Primer pockets

[Mr.Snerdly]

I have reloaded some of my 243 brass quite a few times now and have noticed the primers take almost no pressure to seat. Aside from this, everything looks to be in good shape. I use lighter powder charges (not the absolute lowest, a little less than half between min and max) and anneal after about 5 firings. Keep going until something else appears to tell you to retire them?

[Danatkins8605]

I'd ditch them

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[Stumpkiller]

I agree. If the pockets are loose it's the end. Not all brass is created equal.

A few years ago I had some nickeled Federal cases that gave up (I thought) way too early.

[charlie b]

Yep, toss them. Most .223 brass I have used have only gone 4 or 5 firings. Changed to Lapua simply for that reason.

[Mr.Snerdly]

Yep, toss them. Most .223 brass I have used have only gone 4 or 5 firings. Changed to Lapua simply for that reason.


I agree, my next brass will be Lapua. I have Lapua for the 223 and a little Winchester. It may be foolish to be doing this considering my accuracy is about .3 MOA at best but I bought a tool to deburr the flashholes. I don't know if it is worth doing or not unless you are doing competition but I noticed some of the brass you can remove quite a little bit when doing this but the Lapua is perfect, hardly any brass is removed.

[tomme boy]

Use a ball bearing to swage the pockets. I have done a bunch of times on brass that was extremely hard to get in the past. Really easy to do. If you go too much then just ream them out a little. No need to throw them out if everything else is fine

[jpx2rk]

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

easy to use.

[yobuck]

By using a hand priming tool you have more feel for how the primer pockets are holding up.
I bang the edge at the head of the case on my bench after seating a new primer if i am in doubt.
If the primer pops out or even partially out i will trash the case.
Otherwise it gets another go.
The guns i use for hunting are hard on cases, so i only use new or once fired brass.
The rest is used for practice shooting only.

[JeepsAndGuns]

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

easy to use.

Interesting. I may have to pick some of those up.

One thing I have noticed, is federal brass seems to open up the primer pockets faster than any other brand I have ever used. Sometimes after 2-3 firings (at normal pressures, not even close to hot)
Norma and lapua seem to last the longest.

[tomme boy]

Federal does not strike the case head once last time to harden the head. It Is a cost saving measure as they don't care if the case Is reloaded or not. This came from the head balistician that worked at Ruger for many years. He s a friend of mine

[charlie b]

Interesting to note that I only have that problem with the .223. Federal, Hornady and Lake City all had short lives.

The .308 has yet to open up a primer pocket. Winchester, Hornady and Lapua are all well past 15 reloads. The Hornady are past 40, but, most of those have been cast loads and a flash hole that has been opened up for reduced loads.

[Stumpkiller]

Federal does not strike the case head once last time to harden the head. It Is a cost saving measure as they don't care if the case Is reloaded or not. This came from the head balistician that worked at Ruger for many years. He s a friend of mine.

Good to know and supports my experience.

I do save the "tired" cases for such things as setting up neck trimmers and C.O.L. trimmers. I mark the necks with black sharpie markers.

[strut64]

Once primer pockets become loose, you may get gas leakage and damage the bolt face. This will lead to gas cutting. I once let that happen to a Rem 700. I was a novice and let the process go on. With a savage it is not too tragic since you can replace the bolt head. but on other makes a bolt is much more expensive.

[yobuck]

Once primer pockets become loose, you may get gas leakage and damage the bolt face. This will lead to gas cutting. I once let that happen to a Rem 700. I was a novice and let the process go on. With a savage it is not too tragic since you can replace the bolt head. but on other makes a bolt is much more expensive.
If you play around with hot high pressure loads its only a matter of time till you encounter a blown primer.
And if you also try to get as much from your brass by way of round count as you can you will also experience a separated case which usually leaves part of the case stuck in the chamber.
Pock marks on the bolt face arent necessarily bad other than being unsightly, and they can sometimes be repaired by those who know how.

[bigedp51]

I had problems with some brands of Federal .223 brass and loose primer pockets. I use a Lee decapping tool and if I can push the primer out with just finger pressure the case goes in the scrap brass bucket. You can also use pin gauges .001 smaller than your primer diameter.

To keep things simple I buy bulk once fired Lake City brass because it is harder than any comertial .223 brass. The flash hole web is also thicker making the primer pockets last longer.

https://i.imgur.com/m1PlERq.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/cYeTsDp.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/4kXrGuI.png

The person who posted the photo below said he didn't worry about loose primer pockets and said he would replace the bolt when it got bad enough.

Forrest Gump - Stupid is as stupid does.

https://i.imgur.com/VMkEdYr.jpg

Save $$ By Using Lake City 5.56x45mm Once-Fired GI Brass

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2019/10/save-by-using-lake-city-5-56x45mm-once-fired-gi-brass/

Accuracy Potential of Mil-Surp 5.56×45 BrassSo, how accurate can previously-fired GI surplus brass be in a good National Match AR-15? Well, here’s a data point from many years ago that might be of interest. A High Power shooter who wrote for the late Precision Shooting magazine took a Bill Wylde-built AR match rifle to a registered Benchrest match. His first 5-round group ever fired in a BR match was officially measured at 0.231″ at 200 hundred yards. This was fired in front of witnesses, while using a moving target backer that confirmed all five rounds were fired.He recounted that his ammo was loaded progressively with factory 52gr match bullets and a spherical powder using mixed years of LC brass with no special preparation whatsoever. Obviously, this was “exceptional”. However, he had no difficulty obtaining consistent 0.5-0.6 MOA accuracy at 200 yards using LC brass and a generic “practice” load that was not tuned to his rifle.

[charlie b]

Lake City brass used to be available cheap. They still only last 4 or 5 reloads for me. Cost wise overall they are about as cheap as the Lapuas that last three or four times as long.

[Mr.Snerdly]

Use a ball bearing to swage the pockets. I have done a bunch of times on brass that was extremely hard to get in the past. Really easy to do. If you go too much then just ream them out a little. No need to throw them out if everything else is fine

Could you explain further how you do this? Sounds interesting.

[yobuck]

Could you explain further how you do this? Sounds interesting.
Realize that the ball bearing fix dosent fix the primer pocket.
It simply peens the edge over so that the primer is tighter for another firing.
A dab of super glue after inserting the new primer will accomplish the same thing.

[Orezona]

Realize that the ball bearing fix dosent fix the primer pocket.
It simply peens the edge over so that the primer is tighter for another firing.
A dab of super glue after inserting the new primer will accomplish the same thing.

Great information. I tried to give you reps but rules wouldn't allow it.

[fayettefatts]

I primed 100 357 Mag cases yesterday and found 2 with loose primers. I've been meaning to try this for a while. I used an RCBS primer pocket swage on the loose pockets. Kept adjusting it down further a little bit at a time until they held a primer. Required quite a bit of force. I would not do this on a large quantity of brass, but it worked well enough in this case.