I get a lot of brass sent to me to reload. Some of it I see obvious signs of pressure and there are 100+ pieces of this brass that has been shot with high pressure (dangerous!). Here are some very important things to watch for pressure signs in your rifle.

(See picture below for reference)

Top row- Obvious blown primers, heavy soot around case head, very apparent ejector swipe with sharp edge. Most likely smoke came out the back of the bolt. HIGH Over Pressure!

Second row down- Gas leak around primer, black soot around primer pocket, very apparent ejector swipe with textured lifted edge of brass. Over pressure sign!!

Bottom row- Ejector swipe with shiny spot, ejector swipe slightly lifted and rough.

The main other sign that I see is a sticky bolt lift after firing a round. When you struggle to open the bolt on a bolt action rifle, this should be a telltale sign of over pressure.

All had flattened primers, but that is not a 100% sign of pressure depending on which primer is used. If you are using a Federal 215 magnum, which has the thickest primer cup, and you are flattening that primer, yes, you probably have pressure. But some of the thinner cup primers will flatten out easily on mild loads.

If you see these signs of over pressure, STOP SHOOTING that ammo in that rifle!! Send it back to the manufacturer!!

Good info .

What about a bright ring around the base of the shell Chad?

I gotta say, when I saw this thread title I was concerned as I just sent Chad 100 pieces of brass!

I like mine to blow primers. That’s less of a mess in the reloading room, and a clear indication that I’m getting maximum velocity.

Great post.

QSYB, nope, not yours!!



Snake, are you talking about case head separation?

I would think what snake is seeing is the belt and area just off of it looks shinyer in the photos.

Chad, I just loaded up some ammo some of it is going beyond listed max, but ill stop when I see signs.

I loaded with Remington 9 1/2 large rifle primers, what is you take on them?

Loading ammo "going beyond the listed max" is very common. I do it all the time. Hornady and Sierra (and many others) have very conservative data. Some more than others. But if you are smart about it and know what to watch for, you should be fine. Just look at my 6.5 Speedmoor ammo. I'm running a 140 grain at 2855 fps in a 24" barrel. There's no load data on that round that high, even with the slow burning powders. I created that round with some range work and pressure testing. It's a very fast load, but is within pressure limits in all my testing I've done on standard 6.5 CM chambers.

The Rem 9 1/2 primer is a standard large rifle primer. It should work fine for standard loads. It has the same thickness as other standard LR primers. If you switch to the 9 1/2 M, their large rifle magnum primer, it is one of 2 of the hottest magnum primers. The other being the Fed 215.

I bought a bunch of the Remington primers years ago from sportsmans warehouse years ago, about to run out of them though.

See I didn't worry about this problem until it happened with a factory box of ammo (Sticky bolt after I shot). Good info chad thanks for the heads up!

But, but...

LOL! Yelp!!!

What powder and charge are you using for your speedmoor?

It's locked up with the KFC and Coca Cola recipe!

Not a double base temp sensitive mix of H4350 and coke is it?

11 Spices – Mix With 2 Cups White Fl.

2/3 Ts Salt
1/2 Ts Thyme
1/2 Ts Basil
1/3 Ts Oregano
1 Ts Celery salt
1 Ts Black pepper
1 Ts Dried mustard
4 Ts Paprika
2 Ts Garlic salt
1 Ts Ground ginger
3 Ts White pepper

"Gotta put your own work in, around here homie."

challenge excepted

I hear Garlic Salt is double base and temp sensitive.

This is one of mine. The round that followed this one was a catastrophic failure. I now make it a point to always look at my extracted brass.

I can 100% confirm this is not the Coca Cola recipe. There’s no Oregano in it!

Great post Chad.

One add on thought fwiw -
As a general rule, pressures go up as temperatures increase. So working up loads in very hot weather generally assures the pressure will be safe as temperatures drop. If a load is worked up in cooler weather leave a comfortable safety margin for use as temperatures increase.