues of any kind.

JB, Wife and I use WW brass colored primers in our PD town 223 rifles. Many thousands have been fired over the last few years and we have never encountered any problems of any kind. Large rifle std and Mag is a whole different story. Maybe yours is just a one off event bad primer.

That's what I'm beginning to suspect. Will try them some more in other rounds. They weren't the winner anyway in the .17 Hornet.

How much do these "leaks" mess up the bolt face? I have a few thousand WLR primers, from 2015.

They're non-silvery for sure.

They will pit the bolt face in a ring around the primer pocket. On most guns, if it happens just a couple times it's not too serious, but if you keep using them it could destroy the bolt face.

Do some color blind people actually see copper and brass as the same color? Not being color blind myself, I assumed everyone could separate those two, especially gun people who see bullets and brass regularly, but now I'm wondering.

This isn't the first time someone on the 'fire has referred to Win primers as copper colored.

I have had that with Winchester SR primers .Only 2 of about 500 I ran in my AR.Same as the lower pic,but a lot dirtier.