I give up. My son just bought a DPMS Panther 16" Heavy bull Barrel. He shot up 150 military rounds and I said I'ld reload them for him. Is there somethning about the primer pockets needing to be cleaned out or re-cut as I can't seem to be able to prime the cases without an enormous,ie excessive, amount of force. What's the deal? Tell me what I need to know. Thanks

Military ammo has "crimped" primers. This crimp must be removed to re-prime cases. Many tools from many sources are available to perform this task.

DocEd is right - military cases have crimped primer pockets. Watch it: don't try to prime those cases without removing the crimp! Doing so could cause a primer detonation - something you DO NOT want to happen.

In order to remove the crimp, you can choose to ream (remove material from) the primer pocket. Alternatively, you can swage (expand without removing material). I have heard one of the faster tools is the one made by Dillon:

http://www.dillonprecision.com...id/8/Super_Swage_600

There are also much cheaper tools available - RCBS etc.

Alternatively, you dump the mil cases and get commercial cases or mil cases with crimp already removed. All this assuming you can actually find brass these days...

- mike

+ 1 on the Dillon SuperSwage 600.



muck

The crimping of military brass was mentioned heavily in all 7 of the reloading books I bought as part of my introduction/education to the hobby. A lot to be said for educating yourself prior to messing around with propellants and primers..no offense to Super 88, just a word to any newbies ready to rush right out and start jamming primers into holes

If you don't want to invest in a tool for a handful of cases, you can ream the pockets with your case mouth reamer.

Thanks meptampa, no offense taken. After problems with the first case I figured that I wasn't doing something right and stopped right there. Kind of like reloading from memory. 57gr or 60gr of IMR 4350 in a 30-06 with 180gr bullets. Boy, are these loud! and the chrono says 3150 fps. What's wrong with the chrony? Does any of this sound familiar? I was lucky to walk away with no damage. Thanks for the help.

The .1730" pin gauge should just fit after the Super Swage, which will be a .002" interference fit with most small rifle primers.

quote:

If you don't want to invest in a tool for a handful of cases, you can ream the pockets with your case mouth reamer.

Yep!