I was at a match today and a fellow shooter had a primer pocket blow out the side of the primer straight into his face. He is a right handed shooter, shooting a left bolt and left feed gun which isnt uncommon for target shooters so you dont have to get out of position. Which means his face was really close to the port. Luckily he was fine.
We arent 100% positive the cause but after talking amongst several shooters the likely cause was a plugged primer pocket. Bolt face was slighting damaged, extractor messed up but he never hand a sticky bolt. Round count changed and at the last minute and he said he loaded another 30 rounds quickly and didnt check those pockets. I've popped primers, pierced primers, cratered primers, over charged and had sticky bolts but never seen a primer pocket blow out the side.
When tumbling please clean to make sure all primer pockets are 100% clear before priming. I typically take a small allen wrench and run through each hole and then look through the brass into the light to verify.
We arent 100% positive the cause but after talking amongst several shooters the likely cause was a plugged primer pocket. Bolt face was slighting damaged, extractor messed up but he never hand a sticky bolt. Round count changed and at the last minute and he said he loaded another 30 rounds quickly and didnt check those pockets. I've popped primers, pierced primers, cratered primers, over charged and had sticky bolts but never seen a primer pocket blow out the side.
When tumbling please clean to make sure all primer pockets are 100% clear before priming. I typically take a small allen wrench and run through each hole and then look through the brass into the light to verify.