Federal Match Small Pistol Primer Problems?

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Has anyone here been having any problems with these primers not fitting into the pocket? They will go in almost all the way but then that's it unless you pound them in and then they looked squashed in. It is not my brass, well at least I don't believe it is because this will be the 2nd time I've reloaded them and didn't have this problem the 1st time around. Then again I didn't use these primers before. It's not all of them either, just maybe 1 out of every 10 will be like this which doesn't sound like a lot but when you are doing 1000 reloads, that would be 100 bad primers which is a concern. I even took the brass that they didn't fit in and tried another brand of primers and they went in perfectly.

Maybe I should contact Federal about it.

BTW, the brass I am reloading are Speer and R-P mixed and it doesn't matter which one.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Most likely your brass. Use a primer pocket uniformer on the brass to get all the pockets at the same depth.

 

[Thumb]

Most likely your brass. Use a primer pocket uniformer on the brass to get all the pockets at the same depth.

I would suspect that if it was not for that I reloaded the same brass before plus trying a different brand of primer fits them.

 

['Freak]

Primers, all the while measuring in every way within SAAMI’s allowable tolerances are not all of the exact same dimensions; and, primer pocket dimensions don’t forever remain exactly static, either.

 

[JohnKielly]

Federal have a reputation for being thinner in the cup & more liable to spring out when seated with some styles of primer seater.

 

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I would think that the pockets would get larger after each use rather than smaller but then I'm just guessing at that.

FYI, the cases are 357sig and the primers are GM100M if that helps any.

 

['Freak]

My primer pocket uniformer tool bottoms against the case head and stops cutting, leaving the pockets with flat floors square to the case head and all cut to the same depth. I clean primer pockets all the way to the metal using the same pocket uniformer tool. Eventually, after some number of firings, depending, and the tool will again cut a bit of metal that before, had been out of its reach. That metal had to have come from the only available source as a result of that case having been fired.

 

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You could be right OleFreak. I just removed all the Federal primers out of the feeder and am going to try out some CCI primers and see if I have the same problem, If I do then it's the cases, if not then I'll know it's the primers for sure. In either case I'll let you all know what the out come was later today.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

You could be right OleFreak. I just removed all the Federal primers out of the feeder and am going to try out some CCI primers and see if I have the same problem, If I do then it's the cases, if not then I'll know it's the primers for sure. In either case I'll let you all know what the out come was later today.

Ive never had a case not seat a primer after pockets have been uniformed. I HAVE had primers not seat all the way with untouched pockets. Even if the CCI primers seat, I'd still recommend uniforming the primer pockets. Unless of course its just a plinking handgun and serious load testing is not a concern. Then id just throw whatever in it and be done with it.

 

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I always run the cases through my RCBS case machine especially the wire brush just to make sure the pockets are clean but never on the swager tool just because I didn't think they crimped pistol brass.

Anyway, I just loaded up 100 rounds using the CCI primers and did not have one not fit properly. You are correct in that these are just plinking rounds for target practice and I load at the minimum just to save powder. I even used some of the cases that the Federal primers would not go in all the way and they also worked just fine with the CCI's.

 

[Outrider27]

I always run the cases through my RCBS case machine especially the wire brush just to make sure the pockets are clean but never on the swager tool just because I didn't think they crimped pistol brasss.

Just to make sure we are all talking about the same tool, what OleFreak is talking about is a cutting tool that gives the primer pockets a uniform depth, not the swaging tool to remove the crimp. The bottom row of the page linked to below should take you to one for a power case prep station (mine is ancient and is strictly a hand powered deal):

http://www.midwayusa.com/s?itemsperpage=20&dimensionids=4294846302&newcategorydimensionid=11880&pageNumber=1

And if you ever get a source of once fired GI pistol brass (at least back in the '70s when a kindly Navy Chief laid some GI .45 ACP brass on me), you will find that they also crimp a lot of that - we won't bore you with how I discovered this....

 

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Yes, I know what you were talking about, I was just using the Swage one because I was thinking it was crimped. I ordered one just in case I need it later on. Thanks for the link but Amazon had it a few $$$ cheaper with free shipping. ;D

 

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One more update. Just measured 20 each of the Federal and CCI primers. All the CCI primers measured .175" x .120" +/- .0005". The Federal primers mostly measured .175" x .120 but had 3 of them measure .180" x 1.22" +/- .001".
I also measured 2 of the primers that would not go in and I popped them out. Their measurements were both .181" x .121"

 

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I know this thread is a year old now but guess what, the same thing is happening again with the same Federal primers but a different lot number. This time I used the cutting tool on 25 of the cases before I started and still had 3 primers not seat all the way down. The only difference this time is that I am loading 9mm with different head stamps but the ones that wouldn't seat were all different brands. I am positive now that it is the primers because all other brand primers have no problems at all and I'm talking about 5000 loaded with not one single problem. FYI the lot number on these is 3GM207. I'm not going to buy Federal primers any more because not only have I had this problem with them but also have had many failures to even fire(duds), I'd say about 5% failure rate.