Comments on: Evaluating Pressure Signs in Reloaded Cartridge Brass

By: randy

randy — Mon, 20 May 2019 16:49:08 +0000

Thanks for an informative article. You don’t mention it, but in my limited experience, excess headspace (only 0.005″) can cause flat primers, created when cases are sized too much. Excess shoulder setback, repeated several times, can lead to head separation, even with normal or low chamber pressure. Reloaders need to know the dimens of fired and resized cases.

By: steve

steve — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 18:06:16 +0000

Oh, one other thing–I’ve shot factory R-P ammo and the primers all flatten out the same amount as my high pressure loads.
From my experience the best indicator of over pressure is hard extraction using a once-fired FL sized case. If you are shooting fireformed cases, that is no indication at all because after 4-5 firings of neck sizing they will be stiff.

By: steve

steve — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 18:01:09 +0000

Just had a case blow out (.30-06) about 1/2″ from the base. Of course I’ve reloaded them 18 times. One telltale sign to look for is a line around all or part of the case. One thing I can tell you is that the blowback can destroy the ejector pin spring–it did mine. I’m shooting out of a magnum bbl at 2950 fps with a 175 BTHP and shoot 1/2 dime to dime size groups 2 100yds.

By: Laurito

Laurito — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 20:39:47 +0000

This article is a misfire.

By: Trevor

Trevor — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 16:31:49 +0000

I agree what a waste. 60% of the time the methods work all the time.

By: Benjamin Ogdon

Benjamin Ogdon — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 21:10:48 +0000

So let’s see… On the one hand, here are some pressure signs that aren’t reliable, because they can be caused by other factors. On the other hand, here are some “valid” pressure signs that aren’t reliable either.

Yes, very useful information indeed.