"Crater marks on your primer. After firing and the bolt opens normal make sure to look at the primer. Crater marks indicates too much pressure.
There are tons of image examples on the inTRAnet of a cratered primer."
While I agree with this, be advised that there are exceptions to the rule. I have a Remington M700 30-06 and regardless of the pressure level of a load from a very light cast lead plinking load or a full balls to the wall big game load, the primers will crater. Close inspection of the face of the bolt shows that the firing pin hole has a bevel similar to reaming the crimp from a cartridge case. Just a slight shallow bevel that I guess some worker at Remington did for whatever reason. It's probably something that never should have been done but there it is. There is a fix by having a gunsmith drill out the hole and bush it which I may or may not have done.My point is don't overlook the possibility of checking out the bolt face first as the hole may have been chamfered as it appears mine was off the hole could be a bit larger than normal. egardless of the quality of quality control, sometimes stuff just happens.
"Welcome aboard. PAY ATTENTION to what your doing. This hobby requires 100% CONCENTRATION."
That cannot be stated strongly enough. If you're tired, grumpy about something or whatever, then that is not the time to load ammo.
Paul B.
There are tons of image examples on the inTRAnet of a cratered primer."
While I agree with this, be advised that there are exceptions to the rule. I have a Remington M700 30-06 and regardless of the pressure level of a load from a very light cast lead plinking load or a full balls to the wall big game load, the primers will crater. Close inspection of the face of the bolt shows that the firing pin hole has a bevel similar to reaming the crimp from a cartridge case. Just a slight shallow bevel that I guess some worker at Remington did for whatever reason. It's probably something that never should have been done but there it is. There is a fix by having a gunsmith drill out the hole and bush it which I may or may not have done.My point is don't overlook the possibility of checking out the bolt face first as the hole may have been chamfered as it appears mine was off the hole could be a bit larger than normal. egardless of the quality of quality control, sometimes stuff just happens.
"Welcome aboard. PAY ATTENTION to what your doing. This hobby requires 100% CONCENTRATION."
That cannot be stated strongly enough. If you're tired, grumpy about something or whatever, then that is not the time to load ammo.
Paul B.
