Primer pocket questions

[jmuv]

I have been loading for a while but have just started purchasing “ once fired brass “. Some I have received has crimped primers so I believe that those are once fired. Those are swaged with RCBS swager. Others without crimped primers seem to have already been staged or reamed. Work I don’t have to do. I am curious how the best recommended practice for identifying primer pocket no longer being of proper size to secure the primer. Some primers almost can be removed with the handle weight of my press alone. Others take a bit more pressure. I realize that I could try seating a primer and if it falls out the pocket is to washed out. I am trying to learn without making the mistake myself.
Any advice?

 

[Airborne Falcon]

I've only run into an issue with that a couple of times, both times when I bought estate brass from deceased handloaders. Both times it was surplus FC 30.06 brass although one batch of those batches had been reformed for .270 by said deceased handloader.

I go by feel and if it doesn't feel right I may pull out the magnifying glass and play with it to see if there are any obvious gaps.

Feel is everything about about anything and everything either physically or rhetorically, metaphorically, allegorically .... allegedly.

If it just doesn't feel right ... it's probably not right.

You're going to get your best feel from a good hand held primer but I've used my RCBS Autoprime so many times that I've developed a feel for it ... which saved me on some of the above mentioned brass.

You might also measure primer pockets, diameters and depth. I've heard tell of primer pocket checkers, I've just never seen one. I suppose there may be a market for them perhaps? If anyone was going-to do-it I would think McJ Tools would have already done-it.

If you can push a primer out of the primer pocket, from the inside, using the point of a cheap bamboo skewer (longer cases) or a toothpick (shorter cases) then your primer pocket is too wallered-out to be of any use.

Next question going through most minds right now .... is there any way to restore a reamed-out primer pocket?

 

[Laphroaig]

Some folks like these guages.

https://ballistictools.com/store/small-and-large-primer-pocket-gauges

I have a set but don't find them that useful. Of course, if the no-go side goes in, the pocket is way too big. I think the "feel" method is much more reliable. When I think the primers go in too easy, I mention that in my notes and dump them in the scrap bucket after I shoot them.

 

[Bazoo]

I’ve had some primers seat easy here and there. I have removed the primer, and reprimed the case with a fresh primer, and it seated with normal feel. There is a slight difference in primers themselves. I’ve found Winchester, at least my batch, to vary more here than CCI.

 

[AJC1]

The tool mentioned above works, pin guages work, feel works and changing primers works sometimes. Rumor is cci is a smidge larger than some others and may get you an extra cycle.

 

[FROGO207]

The foreign primers (Wolf, CBC, ETC.) are a bit bigger and you can get a nother reload or two out of your brass. If they feel like they go in too easy I take my universal deprimer in my hand then try to push out the primer. If it comes out I recycle the brass. If it is only loose going in I color the base with black marker for try a bigger primer or red for loose with a bigger primer. You do have to keep the problem ones seperate when cleaning though.

 

[Blue68f100]

If I can push the primer out by hand, it goes into the recycle bin. Otherwise I use it.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Like said above, it's mostly by feel unless you want to spend money on a Gage. (I do not spend money I don't have to spend) You didn't say which cartridge you are asking about.

 

[horseman1]

A few years back I did a review of a go/no go gage here on the forum. Folks here are so helpful to me that I felt the need to provide something in return. I understand the manufacturer has improved it since then, but even with some small flaws at the time, it worked.. You just had to get used to it. This was quite a while ago, so I don't have a link. I believe it was the product linked to by Laphroaig above.

What I do these days is if a primer goes in a little too easily, it gets marked for the recycle bin with a sharpie and is not reloaded. If it's all my brass no problem, I catch them early. If it's some funny business brass and its worn out by someone else and it somehow got into the "system", I get to use the decapper die and carefully remove the live primer and send the brass it to its maker. One cant be too careful these days when it comes to dubious brass .

If I were to get some "once fired brass" I would consider using my tool I reviewed some years ago to avoid the decapper exercise.

[edit to the wayback machine] https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...-pockets-dangerous.729177/page-2#post-9153123

 

[jmuv]

Like said above, it's mostly by feel unless you want to spend money on a Gage. (I do not spend money I don't have to spend) You didn't say which cartridge you are asking about.

223-556