[Slooshark1]

I was fortunate enough to inherit a Winchester 1886 Lightweight Takedown Rifle last Fall in .33 WCF and began reloading for it. I loaded up 45 grains of H4895 with a Hornady 200 Grain bullet which is pretty much an average load for this rifle. I noticed that after firing these cartridges, the primers seem to be partially blown out of the casing and slightly rounded in appearance. When I stand the cases up on their bases, they don't sit flat. Any ideas what might be causing this? Does this happen with other 1886s? Your help would be appreciated.

Kindest regards,

Slooshark1

 

[MikeG]

Sounds like a very modest pressure load to me. It would probably go away if you bumped up the charge a bit, but it isn't hurting anything to leave the loads mild.

 

[baddad457]

May have too much headspace as well.

 

[broom_jm]

The powder charge looks to be spot-on, in this case, so I'd consider getting a chamber cast done and see if maybe it does have a headspace issue.

 

[SMK]

The 33wcf headspaces off of the rim normally and would use a 45/70 headspace gauge. You could have someone check the headspace and if it was excessive and there were no other issues with the gun related to the excessive headspace you could set your reloading dies to make it headspace off the shoulder instead of the rim. You would have to run your sizing die up a bit in the press to keep from pushing the shoulder back as far when you sized it. Your gun may still be in spec and it may be fine to shoot as is. You won't know until you have someone measure the headspace. I don't think you need a chamber cast since all you have to measure is the distance from the bolt face to the part of the chamber that the rim bottoms out on which is on the very end of the barrel.

 

[Slooshark1]

Here's a photo I took of the rifle last Fall while moose hunting here in Ontario.

Here's a photo of my wife's Great Grandfather on a hunting trip in Ontario with the same rifle. This photo was taken in 1937. The guy on the far right was his 17 year old son who was shot down and killed over Germany March 5th, 1945.

 

[CaptainCrossman]

I was fortunate enough to inherit a Winchester 1886 Lightweight Takedown Rifle last Fall in .33 WCF and began reloading for it. I loaded up 45 grains of H4895 with a Hornady 200 Grain bullet which is pretty much an average load for this rifle. I noticed that after firing these cartridges, the primers seem to be partially blown out of the casing and slightly rounded in appearance. When I stand the cases up on their bases, they don't sit flat. Any ideas what might be causing this? Does this happen with other 1886s? Your help would be appreciated.

Kindest regards,

Slooshark1

old thread but this is reloading basics 101...

whenver you see primers pushed out of spent brass, that means one thing, and one thing only- EXCESSIVE HEADSPACE. The locking mechanism is worn in the lever gun, not holding the bolt face against the case head tightly within spec. What happens then is, the primer pushes out of the shell, with the pressure of firing the round. The further out the primer is, the worse the headspace is.

whenever you buy a rifle, always take the time to look at the spent brass, if the previous owner has it, or ask if it pushes out primers. If it does, ask for money off the price of the gun, or look elsewhere. To fix it usually requires major surgery or parts replacement at the gunsmith. This may mean removing the barrel and rechambering it, and setting it back, and recutting the barrel threads.

in short, it's not a good sign. Pushed out primers can devalue a gun by 50% or more.

 

[Kyle B.]

I have a model 55 Win take down at it to has the primers popping out 15 to 20 thousands of an inch. I called a gunsmith who only works on Winchesters and he said it was normal on the take down models.He said a slight amount of headspace was necessary due to the design of the take down. In any case a small amount of primer popping is not dangerous and I would never let anyone mess with an original rifle like yours. It's a beauty, enjoy it.