Guys my son has a Savage 110 7 mag and his boy has Savage 116 in a 260 Remington. Both of these rifles when fired with any load have a crater around the firing pin indention. I asked one gun smith and he said that this was nothing to worry about, but now with some new Winchester brass the 7 mag is blowing primers with a load that has never been a problem before. Is this something that needs fixing or is it just the nature of the beast. Both guns are extremely accurate and have had no other problems. Any ideas, weak firing pin spring, bad brass, bad firing pin??? Thanks DRBOB

Your shooting loads that are too hot...The next one may blow or the next...Cratering IS a sign of pressure 98% of the time, the other 2% is an oversize firing pin hole, both need correcting...

Blowing primers is courting desaster...If the load is not at or near near max then you need a chamber cast, maybe the chamber is too tight, the necks of the cases need triming or neck reaming or perhaps the bore is too tight, all serious problems...what ever the problem is you need to take the gun to a real gunsmith and not the one that said cratering is no problem, that guy is an idiot....

I agree with Ray that piercing primers is a problem, but in my experience with Savages is that it's the size of the primer hole.

One advantage of the "modular bolt" is that you can buy an inexpensive after market bolt face and put it on. Sharp shooter supply would be a place to start with asking questions (they advertise on savageshooters.com).

That said though, the loads ARE too hot if this is a problem. A couple of my rifles crater, but nothing bad enough to cause a problem, unless courting disaster. HTH, Dutch.

Ray,
The reason for the question is that the loads that are being used are at least 2.5 - 3 grains below max for this
7 mag. In the 260 the cases have been loaded at least 4-5 times with no looseness in the primers pockets. In the 7 mag. the load is 2.5 grain below what nosler gives as a max load.The gun smith who looked at these rifles said this was a result of the firing pin hole being to large, but I am trying to get more ideas about this. Both are extremely accurate and they both also do this with factory ammo, not just my reloads. Also thanks to the other reply and the info about the Savage Shooters items I will check this out. DRBOB

One other possibility is a weak mainspring. It will allow the pin to set back a bit. In any event it is somthing to worry about.
Good luck!

DRBOB,
I Have a 25-06 Browning B-78 that craters primers with factory ammo. Do the primers in your rounds show only cratering, or are they flattened as well? If they are flattened, then I would agree you have definate signs of high pressure. If they are only cratered and not flattened then the problem may be an oversized firing pin hole or a batch of primers with softer cups. I would first try to eliminate the primer metal question. If possible try the ammo in another rifle and check the primer condition.(only if you are absolutely sure the ammo is safe). I'd pull a bullet and double check the powder charge, make sure what you think the powder is, is actually what's in there etc.
One question though, What powder are they using and what was the source?