Semi-auto Bren piercing primers - any solutions?

[browningautorifle]

the Bren is a lot of fun to shoot

Yes they are. I had one here in .308 and we shot a mag or so of tracer at 200yds. It was like having a red light appear on the target as you were about to shoot...

I will shoot the tar out of it

Yes, best way to go. Just keep it and use it.

[MGMike]

Forty-plus years ago I experienced numerous "ripped open" primers exactly like the ones you have shown. Mine were fired in a very well-worn two-dovetail Mark 1 full-auto gun with a Mark 1 barrel. The ammo was military surplus .303, I believe from India or maybe Pakistan. Best as I recall, the headstamp was K 50 (Kirkee?). The ammo was imported by FedOrd in California; I bought a full steel case of 3,000 rounds loaded in single-use Vickers belts. The cartridges were very clean Mk VII; I broke a couple down and found them loaded with cordite. The gun functioned fine, but the peeled-up primers obviously were not good for the bolt face, and neither the cordite nor the corrosive primers had much to commend them.

As to cause: right off the bat I blamed the ammo: seasoned (and therefore brittle) primer cups. Later, after some separated cases, I followed the procedure in the Armourers’ Wing Précis SA/7, and discovered that the gun had considerably excessive headspace; inspection also revealed a broken piston post buffer spring. What if any role these latter two played in the torn primers I cannot say, but I suppose it is possible that the broken spring did not properly support the firing pin after cartridge ignition, and perhaps the extra headspace gave the primer more room to tear.

Anyway, I quit using that ammo. A larger locking block cured the headspace, and the broken spring was replaced. After that the gun worked extremely well.

[Cetme24]

That’s primer flow back into your firing pin hole. I built a 3006 Italian bren and ran into the same issue using the firing pins.com pin. I had to make a longer one that sat just shy of the face of the bolt. Continued firing will damage your bolt fade and firing pin hole as well as the pin.

I forget how to load photos or I would post a few

[Cetme24]

Dropbox

Dropbox

[browningautorifle]

I forget how to load photos or I would post a few

I'll put them here in clear for you...pics from Post#14.