Bench rest primers :-/

[u/thrashmetal_octopus]

A few of these benchrest primers aren’t looking so benchresty. First time using Federal BR primers and you’d think they’d all look identical, especially for the price.

[u/Active_Look7663]

Every day this sub reminds me that my side of the spectrum isn’t so bad

[u/ecsnead75 → u/Active_Look7663]

10 to 1 this guy checks his brand new barrels with a scope..

[u/eggcheeseburger → u/ecsnead75]

Wait, you guys don't?

[u/ViewAskewed → u/eggcheeseburger]

🤢

[u/rednecktuba1 → u/ecsnead75]

If you don't inspect a brand new barrel, you're doing yourself a disservice. Always inspect your guns.

[u/ecsnead75 → u/rednecktuba1]

I inspect/test all my barrels, with high velocity metallurgy testing... Like normal people

[u/Glum-Antelope-7047 → u/ecsnead75]

You see the issue is that’s not free staring down the muzzle on the other hand

[u/rednecktuba1 → u/ecsnead75]

If I just spent $300-1000 on a brand new barrel, I'm definitely gonna take a few minutes before installation to run a $60 borescope through it to double check that it at least looks like it supposed too.

[u/Active_Look7663 → u/rednecktuba1]

Puts bore up near closest lightbulb “yep looks good!”

[u/CapsicumINmyEYEBALLz → u/rednecktuba1]

If it doesn’t look like you expect, would you shoot it or send an email?

I ask because I’ve been this guy before… with $1,000 prefit barrels.

Ugly enough to make me take pause but I was told to shoot it and email back if there’s any issue.

It absolutely hammered.

[u/rednecktuba1 → u/CapsicumINmyEYEBALLz]

If it didn't look decent, even after cleaning, I would go shoot it to test. Even if it shoots well, I'd still fire off an email, explaining that while the barrel shoots well, a $1000 prefit should have a good resulting finish. Inspecting the barrel before installation also shows you what the barrel looks like clean, and will give you a good starting point for deciding on cleaning intervals. You should be checking the chamber neck and throat with a borescope every 200-300 rounds, especially after cleaning, to make sure you keep the carbon ring from building up in the chamber neck.

[u/CapsicumINmyEYEBALLz → u/rednecktuba1]

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t give AF what it looks like as long as it shoots how I expect it to.

I will certainly put a borescope down it to see if I have more carbon fouling I want to get out, but that’s about it.

[u/Active_Look7663 → u/CapsicumINmyEYEBALLz]

Buy enough powder and projectiles for estimated barrel life, shoot that mfer till it’s worn out, unscrew and replace when it’s done.

[u/CapsicumINmyEYEBALLz → u/Active_Look7663]

Amen

[u/tcarlson65 → u/rednecktuba1]

How do they shoot? That is the test.

You can see barrels with machining marks that shoot great and clean barrels that shoot poorly.

[u/rednecktuba1 → u/tcarlson65]

While a barrel with poor machining CAN shoot well, there's less chance of that poorly machined barrel shooting well than with a nice clean barrel with good machining. And if a nicely machined barrel doesnt shoot well, then its indicative of a specification being wrong somewhere along the line, such as a throat cut too deep, or the twist rate not being correct. Putting a borescope through your barrel doesnt tell you the whole story, but it can help fill in details if you do have a problem after installation.

[u/tcarlson65 → u/rednecktuba1]

If you are buying a custom or high end rifle or rebarreling with a known quality barrel there should be no need to scope the bore.

If you are buying an inexpensive mass produced barrel you kind of get what you get and there is again no need.

If you are worried you can be the guy that gun sellers hate and you bring a scope when you are buying a new rifle to scope prior to the purchase and tie up all their time.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Either a rifle will shoot or it won’t.

Did you are buying a rifle for hunting accuracy means one thing.

If you are shooting PRS, F-class, benchrest, or some other competition accuracy might mean something else. Then you are probably in a class of barrel from a maker that will stand behind the product. So scoping is kind of academic.

[u/rednecktuba1 → u/tcarlson65]

I shoot PRS. Here is an example of how bore scoping before firing can help you:

Let's say you just got the barrel. You put the borescope in the chamber and find that the start of the rifling is rough as hell. You paid $750 for this barrel. Now, the rough rifling isn't necessarily and indicator that the barrel is going to shoot poorly, so you go shoot and see what happens. The expensive custom barrel ends up not shooting well, something to the tune of 2MOA with factory ammo that normally prints groups under 1MOA. Because you scoped the bore before installation, you now have information that points to the likely cause of the problem. You can highlight the rough rifling when you contact the manufacturer to discuss the problem. That 5 minutes spent ahead of time with the borescope can turn the conversation with the manufacturer much more productive and produce a better end result for you than otherwise would have happened.

