Fix for loose primers?

[TZaun]

I was wondering about super glue, as well, if you know it is the last time the brass will be used. I would think one drop would wick all around the edge and seal them up.

 

[spclark]

I was wondering about super glue, as well, if you know it is the last time the brass will be used. I would think one drop would wick all around the edge and seal them up.

It works but a drop is almost too much... just 'prime' the tube's dispenser stem then touch the tip to the rim of a seated primer. Enough will get wicked into the joint to suffice. Once it's fired though that case likely is toast as the glue won't keep the pocket from stretching more but it might keep the spent primer in place when the bolt comes back.

I tried a Hart tool for awhile too, found the tool that does the pocket rim swage tends to deform with use despite using modest strikes with a light hammer. Material they use needs to be hardened more IMHO.

Saw a neat tool in a hardware store today I'm gonna look closer at. Meant for extracting screws & stuff, it's a left-hand thread thingy with a very short, tapered end that just maybe'd knurl a too-large primer pocket enough to hold the next primer in place... one more time. Lots cheaper than the Hart product too.

 

[Switchbarrel]

I have a 6.5-284 that I need to get through one last match. My primer pockets are getting really loose and I need to limp them through one last match as well and then I'm switching cartridges. Been there done that with the 6.5-284. Anyhow, I've read about putting fingernail polish around the outer edge of the primer after it's seated. Any other tricks? My last batch of brass that got like this I ended up with some very minor pitting in one spot on my bolt. I'm using Fed. 210Ms if it matters.

Check out this thread:

http://forum.accurateshooter.com/index.php?topic=3862744.0


I made the tool from the referenced drawing and it worked out pretty well. I got 2 more firings on my brass before I retired it and I'm sure it would have gone more.

I bought one and it works a treat. Previously I had been using the Hart case saver which does work but the Henry Rempel nud is so much better.

I bought one too and it's great for that last minute loading & finding out some cases won't hold a primer & no time to prep more cases. I found it is possible to "fix" a primer pocket too much. So much so, that you can't get a primer in there any longer & now need to square the pocket again to get one in there.

Previously, in a pinch I've laid a case on its side, put a drop of super glue on the primer pocket side wall and rolled the case to coat all the way around with glue. This was able to reduce the pocket diameter enough to hold a primer again.


-Rick

 

[Terry]

If you just need them to stay in while being transported green wicking loctite will work. A tiny drop will do.

My main concern is no gas leakage. If I wasn't at the tail end of a barrel, the brass, and the season, I'd scrap the brass and start with new stuff. I'm re-chambering after this so I don't want to open a couple of new boxes of brass. The green Loctite sounds like another good option.

I used locktite once, it killed the primers.

 

[Joe Salt]

Terry yes Loctite does kill the primers, Tried it back in the 80's! But a spring loaded prick punch around the inside about 4 times seams to work for a firing or two.

Joe Salt

 

[snert]

not to be a Negative Nelly, but we are talking about a piece of expandable material, costing from at most $50 cents to a $1.50, having been used multiple times, and now holding back bazzillions of pounds of force, inches from our faces, and in front of some pretty expensive bolt-faces...and it is no longer holding the plug that keeps that gas going forward, not backward...

I suggest duct tape! :

Time to toss them!

With respect,
Snert

 

[Jay Christopherson]

not to be a Negative Nelly, but we are talking about a piece of expandable material, costing from at most $50 cents to a $1.50, having been used multiple times, and now holding back bazzillions of pounds of force, inches from our faces, and in front of some pretty expensive bolt-faces...and it is no longer holding the plug that keeps that gas going forward, not backward...

I suggest duct tape! :

Time to toss them!

With respect,
Snert

You are talking about the acquisition cost, not the time and effort it took to do whatever you prep situation requires (turning, sorting, culling, etc...). A piece of formed Dasher brass is worth quite a lot more than $1.50 to me, when you add in the time it took me to prepare it. My time is valuable - anything I can do to safely save some of it is worth doing, IMO.

@Switchbarrel - yeah, it is easy to over-swage the pocket. I found that just the slightest bit of cam-over was perfect. No gas escaping, consistent primer seating. Great tool.

