Broken primers

[Sniffer]

I setup my new Forster Co-Ax last night and proceeded to deprime 1000 pieces of 556 brass (really like the Co-Ax)

I notice that some of primers came apart when I pressed them out, kinda as if the top came off but the sides stayed in place (bear in mind this is military brass with crimped primers - I deprimed 1000 pieces of 223 Remington brass today with no such issues)

Is there any way to remove whats left and salvage the cases (probably 30 or so) or are these done?



These are what the rest look like after depriming/swaging/wet tumbling

 

[bigedp51]

I have the same thing happen to crimped military Lake City 5.56 cases and crimped military 9mm cases. Between the primer crimp and primer sealer the ring left in the primer pocket is next to impossible to remove.

Toss these cases in a scrap brass bucket and move on, any attempt to remove the ring will damage the primer pocket and cause high pressure gas leaks and etch your bolt face.

 

[Ganderite]

I get that in about 1/10,000 Is the tip of your pin nice and round?

 

[hometownhero]

I have the same thing happen to crimped military Lake City 5.56 cases and crimped military 9mm cases. Between the primer crimp and primer sealer the ring left in the primer pocket is next to impossible to remove.

Toss these cases in a scrap brass bucket and move on, any attempt to remove the ring will damage the primer pocket and cause high pressure gas leaks and etch your bolt face.

Are you talking about the crimp? You can swage that away and stop throwing out fantastic brass.

 

[Sniffer]

I get that in about 1/10,000 Is the tip of your pin nice and round?

Yeah, seems OK, its pretty new

 

[444shooter]

Get yourself a primer pocket swager and a Lee universal decapping die.

 

[calibrecarstairs]

I've had poor results trying to remove those pieces. Gouged finger or broken drill bit is the usual outcome.

 

[zuke]

What about using a wood screw?
But for the screwing around, just toss'em

 

[Alpheus]

Are you talking about the crimp? You can swage that away and stop throwing out fantastic brass.

You can't swage with the primer, or bits of the primer, still in the pocket.

 

[Rust]

I have occasionally had trouble removing primers from IVI 5.56 as well. The primer would get stretched out nice and round on the depriming pin and still not come out. Doesn't happen very often and I have plenty of brass so I just toss it aside and keep going.
But seeing how you have the surface of the primer blown out you could attempt to remove the crimp with a countersink in a drill or a primer pocket reamer. The rest of the junk should fall out after that.

 

[Sniffer]

Get yourself a primer pocket swager and a Lee universal decapping die.

I have a Dillon super swage 600 and that is a Lee universal decaying die in the picture

Neither of these will work however if a crimped primer breaks apart as its being removed

 

[tjhaile]

A primer pocket reamer might work if you don't want to just scrap them.

 

[bigedp51]

Our American military Lake City cases have the primer approximately .006 below the surface. These primers are crimped and sealed and what happens is the top edges of the primer must stretch to meet the bolt face while the base of the primer remains in place. And when you try to remove the primer the top of the primer brakes loose leaving a primer cup ring in the primer pocket.

With a un-crimped primer the entire primer cup moves to the rear until it contact the bolt face. Meaning the primer cup does not have to stretch and cause metal fatigue.

Below even a uncrimped primer cup is stressed when fired as you can see below. And when crimped some primer cups fail at their rounded edges. The red and yellow areas below are under the most stress and you can even see the area where the case stretches that causes case head separations.

I have tried to remove the ring with reamers, easy outs etc. and all these efforts damaged the primer pocket. If you had a lathe and the right setup you "might" be able to remove the ring.

I buy bulk once fired military cases and they add extras in each batch, and when the top of the primer pops off the case goes in my scrap brass bucket.

Bottom line, I'm a cheap bastard and have brass OCD "BUT" if you score the primer pocket you run the risk of a etched bolt face. So kiss the case goodbye and toss it in the trash and move on.

NOTE, on the last batch of 500 once fired Winchester 9mm cases I lost over 30 cases for the same reason.

Below the military type CCI 41 primer, look closely at how thick the top of the primer is and then thins to form the rounded edges and sides of the primer.

Then add a good primer crimp and then some of the top edges of the primer can be over stressed causing the top of the primer to pop off when removing the primer.

 

[BlackSheepBrass]

I use RCBS small pins in custom shafts for the Lee Decapper. Solves all problems.... Although my Camdex that I just picked up does even better with decapping and swaging.

 

[M1-Garand]

You can't swage with the primer, or bits of the primer, still in the pocket.

Maybe the only way to remove the crimp with the primer still in the pocket is in the lathe.