Looks to me like it somehow got nicked, was it seated a little high and got nicked closing the action ?? Something caused that little half moon chip and it went a little deep and the wall failed..
Looks like a primer cup failure to me as well. I've seen a few fail exactly like that but all were from the bad batch of brass colored WLRs. I don't think the cup was nicked but is instead damaged from the flame cutting by the jet of 60K PSI gas escaping from the cup failure. If it was a 210 did you contact Federal about the issue? Winchester handled their bad lot of primers pretty well and I would imagine Fed would as well.
Posts: 103 | Location: Maryland | Registered: 07 March 2012
Looks like a crack running from the molten spot all the way down the cup.
Must be a very old Federal primer, as every one I have seen has nickel plating on it.
If it is old, that might explain it, but given the rest of the primer doesn't look too flat or anything, I would wager it's a bad primer, not a overpressure load.
Posts: 11033 | Location: Minnesota USA | Registered: 15 June 2007
Winchester sent packaging for the primers and then a truck was dispatched to pick them up (5 bricks worth in two different lot numbers). A reimbursement check that accounted for my trouble showed up in the mail shortly thereafter. They also offered to repair any bolt face damage. I declined the repair because the bolt face pitting was relatively minor and the hassle of sending off several rifles was not worth it to me. I have since replaced the returned WLRs with newly manufactured WLRs from a Winchester recommended lot # and have had zero issues. The OP picture looked like a brass cup primer and the failure mechanism looks identical to what I experienced which was the reason for the WLR assumption.
Posts: 103 | Location: Maryland | Registered: 07 March 2012
I have a batch of 5000 Winchester large pistol primers that are doing that with very mild loads. I have never had any problems with them in the past. Winchester got a QC problem? C.G.B.
Does anyone have the bad lot #'s so that we can check our supplies? Thanks!
"The liberty enjoyed by the people of these states of worshiping Almighty God agreeably to their conscience, is not only among the choicest of their blessings, but also of their rights." ~George Washington - 1789
Posts: 2135 | Location: Where God breathes life into the Amber Waves of Grain and owns the cattle on a thousand hills. | Registered: 20 August 2002
Now you've got me doubting myself. I'll have to locate the primer and look at it again. I was thinking it was a 210 that look gold because of the light, but now I think it looks gold too... it could be a Winchester, as I have used those off and on in the past. This photo is a few years old.
Originally posted by BC3: Winchester sent packaging for the primers and then a truck was dispatched to pick them up (5 bricks worth in two different lot numbers). A reimbursement check that accounted for my trouble showed up in the mail shortly thereafter. They also offered to repair any bolt face damage. I declined the repair because the bolt face pitting was relatively minor and the hassle of sending off several rifles was not worth it to me. I have since replaced the returned WLRs with newly manufactured WLRs from a Winchester recommended lot # and have had zero issues. The OP picture looked like a brass cup primer and the failure mechanism looks identical to what I experienced which was the reason for the WLR assumption.
Quite a few years ago I had a retired Speer employee who was then working for Accurate Arms tell me that "Winchester has never really worked for the handloader piece of the business. They were primarily concerned with retail sales only."
I had always believed that based on the rather limited volume of handloading components available from them, comparatively speaking. I am now having serious second thoughts, based on this post.
Posts: 4748 | Location: TX | Registered: 01 April 2005
Primers can be an indication of high pressure, but you can't depend on it..My take is I pay attention to primers but don't get excited until another pressure sign shows up to back up the primer sign. Reloaders fly by the seat of their pants, in that some are over cautious and never get the best out of rifle, others stretch the string to the upper limits, I try to be in there someplace, depending on what Im seeing..Bottom line is Im the one that makes the judgement not somebody else..
