Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Newby question,etching a bolt.

I was reading some reviews of Nosler brass and one reviewer stated that his primer was so loose in this new brass that it resulted in a fire blow back and etched his bolt. Being about to reload my first rounds I am wondering what beyond common sense can be done to prevent such a mishap?

I do not plan to exceed published manual data loads.

I will go slightly over 270 SAAMI OACL of 3.340. I am reading an average of 3.381 touching the lands with a 140 Nosler BT.
My plan was to back .025 off to 3.356 and start with the minumum 54grs of H4831SC. I may then increase by .5 grains by groups of 5,not exceeding max. I likely won't get close to max this first time since I realize pressure can be higher with longer OACL. I will of coarse watch for signs of pressure.

I may also try different depths but would only start with the minimum. I also have some H4350 but would start at 49 grs.


Other than physically cleaning the pocket and checking as well as can be the primer,what can be done to prevent such a failure as I read about happening? I was under the impression that most of these things happened pushing the limits,or being careless by using over used brass or poor technique.

I plan to use the primer seater on my Forster Co-AX press,which I believe is excellent though slow. I will FL size once fired cases with a RCBS sizer and seat with a Forster BR seater. I have in excess of 500 once fired 270 factory brass that I have saved. I did not plan to trim or clean any this first reloading. They all went straight from the bolt back into the plastic sleeve to be stored.

Just use R-P or W-W brass and some nickel plated primers: CCI or Federal, and you'll be fine. I have never had a loose primer leak and etch; and the only loose primers I've had have been in worn out/over-pressured cases that shouldn't have been loaded 'one more time'. The few times I've etched a bolt has involved pierced primers from excess pressure loads. The problem is unusual.

Being a newby,I'm not sure I understand the reference to R-P or W-W brass. Right now all I am using are CCI nickel plated primers.

Rather than start another newby thread,is there a brass I should avoid? I was going to start with my once fired Nosler simply because it was the factory load that gave the best accuracy. There were however several bad reviews of the new Nosler brass,especially about the primer pockets.

Is there a best brass? I am of the type to over research and over think things at times. My purpose in reloading is simply to produce the most accurate loads possible with the bullets I want to shoot,which are not always available in factory loaded form. I read on a thread somewhere that RWS 270 brass is a gold standard,and I located some. With a little experience,I will begin to sort brass very meticulously. With such sorting,is there a best brass brand as a starting point,or is it more of a matter of making sure every case is as consistent as possible?

If you get into sorting make the neck walls the first thing you check. Small weight variations case to case won't affect things nearly as much as bad necks.

A few years ago I was mostly using R-P and Lapua brass for my 308 Win loading. Checking the necks led to more R-P rejects, but not too many. Then R-P brass quality took a dump and the survivors of the culling operation became more expensive per piece than the Lapua brass with said survivors now carrying the cost of the culls.

W-W = Winchester/Western = Winchester brass
R-P = Remington/Peters = Remington Brass

Most of my loads are in either Lapua or Nosler Brass. I do load one cartridge in Hornady.

My 223/5.56 is whatever I find for plinking loads.

My 6.5x55 Swede uses Lapua brass and has resulted in 5-shot .33" groups. As a hunter, that's better than I deserve.

If you're going for target accuracy only, you'll find yourself measuring more parts of the case than you'd expect. But, the two parts to inspect the hardest are the case necks (for thickness and being straight). Once you have one brand of brass, you'll go through all of that and more.

If you're wanting accurate hunting loads, there's a point of diminishing returns on worrying over the brass. Just find a good load and go with it.

Yes,accurate hunting loads,but I do tend toward perfectionism to my detriment. I will try my best not to become lost in the details.

The ordinary big name brands of brass will generally give perfectly pleasing and adequate accuracy for hunting loads, and they are cheaper so reloading mistakes which spoil a case or two are less painful. They are also usually pretty good about holding primer pockets well enough for multiple reloads.

Some primers tend to fit loosely compared to others which is why I suggested nickeled types since they tend to be a bit snugger. (Winchester primers have often felt a bit loose in seating when used in previously fired brass which has been subject to full pressure loads.)

I would work on developing safe and reliable loads to start with - and common brass will work perfectly for this; you can seek 'better' brass as you narrow down the factors that affect the level of accuracy you seek.

What I found was even with hunting rifles good brass eliminated mystery flyers. Of course I'm a handloading loony so a 1 1/2 moa for five shots hunting load may be adequate but it sure isn't satisfying.

Sounds like a perfectly reasonable approach. I mainly wanted to make sure there wasn't something wrong with using my once fired Nosler brass,that I wasn't aware of. I suppose I let some horror stories spook me.

There's nothing wrong with Nosler brass, it's actually pretty good stuff for the most part. You will know right off the bat if the pockets are loose as you will feel it when seating. There should be some resistance when seating primers, that resistance can vary from high to low, but if you can feel any resistance the pockets are still good and will not leak. Once pockets are toast, you'll feel the primer practically fall in with no resistance at all(That brass is now scrap). That said, you can sometimes get an extra loading or two on oversize pockets by switching to a diff brand primer(IE Fed primers will sometimes have slight resistance in worn brass where Win primers just fall in). If you see no resistance in seating after 2-3 loads, your load is either too hot or the brass lot is too soft.

If you don't already have one, I'd highly suggest a concentricity gauge that measures both run-out and neck wall thickness. One of the most important keys to quality ammo is concentricity.

Good luck,

loder

That's more along my method of thinking. I got involved in competition shooting in my early teens into early 20's and it basically spoiled me to the "that's good enough" mindset. You know just sighting in before opening day by hitting a paper plat every shot at 100 yards? We still have that mentality at a local range,and I suppose they usually kill deer.

I have used a lot of nosler brass....never an issue....I think it's some of the best stuff out there....my bet is he has blown a few primers due to pressure.....loose primer pockets are always the result....always....next is a case head rupture and that gets painful...
Price on nosler brass is kinda high but hornady make good brass also....regardless the brass is not a fault use whatever...military brass you might stay away from for beginning they can be quirky... Read your load manual from page 1. Every thing you need to know to get started is there....

You mention touching the lands.....for a beginner you need to understand what happens when you do that.....inching out the bullet is somthing we all do...when you do that you increase case volume and pressure goes down with a given powder charge..but as you get closer to the lands spike pressure gets sharper.....what we want to do is get a gradual increase to peak pressure....I find this to never be touching the lands...it's usually off the lands some....this is speaking of hunting bullets only....lots of target bullets like the lands..
Every rifle has the magic sweet spot for this....I have seen guys sell guns because they refuse to back the bullet off the lands...and they just didn't shoot well there..
Good luck and ask lots of questions