Was shooting my 6.5 creed recently and had a couple blown primers. Also had 1 light primer strike that didnt fire. Shooting factory 147 ELD match ammo. I have 500+ rounds through this rifle and shot plenty of this ammo before but no issues.

Had a gun smith check out the rifle and ammo. He checked head space and said the rifle seems fine. He also measured some of the unfired rounds vs fired and didnt think it was a pressure issue. Said it might just be a soft primer issue. Its been a while since I cleaned the rifle.

Think its just a bad ammo lot? I havent shot any other ammo through it since this happened. Anything else I should check before shooting again?

and I did contact Hornady. This is what they responded with..

Hello,

The primer blowing out is an indication of high pressure. It could either be the firearm for one reason or another or it could be the ammunition. Have you tried any other ammunition through the gun? Have you cleaned the gun lately? Copper and carbon cleaners? We don't show any other known issues at this time.

Bolt gun or AR? Any solvents/oil in the chamber or barrel? Suppressed? Can you tell on the new lot of ammo, if the bullet is seated out longer than normal? (is the bullet engaging the rifling when chambering a live round prior to firing). Hornady ammo is typically "light" (i.e., slow), so unless they changed something....

Bolt action. Not that I know of. Haven't cleaned it in a while. Yes on suppressed. Comparing the ammo to another lot I can't tell a difference just looking at them.

Those primers are showing pressure. I would suspect you might have a carbon ring you need to clean...based upon all the other information you've provided.

Popping them like that aren't good for your bolt face or your trigger...don't keep shooting them.

Good luck.

You have pressure signs on about half of the fired cases in the ammo tray. You can see the shiny spots on the case head, so there is some pressure there. With a blown primer in cold weather, I would consider that ammo too hot for your rifle/set up. Shoot it in warm weather, and it will be even more pressure.

If you know the actual velocity (chronographed, not what is written on the box) and your barrel length, I can tell you if it's a little warm.

looks like over pressure to me too. I load the 147eld for my 260 and is significantly longer than a 140eldm version i shot before. I'd like to know if you are making contact with the bullet. you can easily be jamming even if the headspace is correct. I believe even the excess carbon ring affect is still very possible even with the barrel headspacing correctly.

Agreed on the carbon ring in the throat.

You've got to get fairly aggressive to get it out of there.

As Chad said, I've also spotted for lots of Hornady ammo. It is always loaded down.

What is the best tool or way to clean the carbon ring in the throat? I usually just clean the barrel with the Hoppe bronze brush and patches.

Firing pin pucker, yup over pressure.

Get a cleaning patch, cover it in Bore Tech Eliminator. Park it in the throat of the barrel over night.

The ONLY time I use a bronze brush is to remove the carbon ring. After the soak, put a bronze brush on the end of a 3 piece cleaning rod. Chuck up the cleaning rod in your drill. Put the brush just in the throat. In low gear, rotate it 50 times. Go back in the throat with dry patches, rotating by hand. After 5 patches, see how much debris is still coming out of the throat. If it still seems to have a carbon ring, park a solvent soaked patch in the throat of the barrel for an hour, and repeat the process.

Which of these would be best?

Bore Tech eliminator bore cleaner

or

Bore Tech C4 Carbon remover

The first one is all I have besides Hoppes #9.

But, I bet the second one would also work well. Since it's specially attacking carbon. I believe that's what the first one primarily does anyway. But I do see some blue on the patches, which means copper removal.

I cheat a little and use an 8mm bronze brush or the biggest ISSO blue brush I can buy if you don’t like bronze.

There are bore scopes available these days that take the guesswork out of diagnosing problems such as carbon rings. The problem with them is that they'll often show you things in the throat of a still-good-shooting rifle that will break your heart.

Bore Tech Eliminator is good for removing both powder fouling and jacket fouling. I use it with nylon brushes to give it a little mechanical help. Sometimes that's all I need, but there are times that powder fouling is stubborn and I'll resort to Hoppe's No.9 and a bronze brush (which will NOT harm a barrel when properly used!), and sometimes when jacket fouling is stubborn I'll use Sweet's 7.62 to accelerate the fouling removal. But for a single product that does well on both types of fouling, BTE is very good. Just make sure you use nylon brushes and stainless steel jags for working BTE, otherwise you'll be chasing your tail. And do not ask me how I know.

Good information to know.

SO would the carbon ring cause pressure?

absolutely!

I generally use a chrome polish every 50-100 rounds as my base cleaning method on a tight patch. It is an abrasive but it gives a nice polish to the bore and throat. Curently working on a bottle made by Turtle wax, I rarely use a brush.