Ammo failed and etched bolt face. Why'd it happen? Is the gun okay?

[Cowboy2]

I've had the same thing happen with a case of, you guessed it, Win LR primers. I just need to get around to contacting Olin about it.

 

[oldfortyfiveauto]

I would not use any primers from that batch. In my case I had three of them do it before I wished up and stopped using them.

 

[Cowboy2]

Same thing here. The first time it was in a .22-250 Savage, ugly like the picture above, and ruined the bolt head. I was relatively new to reloading and thought I did something wrong. A few years later a small, sooty split showed up in a SMLE- I thought it was a headspace issue or brass problem, but primers were now on my radar. I changed to CCI primers, and no problem. Then a month ago a tiny split showed up in a 1917. Mild to moderate loads in all.

Lesson learned. Just because most reloading problems are due to user error doesn't mean that yours is.