Primers Cratering ?

[hylander]

I have started trying H-335 in my .223 Savage.
My loads are well below Max and I'm not using Magnum primer's but I'm getting cratering. (WHY).
This is the only powder doing this, I Load 748 and Varget to the high side and this doe's not happen.

A typical Load is:
H-335= 25.0 gr.
50gr. V-Max
CCI 400 Primer
Twice fired Win. Brass
OCL= 2.280 This is off the Lands by a good 15 thousanths.

Help !!

[Geno]

I use pretty much the same load but I'm using REM 7 1/2, this is about the equivalent of a CCI 450. No problems for me. Purely a guess, but is it possible that either the CCI's or CCI 400's in particular are thinner or softer than REM 7 1/2's ? Others with more knowledge than me might have better ideas. I'm assuming you're using CCI 400's with the other loads. Maybe just a different burn/pressure characteristic of H335.
Curious to see the answer to this myself.

[KN]

Thats almost identical to my load except I use winchester SRP in mine. No cratering here.   KN

[Iowegan]

Some will argue but I've found primer cratering the first sign of high pressure. I looked up your load in a Hornady manual and found max with H-335 to be 25.7 gr with a 50 gr bullet. The Hodgdon manual shows 26 gr.

Hodgdon does not rate H-335 as an extreme powder. That means the chamber pressure goes up considerably with temperature. What I suspect is your chamber is heating up from shooting. Then when a round is chambered, the heat transfers through the brass and warms up the powder. Now you have a load that is starting to exceed max pressures. I'll bet the load is under max with a cold barrel.

You're better off using an extreme rated powder in any gun where rapid fire (over 1 round per minute) is intended. The two best powders on the market for a 223 are Varget and H322. Both are very accurate and will only increase pressure slightly with heat.

I use 27 gr of Varget with a 55 gr Vmax. Super accurate and very consistant with temperature extremes.

[hylander]

Thanks for the replies :
I Like Varget alot great accuracy :-) , but it does not meter well .
I'm Looking for a powder that will meter well and gives great accuracy.
I want to load alot of rounds in a short time.

[223Shooter]

I was using W-748 & H-335 in my .223 NEF Handi. Worked very well. Then I switched to BenchMark powder........accuracy improved and it is much ..much cleaner. Try it...you'll like it...