Crunching my primers

W

Walknby

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I'm hoping some of you pros can give me a hand.

I'm using a new Square Deal press loading CGI small pistol primers into 9 mm range brass. I've got about 1800 rounds under my belt so far and had no problems until the last 120 rounds. Nine times out of roughly 120 rounds the primers haven't seated properly. It isn't just that they don't seat fully but when those primers are being seated there is a crunching sensation as the primer is pushed into the case. Checking the primers, they are slanted and the edge is scarred. I've tried to get photos close enough to show what I mean. The press is clean, there is nothing under the primer to cause it to sit crooked before being pressed into the case. Primer and case look fine before hand. Also I can get one of these followed by 20 that go through with no problems. Any thoughts?

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most likly it is one brand of brass or brass that is crimped.

swage primer pockets or ream them.... you can also use a deburring tool on the pp

that is why some people are so ocd on sorting/ inspecting there brass

if you find it is one brand of brass or crimped ... sort them out till you have a bunch ... deprime/ size only ... fix the primer pocket ... then load
 
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just having some fun said:
most likly it is one brand of brass or brass that is crimped.

swage primer pockets or ream them.... you can also use a deburring tool on the pp

that is why some people are so ocd on sorting/ inspecting there brass

if you find it is one brand of brass or crimped ... sort them out till you have a bunch ... deprime/ size only ... fix the primer pocket ... then load
Click to expand...

My opinion too.
 
I run a Dillon 650 and have run into a similar problem.....In my case it was either a crimped primer pocket OR the shell locator arm (spring arm that holds the shell into the shell plate) was slightly out of adjustment .....wasnt pushing the shell tight against the shell plate,so the primer wasnt lined up to the primer. In either situation,when you feel resistance "STOP" and investigate. Also .....sometimes a spent primer isnt completely removed from the primer pocket (if it has been crimped or glued sometimes just the center pops out leaving a ring behind in the primer pocket.......about 1% of my issues is this and in ALL brass I have reloaded (9,40,45,38,357,223,44,)

Hope this helps......
 
First off, it is Win brass so it probably isn't crimped.

OK, just searched some more and apparently Win is/was making some 9mm to NATO spec so it is probably crimped. I wouldn't have thought.
 
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The primer pockets on the S&B .38 brass are super tight. Some moreso than others. When I'm priming them on my 650, I just put light pressure on the handle, then let off, rotate the case a little bit, then bump it again. Do that a few times, and the primer goes in straight and doesn't get squished. High primers in revolvers sucks. Lol.

Might not work if the primer pockets are crimped though...
 
just having some fun said:
most likly it is one brand of brass or brass that is crimped.

swage primer pockets or ream them.... you can also use a deburring tool on the pp

that is why some people are so ocd on sorting/ inspecting there brass

if you find it is one brand of brass or crimped ... sort them out till you have a bunch ... deprime/ size only ... fix the primer pocket ... then load
Click to expand...

Thanks for the information. It is appreciated. I checked all nine of the problem cases and each and every one is a Win. Looking at the other rounds that loaded fine very few are Win's. It seems that most of the Wins that I had caused problems.
 
Walknby said:
Good advice. The photos are of the worse of them. Most of the others I stopped as soon as I felt resistance. I should have stopped sooner but at least I didn't "crunch" all nine.
Click to expand...

As long as no one gets hurt learning experiences are quite valuable.

P.S. Not all Winchester brass is crimped and you can usually tell just by looking at them. I sort all my range brass (prior to tumbling) into 3 piles: American brass (load it!), foreign brass (trade it!), garbage brass (ditch it!). The garbage pile of brass includes crimped, split, steel case etc.

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4n2t0 said:
As long as no one gets hurt learning experiences are quite valuable.

P.S. Not all Winchester brass is crimped and you can usually tell just by looking at them. I sort all my range brass (prior to tumbling) into 3 piles: American brass (load it!), foreign brass (trade it!), garbage brass (ditch it!). The garbage pile of brass includes crimped, split, steel case etc.
Click to expand...
I save my rejects for the club to make a few dollars for scrap
 
Also if you are using a Swager there might be small differences between lots or from say win to fed, that you need to tweek setup between brands

so sort the problem brass into different containers till you have a rainy day project.
 
Brucie68 said:
Also .....sometimes a spent primer isnt completely removed from the primer pocket (if it has been crimped or glued sometimes just the center pops out leaving a ring behind in the primer pocket.......about 1% of my issues is this and in ALL brass I have reloaded (9,40,45,38,357,223,44,).
Click to expand...

This really surprises me. I've been reloading rifle & handgun for almost 40 years and in 10's of thousands of reloads haven't had 10 'ringers' in all that time. I do have a friend who had a problem with 'ringers'. He was wet tumbling his brass with the primers in and air drying them and it looks like the wet tumbling was causing a chemical reaction between the primers & cases that was causing the primers to seize up in the pockets. He had more 'ringers' in one batch of cleaned brass than I've had in a lifetime of reloading.
 
Scotty454 said:
The primer pockets on the S&B .38 brass are super tight. Some moreso than others. When I'm priming them on my 650, I just put light pressure on the handle, then let off, rotate the case a little bit, then bump it again. Do that a few times, and the primer goes in straight and doesn't get squished. High primers in revolvers sucks. Lol.

Might not work if the primer pockets are crimped though...
Click to expand...
I don't know about S&B small primed cases but I do know that S&B large primed handgun cases are definitely tighter than other brands. To get them to reliably prime on my Loadmaster I have to ream the primer pockets with a #4 drill bit with the tip ground flat.
 
ted_dent said:
This really surprises me. I've been reloading rifle & handgun for almost 40 years and in 10's of thousands of reloads haven't had 10 'ringers' in all that time. I do have a friend who had a problem with 'ringers'. He was wet tumbling his brass with the primers in and air drying them and it looks like the wet tumbling was causing a chemical reaction between the primers & cases that was causing the primers to seize up in the pockets. He had more 'ringers' in one batch of cleaned brass than I've had in a lifetime of reloading.
Click to expand...

I do this all the time and I still haven't ever had any issues.
 
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