Started hand priming some 308 tonight. Hornady hand primer, Hornady Match brass, BR2's. was rather surprised with the amount of force. Had to chamfer the primer pocket. Got the first 9 in ok. Then #10 went bad! Like scary. It must have caught an edge of the primer pocket. I wasn't ramy with it, squeezed, it move a bit and that what I found stuck in it. Repositioned, squeezed a bit more, and managed to pop it loose. Talk about sweeting bullets! I thought I'd have to chuck the case with the shell plate. Or it could have blew! Someone must be looking out for me tonight!
Hand Priming Tool
- Thread starter frank223
- Start date
It wouldn't have blown! Don't be ridiculous. It takes a sharp blow on the primer, squeezed against the anvil, not crushing. You could crush them all day, one after another, with a pair of pliers.
Throw away the shell holder? What the heck for? Just put the shell holder and case back under the decapping die in your press and push the primer out!! It's NOT NITROGLYCERIN, for crying out loud! MY WORD!
lol, i've probably crushed and mangled 200 primers at least, all due to the lee priming system. i have a lee loader in 357mag which uses a rubber hammer to resize, prime and seat/crimp ammo all by hand. i've had 2 primers pop while using it. gives you a good rush of adrenaline though!
Frank223.
As mentioned, it usually takes a sharp rap to set off a primer. I doubt you could come even close with a hand priming tool.
OK, what you need now, is a priming pocket uniforming tool. There are a couple of makers out there and IMHO their products all work well.
You need to make sure you get the proper size tool. For your 308, you will need one for a large rifle primer and for the 223rem, a tool for the small rifle primer. I like the ones that have a small drill on the tip to make all of the flash holes large enough to accept the larger decapping pins.
As you have noticed, not all primer pockets or flash holes are made equal. The same goes for the diameter of primers themselves. Sometimes primer pockets will be to shallow as well and in some cases, especially with offshore primers, they will be to tall.
Every component you obtain, will be from different lots and they will most likely have something different about them. It all depends on the materials the manufacturers had available to them at the time of production. This includes the brass of your cases, metal of the primer, priming compound, powder and even the bullets. Mostly, commercial producers try to keep everything as close to spec as possible. This just isn't always possible for many reasons. Usually financial.
Keep in mind, every time you purchase new components, they usually are made to a 5% +or- tolerance. If you insist on loading to maximum velocities and pressures, this can bring you very close to a serious situation.
Now, the big thing with reloading, be cautious. Don't be afraid to check out the manuals. There is a lot of good information there. Most of it came about through experience or from some very harsh lessons.
If you use your head and don't push the envelope, you will have a lot of very good and safe shooting ahead of you.
Here is a really good bit of information that many newbies just don't take to heart. Once your reach the saturation point of the capacity of your bore, if you increase your powder charge by 10%, you will gain as much as 1% or less velocity. You will likely get as much as a 25% - 50% spike in pressures. This might be dangerous in your firearm and it will most definitely increase throat erosion and decrease brass life.
Only you can decide if it's worth the added cost and risk.
As mentioned, it usually takes a sharp rap to set off a primer. I doubt you could come even close with a hand priming tool.
OK, what you need now, is a priming pocket uniforming tool. There are a couple of makers out there and IMHO their products all work well.
You need to make sure you get the proper size tool. For your 308, you will need one for a large rifle primer and for the 223rem, a tool for the small rifle primer. I like the ones that have a small drill on the tip to make all of the flash holes large enough to accept the larger decapping pins.
As you have noticed, not all primer pockets or flash holes are made equal. The same goes for the diameter of primers themselves. Sometimes primer pockets will be to shallow as well and in some cases, especially with offshore primers, they will be to tall.
Every component you obtain, will be from different lots and they will most likely have something different about them. It all depends on the materials the manufacturers had available to them at the time of production. This includes the brass of your cases, metal of the primer, priming compound, powder and even the bullets. Mostly, commercial producers try to keep everything as close to spec as possible. This just isn't always possible for many reasons. Usually financial.
Keep in mind, every time you purchase new components, they usually are made to a 5% +or- tolerance. If you insist on loading to maximum velocities and pressures, this can bring you very close to a serious situation.
Now, the big thing with reloading, be cautious. Don't be afraid to check out the manuals. There is a lot of good information there. Most of it came about through experience or from some very harsh lessons.
If you use your head and don't push the envelope, you will have a lot of very good and safe shooting ahead of you.
Here is a really good bit of information that many newbies just don't take to heart. Once your reach the saturation point of the capacity of your bore, if you increase your powder charge by 10%, you will gain as much as 1% or less velocity. You will likely get as much as a 25% - 50% spike in pressures. This might be dangerous in your firearm and it will most definitely increase throat erosion and decrease brass life.
Only you can decide if it's worth the added cost and risk.
X2 I was pretty nervous trying to reload 45 brass for the first time and trying to shove a large pistol primer into a small primer pocket on the brass.
I removed the priming system from my lee 1000, I run all the brass through the press with only the sizer/decapper die, then hand prime all my cases now with an RCBS priming tool then run them through the press again with the powder thrower/expander and seater dies. It really slowed things down but after blowing up my USP Tactical after having the primer system jam then somehow double stroking it on the powder throw stage it's worth taking the extra time.
ambishooter
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Southeastern Canuckstan
After tumbling and de-priming, I check my casings for chamfer. I use a 3/8" countersink from Princess Auto mounted on a drill and run the primer pocket to a small chamfer
before priming using an RCBS universal priming tool. Once in a while, I do it in my Turret Press.
before priming using an RCBS universal priming tool. Once in a while, I do it in my Turret Press.
I recently used my pro1000's because I was running low on bulk ammo and I noticed this time around I had way more trouble with large pistol primers (45acp) vs small pistol. I loaded up 4000 rounds (9mm,38spl, 357mag) and had maybe 5 primer issues (couple crushed and upside down). With large pistol though I had about 15 out of 1500 rounds.
I'm not sure if the pro1000 ever used the spring return powder measure I stead of the chain style return, but if they did I could easily see double charges. With the chain style one you have to bring the shell carrier a good deal before it will reset.
Luckily my only 2 experiences with to much powder and not enough only resulted in embarrassment and a new 1911 barrel.
