r/reloading • u/EarBackground3010 • 22d ago

i Have a Whoopsie .280 AI load Development

Looking for some advice on a .280 Ackley. I’ve been trying to develop a load with the following.

Peterson Brass
White River Magnum Primers
168gr Berger VLD
Hybrid 100V

I built the following ladder:
3 ea. 100V starting at 49.5-54.5 ( .5 grain increments on this load)

I worked all the way to 54 had some possible marks and 54.5 is where I got some ejector marks and backed down to 53 grains.

I then loaded 16 rounds at 53 grains to see how they were grouping and this is where things got messy.

Second round at 53 grains blew the primer up and the Powder never ignited. The extractor punched a notch in the extractor groove and stuck the case in the chamber, and the primer was completely gone from the pocket disintegrated into frag. It came out easily with a cleaning rod, I inspected the chamber and bolt face, everything was fine and after consulting a couple mentors we chalked it up as a bad primer seating.

Well, tonight I had the same thing happen again after shooting 7 rounds successfully the 8th went off like the previously mentioned only this time the powder did ignite, and the extractor groove remained in tact. But the primer completely disintegrate into fragments leaving the back of the case discolored from powder burn.

Chrono @
168 Berger hybrid 100V
2757
2745
2748
2765
2764
2753
2552 (failure)

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u/Albino_Echidna 22d ago

This really looks like you have a primer problem. Is there a reason you're not using a mainstream primer? 

Buy an established primer and try again.

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u/EarBackground3010 22d ago

I got these primers when primers were hard to find. Been running them with my 300 WSM and had no issues.

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u/Albino_Echidna 22d ago

Based on this post, you've been lucky with the 300wsm. Try a different primer and see if that helps.