Primer Indication

[tchepone]

Last evening I had occasion to fire a Beretta 8040D pistol. Upon picking up the brass I noticed the odd looking primer indentations.
The load was a cast 170gr SWC, propelled by 5.4gr of Accurate #2 powder and Remington 1½ primer. The gun functioned fine, recoil was normal.
I then fired a few rounds of Winchester factory 165gr ammo.
Both types of ammo produced the same odd looking primer indentation.

Looking at the breech face of the slide I noticed the firing pin hole had a chamfer that appeared to be done by the Beretta factory. The gun was manufactured in Italy.

I have noticed the same odd primer indentation on a lot of once fired 9mm brass I have, but do not know what type of gun that was fired in.

Has anyone else come across this and know what the cause is. Why does the gun have the chamfer on the firing pin hole? Does it have something to do with functioning?

This does not appear to be a sign of excess pressure as the primers have rounded edges and are not at all flattened. Photo's attached. Can anyone enlighten me? Thanks.
101405101406

[w5pv]

May be some kind of weird trick they use to id the type and cal of pistol used.

[SciFiJim]

Might it be something to insure firing pen retraction if the gun is still operated while extremely dirty?

[SOFMatchstaff]

My PX4 in 40cal does the same thing, same family of weapons for all intents and purposes. I just tested some loads and had the brass handy, yours are a bit more pronounced. My loads were at 925fps with a 180gr plated bullet, not real spicy. There must be a reason for it, it might cut down a primer blanking with really hot stuff, dont really know..

[MtGun44]

Firing pin hole in the breech face is too large for the firing pin, or firing pin is too
small for the hole in the breech face.

So - did you fly over and vist "unsuspecting, peaceful Tchepone"?

Bill

[tazman]

My 9mm has been doing that since brand new. Does it with factory or reloads, either one. I have put over 2k rounds through mine with no issues and every primer looks like that. I think it is something done to the firing pin hole during manufacture.
Ignore it and enjoy your pistol.

[tchepone]

Bill:
Did I visit "unsuspecting and peaceful" Sepon? No I did not. I worked out of DaNang. I use the handle in memory of a very dear friend who did not return from one of those "fly over and visit" trips.

The Beretta...that was my first thought also, but the firing pin does not appear too small or the hole excessively large. I feel the chamfer of the hole causes this, but IDK.

I think SOFMatchstaff and tazman's replies are right on. The chamfer appears to have been done at the factory but I don't know the reason.
I think I'll follow tazman's advice and enjoy the gun. I prefer to load moderately and not try to get every last FPS, so I am not concerned about primer punctures. Thanks guys. G

[Larry Gibson]

Never made it to down town "unsuspecting, peaceful Tchepone" but the area north of there was certainly not "peaceful" when I was there.........

Larry Gibson

[twc1964]

Looks similar to a glock firing pin indent. don't have any idea on the chsmfering if pjn hole. my glocks are not chamfered. interesting.