Fired primer damage question......

by Catoosa, Thursday, April 21, 2016, 11:54 (3141 days ago) @ John Meeker

First of all, I won't claim to be an expert on anything, but I have many years experience with ONE particular Arisaka, and lots of reading/research about the things.

Arisakas commonly have oversize chambers; they were made with no regard for reloading. As a military rifle, reliable operation under battlefield conditions was the only consideration, and the cases were one-time-use only. The one I have was built in the mid 1930s and is as finely made as any rifle I have ever seen, but the cases that come out of it look like they were just short of blowing out. Norma factory ammo shows fired primers backed 'way out of the pockets, and a big bulge ahead of the case head. In order to reload for this rifle, I found I had to back the sizing die out until the die shoulder just barely kisses the shoulder of the fired case, and does not push the case shoulder back at all. Then the primers will stay in place. Cases still expand a bunch, but there's enough taper to the case body that the backed-out sizing die will straighten out the bulge. I inspect the cases VERY carefully, and don't figure on reloading them more than five or six times. Have not had one separate, but I stick with mild loads after the first loading.

Many years ago I had a primer cup blow out like that, but it turned out to be from a lot of Remington LR primers that had defective cups. Remington recalled those primers and sent me a whole carton to replace them. I pulled down the ammo I had loaded and popped the primers, and have not had any more problems. It's possible that a similar problem may be present here, but that's a long shot.

Look carefully at your bolt face, and you will likely see a small pit where the primer blew out. If there is more than one pit, It would indicate that the problem is with the primers. If there is just one pit, it's likely that the bolt is not supporting the case head right there.

Hope this helps diagnose the problem. I treasure my old Arisaka because Dad brought it back form Japan in '46, and I sporterized it when I was in college, but it's a cranky old sucker to load for. Shoots good, though.

Catoosa