SmallCaliberCentral

had a primer blow yesterday, it was a mild load in some Hornady brass on it's 5th reload. No personal injury but the extractor broke removing the case which was very tight. Luckily I keep a couple of extra extractors and other parts on the shelf so I tore down and rebuilt the bolt entirely this morning. The gun has over 2000 rounds down the tube so I decided to do a entire bolt rebuild. The bolt face looked good but I went ahead and replaced the ejector and spring and replaced the firing pin spring as well.

Needless to say I am not happy with that brass so all the unloaded rounds went in the trash and I will be pulling the bullets and powder from the loaded rounds. Too bad I can't find Winchester cases these days anywhere. They held up really well. Regardless I decided to replace my .204 brass entirely. I am starting with 100 Norma and as soon as I can find the 250 count boxes of Nosler will be adding one of those also. No more Hornady for this hound

That is interesting with your experience. I have used both Hornady and Winchester brass (Still do) and I have had the Winchester brass fail more often than the Hornady does. i.e. primer pockets loosening and necks splitting, even with annealing, when needed, after about five reloads. Bill K

I don't have a good handle on the primer pocket issue, do you discard when the primer goes in very easy, what is the standard indicator for this?

With the 204 I purchased last winter, I have a total of about 700 cases, 400 hundred is a mix of Win and RP cases bought once fired the remainder are or were new Hornady. I'm up to 5 times fired on a big percentage of the once fired, and anywhere from once to three times on the remainder, last season counting load workup, sight in and squeak shooting I've fired an easy700 (not a hot load) through the Savage M12 and had one or two splits and no loose pockets I don't think.

Brooksb. For me I go ahead and seat primers, even when they feels loose, as long as when I tap the case bottom on a edge and the primer does not fall out or move, I use them. Even those that are loose, I have not noticed any drop in accuracy.
I guess I am cheap and just use them until they really fail to hold a primer or the necks split, in time, even with annealing. I am like you however, in that I have had reloads last into the dozen or more times. Bill K

it could have just been a bad lot or a bad case. Same load I have been shooting forever and I seat my bullets as my loadmaster measures the next load of powder so no chance of a double charge. First time for me to ever had a primer just blow completely out. I have had a few get a black ring around them, or feel too light when seating, those I just toss. No biggie I had a spare extractor on the shelf and tossed the other 49 cases from that lot. I don't keep that many on hand anyway since I just target shoot

Bill thanks for that, I was a little uneasy as I had some 06 last week where the primers went in pretty easy and have worried about it. My recently retired 22-250 that I shot until the neck erosion was really bad then had it re-barreled and had about 1650 down the new tube and only had split neck and no loose primers, in fact, wasn't aware of the issue. Yes, I reload as long as possible and got 10 times out of a lot of the 250 brass.

I know some that only load up to about five times and then throw it out. I guess I am just to old and to cheap and get all I can out of it, while doing my best to stay safe. Nice to know I am not the only one, maybe. Bill K

Grafts has some Fiocchi pull down brass right now on their website. I've used (reloaded) the empties from some factory ammo about 4x's with no issues. I would NOT buy the Fiocchi ammo as I've had backed out primers on a regular basis with factory ammo but the brass seems ok.

I tried to pull the bullets on the remaining Fiocchi factory ammo I have and believe I discovered the problem with excessive neck tension (crimp ??) on the factory ammo. I used an inertia puller and it would take ~ 75 or more strikes each to get 3 cases/bullets pulled, so I quit on that idea.

For me, I pay attention to how easily the primers come out during de-priming. I de-prime after shooting, and before cleaning (stainless pin wet tumbling), or during combo de-priming/sizing if for some reason I'm not cleaning some cases. If they de-prime too easily, subjectively, I discard the case.

Loose primer pockets after just a few firings indicate either:
1) Too-hot (overpressure) loads, or
2) Brass that's soft in the head.

Both are conditions one wants to avoid. Personally, I've had the best service and best life from Remington component brass, but it's been totally unavailable for _at least_ a couple years now. Hornady has been okay, but less durable. I have not been happy with Nosler's brass, and I don't recall offhand how much Norma brass, if any, I've used in my 204. My 204 has been in the shop for several months now, so haven't shot it for quite a while.