Reloading help.

[muntz]

I'm working a load for my 6.8 SPC upper. It has a RRA reciever and a 20" M1S barrel with a SAMMI chamber and 1:9.5 twist.

From the start load I noticed very small ejector impressions and the primers are a little flatter than I thought they should be. As I worked up these impressions didn't really get any worse and I have no other over pressure signs that I can notice. I can post the load data and chrono data if necessary but so far all loads are well below max.

Should I be concerned?

Below are a few pictures of fired cases:

[6079Winston]

Cratered primers, ejector marks and really flat primers with a small radius at the edge are usually in indicator of high pressures. What does Remington factory ammo look like when fired from your rifle? Some cartridge and gun combinations can be twitchy to load for and really need to be approached from the recommended minimum loads. Or it could be something else like cartridge headspace, component substitution etc... More details would help.

[muntz]

I haven't actually fired factory ammo yet. It's next on my list.

What I'm using at the moment is once fire Rem brass, WLR primers, H322 powder, Sierra 115 gr. HPBT, and Hornady 110 Vmax. Start load of 26.0 on the 115 Sierras and 27.0 on the Vmax.

Does this info help? Did I miss any details that may help?

[nothing4u]

Don't try to load any higher than where you are at. If you want higher velocity without the pressure signs you will have to get 6.8 SPC II chamber specs.

[forty5]

Your loads are well below Max, so there should not be a problem. Some chamber and barrel twist combinations in the 6.8 SPC will cause pressure problems even below max loads. It is hard to tell pressure signs from your pictures of cases. Fire some Rem factory loads and compare the primers and cases to your loads. That should tell you if your loads are showing high pressure signs or normal pressure signs. Go to

http://www.68forums.com/

and you can learn all about reloading the 6.8 SPC. On that site they are very knowledgabel and friendly and more than willing to help.

[EOD3]

I only see a couple of primers that aren't in great shape. Given that these are all reloads, there could be a couple of issues that might cause somewhat flattened primers. It COULD be that you didn't seat the primer all the way to the bottom of the pocket or the pocket is just a little loose. Were there any extraction problem? What were the groups like, did you have fliers? Are all the cases <= the maximum case length?

[muntz]

I wasn't shooting for groups, just trying to hit a gong at 300 yards while shooting through a chronograph.

Prior to loading I did trim all of the cases and used a primer pocket uniformer tool. None of the primers felt loose during the priming process and I feel confident that all were seated correctly.

During firing I didn't have any extraction problems. About all I did notice was that the first round in a cold chamber would eject in a different direction than the subsequent rounds.

Something that does come to mind is that I used a Lee Factory Crimp Die and lightly crimped each round. Could that be a contributing factor?

[EOD3]

If you have any doubts, pull the bullets, dump the powder, and pop the primers. I can sit here and ask questions till the cows come home and we still won't know for sure if there's any problem at all. Any chance pistol primers got mixed with your rifle primers. Did you weigh all the charges?

I've never known crimp to have any significant impact on pressure in bottleneck rifle loads.

[muntz]

No chance any pistol primers got mixed in as I'm not set up to load pistol calibers yet.

Each charge was weighed on a balance scale.

I can sit here and ask questions till the cows come home and we still won't know for sure if there's any problem at all.

At this point and after a bit of research I'm thinking about ordering a new barrel and cut my losses. I've read from a few sources that Model 1 can sometimes have issues with chrome lining buildup. All things being equal a 1:9.5 barrel with SAMMI spec chamber just isn't the safest or best option.

[EOD3]

Obviously, it's your rifle and whatever it takes to get to your comfort level is fine. I don't think I've ever heard of "chrome buildup" nor do I have any idea how such a thing could happen. If it was my money, I'd have a gunsmith run an air gauge down the bore before I'd use it as a flag holder... After all, we're only talking a couple of flattened primers. I know people who completely ignore primer condition other than cratering. YMMV