PMC brass and primer issues

J

jon1985

CGN Regular
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Location
Carleton Place, Ontario
I have started reloading .223 finally and have run into an issue with some of the once fired brass I picked up. My first thought was that they have crimped primers, but when I run the sharp end of a dental pick up the wall of the primer pocket it is smooth. So I tried a few more pieces of brass. Out of would 10, 7 would go in with significantly more effort, but on the other 3 the primers would start going in (half way) then squish over to one side as more pressure was applied.

Any thoughts?

I have about 750 pieces of this brass so I would like to use it, but hate the thought of having to swag all the pockets.
 
Crimped pockets will have a distinct ring stamped into the casehead around the pocket and often a sharp edge. Non crimped won't have that ring and will have a beveled or radiused edge. They may be crimped or undersized. A primer pocket reamer will open them to min saami diameter and cut a bevel on the edge. This will give a tight, uniform feel and reliable seating if depths are in spec. You may need to uniform them (cut to proper depth) too if they won't seat flush without excess pressure.
 
The first .223 brass I reloaded was PMC because it was the only stuff I found that wasn't crimped. But since virtually every other brand is crimped though, I bought the RCBS swager kit and it works great,
On a Lee turret press it takes about 5 seconds per piece to process. And the swager die makes a great guage if there's any doubt about whether the primer pockets are crimped or not.
 
I know I can swag the pockets. I bought it as uncrimped brass so that I didnt need to buy a swagging tool and spend the time doing it. I wanted to confirm the likely hood of it being crimped before I go back to the seller.
 
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