Loose Primer pockets

mikegranger

mikegranger

Well-known member
As I'm priming with my handi priming tool, some pockets are rather loose but I don't find this out until the primer is in. What options do I have? Can I decap the primer through my press and reuse it or do I throw the primer and case away? :rolleyes:
 
Throw them both away unless you can push them out with hand pressure. Primers are cheap, and if the primer pockets are loose on the case it is already shot. Dont risk detonating a primer to save a penny or two.
 
THROW THEM AWAY. That's an indication that the cases have been exposed to over-pressure loads, or max-pressure loads for several firings, or (less likely) overly soft case heads... Nothing you can do to fix it, and I'd suggest reviewing your loads (if they're yours) and backing down on the throttle a little to save case life (and maybe your own or someone next to you.) Be safe instead of sorry.
 
Mike, I never really looked to see which brass and if it was all the same brand. These were brass from my initial testing of loads for the ar last december. I'm not a real stickler with brass so it all goes in the same hopper and reloaded. I have all makes and models. I understand the pressure signs. Just wanted to know if their was any way to salvage the primer. Thanks for the advice guys.
 
Mike Mcdonald: You asked if the brass was Federal. Why? I recently bought 100 pieces of Fed. nickel plated rifle brass in 22.250 and after one loading some of the primers would not seat and just fell out. Some of the others after 2 loadings did the same. Have you experienced this also. My loads were not hot either. They were shot from a Ruger #1. I intend to send some of them back to Fed. and have them checked. However, I bought them from Cabelas.
 
Welcome to the board Lavoy Oates! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Oh No! Another Texan. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Jack
 
Lavoy, People who are a heap smarter than me about reloading say nickle plated brass is lousy. Varmint Al's reloading page discusses this topic. It says the nickle scratches ths bullet base as it exits the case, and of course the base is the most important part of the bullet. Nickle looks cool, but especially with small caliber bullets any deformation which can be avoided should be. QJ /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
It's been my experience that Federal brass will have a lot more loose primer pockets than anything else I have shot.

I'm not an expert as to the whys and hows. All I know is when I'm hand priming brass and I feel a primer go in without the normal amount of squeeze, it's almost always a Federal headstamped piece of brass that's going in the trash.

I have read on other boards that the Federal brass is softer, but I can't attest to that. The cases don't seem to crack or split any worse than any others do, they just get loose pockets.

As an example, here's what happened last week.
My son bought a new AR15 and I thought this would be a good time to show him how to load his own ammo. I walked him through the steps and he loaded about 100 rounds. We went out to shoot it up the next day and about 5-6 rounds into a 30 rd mag, it misfires. After ejecting the round, I saw the primer had fallen out! I forgot to tell him about feeling for adequate seating pressure when inserting the primers. It was a piece of Federal brass again.
 
There is tool on market that is made just for the purpose to "tighten" the primer pockets. The benchrest guys use it, for when you are spending upwards to $1 a case it gives them serveral more loading.

Its easy to remove the primer with out the fear of it going off. Just spray some WD-40 into the case and leave it set for a few hours, or just fire it your rifle.

I see remarks about the Federal primer pockets being soft or oversize, in this case I would go with a CCI primer and see if these will tighten up.

I don't use Federal brass, use to, but not anymore, I prefer Win. now.
 
I'd bet on something that someone else has posted, but I worked in a machine shop for a long time, and I would check the dimensions of the primer. The outside diameter of the primers you are using might be smaller than they should be. Yes, I know, that is a BIG maybe, but rather than throwing a bunch of cases away, it might be worth looking at. If you have a micrometer that's the best bet, otherwise use calipers and compare a different lot with the ones you have now. My mic says a CCI250 primer is .2115", and it doesn't take a big difference to go from a "loose" to a "tight" fit.
 
If you measure some different brands of primers you will definitely find some very small differences in dimensions. I can't remember which ones are bigger than which others anymore, but the difference is there (tiny though it may be).

Don't count on WD-40, or anything else killing primers either. A fellow did some testing on that a few years back, some primers that had been soaking in WD-40 for a couple weeks still fired. He tried quite a few different things to soak them in and none of them really worked all that well. Some of the primers were "killed", many were "weakened" but a fair number seemed to be as strong as ever after soaking for an extended period, in everything from plain water to WD-40.

- DAA
 
I know this sounds crazy but if I dont clean the primer pocket I rarely have this problem.I just use a small punch to clean the flash hole.I hate throwing brass away unless the neck is split.I always use a primerpocket uniformer and a flash hole deburring tool before I load the brass the first time.If I get carried away with the uniformer the primer pocket will be oversized.
 
DAA,
Thats good to know about the WD-40 testing, I haven't used it that much on the primers, so I won't be using it anymore.

Thanks for the info
 
I have only been reloading for a few years now and by no means an expert. But I also have reverted to cleaning just the primer hole not the pocket. I use a lee hand primer. I have noticed that I can press the primers in until the slight dome on the head of the primer is half what it was. I have had two primers pop out before I started doing this. Has anyone else done this. How far is too much seating. I have pushed some in until the primer was flat on top. I didn't have a problem with them but will that open up the pocket? I reload mainly lighter loads for my 7 mag after shooting factory loads. I shoot about half new and half reloads. My brass collection is starting to get big. Some of which is are nickle which I reload with the balistic tiped nosler that come with them new.

Snipe

PS Thanks to all that help us green horns.
 
A few thousandths of "crush" when seating primers is good. You want to seat them firmly, with a slight crush, to make sure the legs of the anvil are bottomed out in the pocket and the priming pellet is going to get crunched nicely between the anvil and the cup when the firing pin strikes. But any more than this, isn't good. It will cause inconsistant ignition at best, misfires at worst. If you are reducing the shoulder radius of the primers at all, you are using too much force in seating. Try and just seat them until you can feel the anvil bottoming out, and then just the slightest little "crush" more.

K&M makes a fancy attachment for their priming tool that allows you to actually measure the "crush" for each primer you seat, to get maximum consistency. But for most of us, we just rely on "feel", and that works "just great". The Lee tool gives good feel, works good. I have a couple of Sinclair priming tools, that give exceptional feel, but they are overkill in the extreme unless you are just really into handloading (I am...).

- DAA
 
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