9mm small flash Hole?

Hunter1970

Hunter1970

CGN frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
72   0   0
Location
in the shadows behind you
Ok, so I finally bit the bullet (pun intended), and began the slow arduous work of reloading my 9mm stash. Over the years, I have collected every piece of brass that I have fired rifle, and pistol, along with a healthy helping of range pick ups. Being a new reloader, I thought it would be a good idea to start out on a single stage and go from there. Bad idea with high volume brass - many blisters...

Cutting to the chase, after many thousands of casing into the numerous buckets of 9mm brass I began to run into issues. One specific head stamp - DAG07L07XX - this one would pull the decapping rod from my die set (Redding). This particular flash hole appears to be just a tiny bit smaller than all others, including other surplus cases. I ended up hand sorting through them all and found about a hundred or two of these cases. Just enough to piss a guy off, and slow down production with having to stop, knock out the pin, knock the pooched brass from the shell holder, and reassemble. I believe that these are a German surplus ammo of some sort? Has anyone run into this with any other cases out there?

Judging from the primer strikes, there were at least two different firearms using these rounds, and some are considerably flattened, brass and primers. And yes, they are boxer primed.

 
you run into that from time to time- s&b are notorious, but I've had some federal as well- you have 2 avenues - either sell off the offenders as scrap or run a drill( you should have a complete set of drills anyway) that matches a good priming hole ( I use a pin vise) AND CIVILIZE THEM- also some dnd
 
t-star said:
you run into that from time to time- s&b are notorious, but I've had some federal as well- you have 2 avenues - either sell off the offenders as scrap or run a drill( you should have a complete set of drills anyway) that matches a good priming hole ( I use a pin vise) AND CIVILIZE THEM- also some dnd
Click to expand...

S&B has tight primer pockets, not flash holes.


for the availability of 9mm brass i would just toss it.
 
The brass is from Swiss RUAG lead-free ammunition. I have successfully reloaded these cases with Dillon dies. The decapping pin was able to punch out the flash hole to normal size with a little extra effort.
 
Hunter1970 said:
They alreadywent to the brass recyc bin (with curses). My S&B were a bit tight, but doable, with a nice feel to seating the new primers.
Click to expand...

I hear ya. I once bought a whack of surplus 7.62x51 and was saving it all to reload…
 
Indeed what u have is Ruag. As suspected the flash hole is undersized as a means to eliminate the need to crimp the primer. On some decappers they have been known to break the pins. If u can use a smaller diameter decapping pin they deprime just fine but if u do decap with your normal decap pin, be sure to check the flash hole for sprues resulting from pushing the larger pin thru the small hole. That sprue must be removed in order for the primer to seat properly. But, seeing as u have binned them, no worries, but for others with the same concerns just be aware.
dB
 
I have run into small primer holes in Swedish rifle brass. The only way around it was to buy a spare pin for the die and sand it down till it worked. So I wouldn't doubt what you found at all. After you punch the first primer you will be able to see if it is a size issue or a fitment or pinned issue.
 
Spawn-Inc said:
S&B has tight primer pockets, not flash holes.


for the availability of 9mm brass i would just toss it.
Click to expand...

I load 9mm on a progressive press. I feed the cases in by hand and I made it a habit to have a quick look at each headstamp (on mixed range brass) before putting it into the shell plate.It slows the process down a bit, but nothing is worst then cleaning a piece of bad brass out of your progressive press whilst on a good run!
I never came across your particular problem. For a little while there must have been a lot of Federal Ammo with crimped primers been floating around!? That brass is marked with and additional NT on the headstamp. I always toss those!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom