Blown primer

[davepool]

I took a new rifle out to shoot last saturday and the second round of some winchester factory ammo blew out the primer and i had to whack the bolt open with the side of my hand. I inspected the case of the first round fired and it didn't show any overpressure signs. I switched to the hornady superformance ammo i had and the bolt still seemed a little hard to open. Switched back to the winchester, didn't have any more blown primers but the bolt seems a little tough to open,( closes fine) fired the rest of the box of winchester with no problems other than the stiff bolt

Could this be a headspace problem with the rifle or did i just get a bad round?

Gun is a Thompson Center Venture in 300 win mag.

[Gunreference1]

I would guess that you had one bad round. Since the other 19 Winchester cartridges fired just fine as well as the Hornady ammunition I think you just came across one bad load. I would recommend not using that case again if you reload and checking the bolt and chamber for and debris. Just my $0.02.

Steve

[Schuetzenman]

Probably a weak primer if the round didn't show sings of high pressre. Example the primer ironed flat in the picket and possibly extruding around the firing pin where it blew out.

[davepool]

Thanks for the insights, i was leaning towards a bad round hoping it wasn't a problem with the gun itself. I have two savages and one remington bolt gun, this thompson center venture is my first experience with low priced rifles, 300 win mag is not a light weight caliber, i hope this gun holds up.