Probably not what most thought-

As part of the not having anything else to do with COVID, I have been processing brass which has accumulated over the years... I dislike this enough that I tend to buy new .223/5.56 rather than process the brass- and I have a Dillon 1050 with the trimmer set up. The positive side is I will have enough .223 brass to last me at least 10 years...

My issue is how can one stop the occasional primer refusing to separate issue-

I'm not really talking crimped brass refusing to move, but I have had a few where the top of the primer comes off and when it gets to the swage station, its a mess because the ring of primer material gets swaged into the case and its a pain to stop and throw that one out-

But rather, like I saw with almost every 4th round from some S&B M193 ammo- where the primer sticks to the decapping rod and gets pulled back into the pocket. That seems to happen to me, regardless of what I am running (9mm, .223, 40, 45, etc.) occasionally, and the thing tries to insert another primer (when I have the swage system backed way out) but since I was doing this without some sort of deadline, I was willing to try and figure out what was going on, rather than practice my french and throw away the offending piece of brass and move on.

The S&B was actually the more recent brass in the stuff I was doing- but the sticking issue seems more common with commercial stuff than military in general.

Thinking of it, it will occasionally happen with the single stage, its just since you are handling each piece every step of the way you see it and it doesn't get to the next step- and rerunning it through the sizing process fixes that...

I guess I am noticing it more due to swaging the brass since most of the stuff is crimped. Its kind of amazing the ammount of commercial type ammo in .223/5.56 is crimped nowdays- most Federal, the S&B, a bunch of foreign headstamp stuff that was sold during the Obama years, even a bunch of Winchester (WCC headstamp.)

step one - throw away S&B cases

I had some of the same issues with my L&L progressive.
Broke a couple de-capping pins and jammed the press. constantly..
My fix was to prep all the brass before reloading.
I still had an issue with some of the brass.

Just LOVE it when the top of the primer goes pop and leaves a ring in the pocket.

Like hivelosty, I SB size my 223 brass on a single stage press, ream or swage the primer pocket, and trim OAL on a 3 way trimmer. Then tumble to clean it all.
That way any once fired brass I have picked up is back to factory spec.

So when I run them thru the progressive, I am just neck sizing, pocking out any media from flash hole, priming, powder charging, seating the bullet, and then taper crimping.

Yes seems like a lot of work, but it sure makes it more relaxing when you do load on the progressive.

JW

I agree with richj, throw the S&B out. I have some S&B brass that has shallow primer pockets.
If it was in easy to get brass I would just throw it out. It is in cases I find hard to get, so I bought a primer pocket uniformer that cuts the pockets to a proper uniform depth.
On easy to find brass I would throw it out.
The reason most 223 brass has crimped primer pockets is because a lot gets shot out of AR type rifles. The crimped primers reduce the risk of a unseated primer jamming the action.
Leo

Funny, that is what I was going to say; I never have that issue with US military brass.
OR, stop processing the brass in the progressive press and prep all the brass before hand. You have time right?
Yes military ammo has crimped in primers so they won't come out and jam machine guns.

Yeah, I have time- but not that much. Most of this gets shot through AR's and class 3 toys.

10K cases. Pretty much done with it in a weekend, except for chamfer/deburr, which I will bother with as I load it. The stuff I use for precision shooting is hand weighed, etc.

Its not the S&B is the only one that does it, just its the most frequent problem child.

It happens rarely with Lake City brass, but still happens like one in 2-300. I just was running everything through because I was seeing crimp markings on things that I brought as commercial ammo- like Federal stuff when it was on sale. The Lake City was the stuff that just left a ring of primer material in the pocket, and caused a bunch of effort to swage, and then realized it was now a junk case.

I was hoping someone would be able to say "hey, treat the brass with this stuff and no more sticky primers on your decapper...

No. it's the crimp.....if you don't want the occasional primer hangup, use only commercial cases. Or live with it.

No, its not just the crimp, as some commercial cases do it as well. Not as often, but it does happen.

Heck, I have had it happen (maybe 1 in 500) with .40 S&W, and that has never been a military loading to the best of my knowledge.

But it does seem to happen more with small primers than large.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
No. it's the crimp.....if you don't want the occasional primer hangup, use only commercial cases. Or live with it.

That is what I did I stopped using military brass a long time ago.

Well, I choose to live with it- but I ask around to see if anyone has better ideas!

So far, it looks like live with it.

I am processing this stuff in one big lot. I finally got it all decapped and trimmed. I've got about a little more than a pound of brass shavings from it all.

I will probably weigh out a bunch of the LC from one headstamp and take stuff that weighs the same and call that new accuracy brass. The rest will get made into "blasting" ammo.

Frankly, if I didn't have the mass processing capability I'd be one of the guys who leaves the stuff at the range. I do hand trim and such with things other than handgun and .223/5.56. For the stuff I run through for short range 3 gun or plinking, the effort of hand prep is not there- buying it as milsurp or on sale would be preferable. I had actually thought that what I did this year would be a retirement project in 20 or so years.

Doing it automated as I learn the equipment better is less of a hassle than I thought- but I had to toss about 100 cases because of this. I guess I am cheap... it bothers me.

Well you can polish then de-capping pin down a bit.

I have done that in the past

I have been happy with these guys dies for decapping.

https://www.mightyarmory.com/c...ariant=5247766167593

I have never had a commercial, non crimped primer, punch out the bottom and leave the outer ring in the pocket. I would like to see a picture of one.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
I have never had a commercial, non crimped primer, punch out the bottom and leave the outer ring in the pocket. I would like to see a picture of one.

The one I found was LC brass for that.

That is not at all common.

The occurrence I was more trying to find a fix for was the returning the primer to the cup so it gets mashed back in.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
I have never had a commercial, non crimped primer, punch out the bottom and leave the outer ring in the pocket. I would like to see a picture of one.

Here you go. This is most likely due to "galvanic corrosion", Dissimilar metals begin a self deterioration process it causes a weld.

The pin is actually tearing the primer apart while pushing it out.

quote:

Originally posted by crbutler:
...
The occurrence I was more trying to find a fix for was the returning the primer to the cup so it gets mashed back in.

I had that issue as well and the Mighty Armory guy send me some different pins that took care of it.

I am a bit anal about my brass for progressives though. I first roll size the brass. Then I make a pass where I decap, swage, and size.

Final pass I swage again, resize at the priming station, expand, powder charge, bullet drop, seat and crimp.

Since I started doing it I have been able to run my press at 2.5K - 3K rounds per hour setting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyMfnhSiP50

I usually start with prepped brass when loading for rifle.

Pistol I just throw in.

The rifle stuff I was doing was decap, swage, size, and trim.

I then threw the brass in the tumbler, cleaned it and then bagged it up for when I want to use it.

What kind of special pin did you need to get, I think I will get this as it certainly isn't too spendy, and I bend/break the Dillon universal decapper so often that I have 3.

It has been a while, so I don't recall. Call the number at the web site and ask. The owner is very friendly and helpful.