Light primer strikes

[DiRTY DOG]

I do not know what Sharpshooter's schedule is but look how much time you have spent so far. By the time you return your old head and get the new version of the PTG Savage 10/110 bolt heads plus lug truing... Fred and Lisa might be able to turn bolt and action around. When you get it back you will have satisfaction knowing its it is done better than factory and withouth the hassle of swapping your head for a PTG head. Might cost more but its worth it.

My factory bolt head is junk, has been since day one. It's always has issues with off center firing pin strikes and ejecting/dropping extracted rounds in the mag well. The new PTG head instantly fixed both problems using the old parts (extractor/spring/detent ball, ejector/spring). I'd need a new bolt head, I'm not re-using the old one.

Question: other than appearance, what harm is there in the cratered primers shown with my PTG bolt head? I'm not chasing hot loads, and I'm using temp stable powder (IMR 8208 XBR). It could be an issue with high pressure loads, but not necessarily?

[charlie b]

As long as the gun shoots the way you want it to, the cratering doesn't harm anything. Maybe if you were chasing smaller groups it might matter. If the condition was worse, as in sometimes piercing primers, then I'd do something about it. Worst case is a bit of cratered primer will stick in the FP/bolt face gap and bind up the FP.

[Rocketvapor]

Cratering from the bolthead will mask other sources that could indicate potential problems that may verge on load safety, or impact accuracy.
Now or in the future.

[sharpshooter]

^ yeah....

[DiRTY DOG]

I'm keeping the PTG bolt head for now. Seems the cratering is purely cosmetic.

Meanwhile, the original light strikes is solved 100%. I didn't single out what the exact solution was, but it had to be something with the new firing pin assembly or new bolt head. It was not related to head space or shoulder bumping.

A side benefit of the new firing pin assembly and center punched primers is my SDs went from the high 20s-30s down to the teens and low 20s. From yesterday testing new brass vs fireformed brass. It's shooting sub 1/2 moa regularly, usually in the 2s and 3s if I don't blow it.



This was the middle group above, which consistently shoots like that.