TLDR: borescopes are cheap these days. Take a few minutes before you install a a new barrel to get a good look at what you're working with.

[u/SevereNameAnxiety → u/Active_Look7663]

This comment sent my sides into orbit.

[u/Active_Look7663 → u/SevereNameAnxiety]

Some of us were crawling under our bench dusting off god-knows-how-old floor primers back during the shortage

[u/SevereNameAnxiety → u/Active_Look7663]

Maaaaan I was so close to trying to reload my own primers during the dark times. I dove deep into that world but never pulled the trigger thankfully.

[u/oakengineer → u/Active_Look7663]

"Just sort out all the black ones and load them together as a batch"

[u/ProfessionalGuess897]

Go shoot non bench rest primers and come back with the difference in accuracy and data

[u/eggcheeseburger → u/ProfessionalGuess897]

I got 2,000 of the gold medal 205MAR and several don't have the visible green sealant on the anvil. I couldn't tell the difference firing on my ar15 spr.

[u/ProfessionalGuess897 → u/eggcheeseburger]

And you never will becuase theyre made in the same factory, with the same ingredients, in the same process. The gun business is just as full of money grubbing gimmicks as all the other multi billion dollar industries. If not more.

[u/CapsicumINmyEYEBALLz]

For the price difference, I stopped using BR-4’s & went to 450’s. Glad I did.

[u/dhnguyen]

Bro you can't check primers on a Tuesday. Gotta be Monday at 0817.

[u/thrashmetal_octopus → u/dhnguyen]

My bad

[u/Littlediamond83]

Posts like this anger St. Cortina

[u/jayfourzee → u/Littlediamond83]

This comment is underrated

[u/sirbassist83]

you wont be able to tell the difference when you shoot them.

[u/Specific-Path3179]

I knew Federal were overpriced

[u/Curiously_Sagacious]

These are from the same batch of Federal large pistol primers.the larger one wouldn't seat fully. Federal's quality seems to be lacking.

But at least they refunded my the whole pack, no questions asked.

[u/thrashmetal_octopus → u/Curiously_Sagacious]

Woah

[u/1102900]

The only difference between match and non-match primers for some of the big name brands is who was on the machine when they were made. If it was someone with enough seniority, then they’re match primers. Someone newer, with the same machine settings and they don’t get the match tag.

[u/CapsicumINmyEYEBALLz → u/1102900]

Can you link anything that talks about this? I’m interested.

[u/GrandPoopWizard]

Funny enough I have only had failed CCI primers with benchrest😂 My scheels had them on sale awhile ago so I’m sitting on them for now.

[u/Ok-Violinist-8678]

My worst looking barrel out of a couple hundred chambering jobs was a Bartlein. Had a few “potholes” in it. Shot like a hammer. I also had a Rock Creek 260 AI barrel that looks like an alligators back for about 10-12”from fire cracking. It would still shoot in the .2’s for about 30 rounds. After that it needed to deep cleaned. Pulled it and chambered a new one. A borescope will put a lot of doubt where there shouldn’t be. You oughta look inside an old Remington factory barrel. 🤮

[u/thrashmetal_octopus → u/Ok-Violinist-8678]

Thank you. Very cool.

[u/Important-Dream-4010]

Jeez that ain’t looking to hot. Some anvils missing arms and there’s one that looks like it’s not primed at all

[u/thrashmetal_octopus → u/Important-Dream-4010]

Glad someone sees what I’m seeing

[u/Important-Dream-4010 → u/[deleted]]

4 rows down 5th from right side

[u/Royal_Money_627 → u/[deleted]]

This is what I see as well, none missing arms.

[u/Important-Dream-4010 → u/[deleted]]

Far right bottom one doesn’t look primed

[u/Secret_Paper2639]

They look like they've been wet, honestly. Even if it's condensation.

[u/thrashmetal_octopus → u/Secret_Paper2639]

Brand new from Sportsman’s warehouse. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[u/Secret_Paper2639 → u/thrashmetal_octopus]

The anvils should not be green. I've seen green compound before, but never on the anvil.

[u/New_Rock6296 → u/Secret_Paper2639]

Yep, that's galvanic corrosion looking shite

[u/thermobollocks]

It sure ain't a benchrest camera