Ever have a hole that is too tight?UPDATE w/pic, please explain.

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You need a actual reamer to cut the top of the crimp off. My Hornady "non-match" 308 brass is the same way. I bought a Lyman reamer and had to cut it down so it cut the crimp down enough. I'm still really careful when I primer those ones.
 
Crimped brass, or they have some kind of weird shoulder in the primer pocket, but it looks like crimped primers to me. The answer has already been given, a swager, but if your like me that's a tool I can't really afford. I tried the proper reamers and found them to be unreliable, still lost a few primers. As Sask-hunter stated use your case neck deburring tool, regular, not VLD, It's not perfect, but it works better than my reamer.
 
I went against my better judgement and used brass I don't really like.THAT is the root cause of this.

I don't mind getting other tools I just dislike adding steps to the process.

85% of the primers went in without flattening, it is just those few that were misery.

redshooter said:
Crimped brass, or they have some kind of weird shoulder in the primer pocket, but it looks like crimped primers to me. The answer has already been given, a swager, but if your like me that's a tool I can't really afford. I tried the proper reamers and found them to be unreliable, still lost a few primers. As Sask-hunter stated use your case neck deburring tool, regular, not VLD, It's not perfect, but it works better than my reamer.
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Kelly Timoffee said:
85% of the primers went in without flattening, it is just those few that were misery.
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Pretty much my experience with the crimp reamer. I have a bunch of crimped brass, so one day I'll get a swager. Taking out the crimp with a chamfer tool is literally painful for me, but cheap brass is worth a little discomfort...to a point.
 


Okay, got the primer pocket reamer and I am still baffled.

There is no visible crimp, I can't feel one with a pic or a small flat edge tool.

After reaming the first few the bottom edges of the pockets are getting cut , as well as the obvious taper on the top edge from the tool.

This cannot be typical.

Top two untouched , bottom three , few spins of the tool.
 
Ok, this might be a little too Bubba-like for some, but I had picked up 400 once-fired .223 brass that someone decided not to clean up after shooting at the range. It was all in a nice little six foot circle.

The brass was Federal and it had a crimp. I attempted to prime some, but it didn't go well. I also didn't want to spend money on a tool that I'd likely only use this one time. So I took out my cordless drill, and using a fairly large bit (I don't remember what size, probably 3/16"), I removed just enough of the metal around the edge of the primer pocket to remove the crimp. It was quick and only required a couple seconds per case. I loaded them up, shot them, loaded up some more quite a lot hotter, shot those......still have my digits!
 
I've had this happen with new, fresh out of the box Hornady Match cases. I had to ream them. Strange. It was only a few cases out of a box of 50. Damned stuff is expensive so I was irritated. I think you hit the nail on the head when you said "I went against my better judgement and used brass I don't really like.THAT is the root cause of this."
Since it is the brass that is available locally for the most part, I hate to say this but I don't see myself buying Hornady Match brass ever again.
 
RCBS Swager kit... Around $30.
Also my pecking order for smallest to largest primers....
Start with Winchester in new brass, best fit. Use until they don't have much resistance seating.
Next is CCI, hair larger and fit better in slightly stretched pockets.
Last are Dominion (Russian) primers, they are wider still and have a bit of a dome shape to them. When seated hard they will expand to fill even the sloppiest pockets (Federal once fired) with ease.
 
Kelly Timoffee said:
Nothing would indicate to me that they actually are crimped.

However, using my uniforming tool as a make shift gauge of sorts, it would seem that some pockets are considerably tighter than others.

Pockets measured at .204" - .205" diameter, tomorrow I will go through the whole batch and see what kind of numbers I get.
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You can see the step around the edge of the primer pocket.

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Kelly Timoffee said:
Stepped does not mean crimped.

This was not crimped brass.
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Yes it is, you can clearly see it in post #11.

Additionally the only time I've ever seen primers crush like that is when someone tries to put a primer in to a pocket that the crimp has not been removed, so that alone is a strong indication that the brass has crimped primer pockets (assuming the right type of primers are being used).
 
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1) Do you have any Lapua brass on hand? it has the same "step" you talk of.

2)Why are the tool cuts/marks on the bottom portion of the primer pocket?

3)If they were crimped why do only about 15-20% give resistance to the cutting tool?

4)What primers do you suggest I use?

Ar180shooter said:
Yes it is, you can clearly see it in post #11.

Additionally the only time I've ever seen primers crush like that is when someone tries to put a primer in to a pocket that the crimp has not been removed (assuming the right type of primers are being used).
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Yeah people rave over the Dillon Super Swage. I got the RCBS; same job, cheaper. I end-up swaging ~1/4 my .223 range brass, and every S&B empty I pick up.
 
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Kelly Timoffee said:




Didn't help like one would think , was still too tight for my liking after reaming the hole. :mad: :redface:

Was only three that actually gave much resistance to the tool.

Might have to find a more appropriate tool.
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It looks like the primer annulus is still in the pocket. When the primer was punched out the base was boken off.
 
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