 

[markm87]

Bumping this old thread because I'm into a box of 300WM that's definitely on it's last firing. And I'm trying the Super Glue method just to keep the primer in the pocket until it's chambered.

The primers have stayed in the pockets for the first bumpy ride to the range.

 

[Ray123]

I have a 6.5-284 that I need to get through one last match. My primer pockets are getting really loose and I need to limp them through one last match as well and then I'm switching cartridges. Been there done that with the 6.5-284. Anyhow, I've read about putting fingernail polish around the outer edge of the primer after it's seated. Any other tricks? My last batch of brass that got like this I ended up with some very minor pitting in one spot on my bolt. I'm using Fed. 210Ms if it matters.

I buy new brass when primers start loosing up and always have plenty of new cases on the shelf.
But for those who don't or emergency, If ya have access to a lathe with collets and 3000 rpm. And who doesn't?
Take your case, primer pockets out, in the collet, turn the lathe on to 3000 rpm...case spinning take your scrap .17 Remington case as its tiny neck will fit inside the large .210" hole primer pocket. Push it in at an angle and the spinning cases will gall some brass off the case neck of the .17 Rem and roll a burr into the primer pocket. Test ...with time and pressure...so ya don't over do it ...using your primer pocket gauge as a guide. The no-go will now not enter, where it previously did. But the go- gauge still goes. Fairly quick and easy, and works, for emergencies.
Tried Swaging the case head down, worked but the head was smaller than factory new by .002" discarded that idea...Next swage down the extractor rim .005" would do the trick, just closing the collet hard down on the head just on the extractor groove s few times, I could feel a slight difference in reduction, but not enough to continue...or build a tiny internal knurling tool, but the raise brass would be rubbed down to primer diameter after seating the primer. So swaging down or galling up were the 2 best methods, but the case head is probably getting thin and ready for case head separation by now, anyway...so new brass in what is needed.

 

[Liven The Dream]

There is a Guy in the Portland Oregon Area that makes Dies/ Tools for this problem .
I won’t post His Contact .
PM will get His Phone Number .

 

[Bamban]

I took a RCBS military crimp swaging tool, machined a pocket larger than primer. Turned it into a crimping tool. Operation is the same as swaging process.

 

[SKWERLZ]

A 5/8 ball bearing and long punch that fit’s the neck well can do wonders

 

[markm87]

I took a RCBS military crimp swaging tool, machined a pocket larger than primer. Turned it into a crimping tool. Operation is the same as swaging process.

That is awesome. I'd love to have something like that for loose pocket brass's final firing. I suppose this is a niche item since most loaders don't want to add a crimp and later remove it.

But it's a bummer when you hear "click" when you pull the trigger, extract the round, and see an empty primer pocket.

 

[INTJ]

I have used the Hart tool. It did save some of my cases, but not all of them......

 

[No i deer]

There's a video on YouTube with somebody using a ball bearing and a punch I think that sorts a lose primer problem..
You would of thought there was an off the shelf tool you can get too sort this problem out by now..
Most would buy one..!!

 

[Ray123]

Yep, clamp a bolt that fits inside the case in your vise, put deprimed case over it...drop a small ball bearing on primer pocket.. smack ball bearing with a hammer...or grind a punch to fit...you're just swaging the brass up...adjust hammer strike to suit, install new prime.

 

[Ray123]

You are talking about the acquisition cost, not the time and effort it took to do whatever you prep situation requires (turning, sorting, culling, etc...). A piece of formed Dasher brass is worth quite a lot more than $1.50 to me, when you add in the time it took me to prepare it. My time is valuable - anything I can do to safely save some of it is worth doing, IMO.

@Switchbarrel - yeah, it is easy to over-swage the pocket. I found that just the slightest bit of cam-over was perfect. No gas escaping, consistent primer seating. Great tool.

I bought 400 pcs of Alpha 6 dasher brass for 1.25 ea...just neck mandrel, load, and shoot. No neck turn, no fireforming...no work...the reason I chambered for a 6 Dasher was available Alpha brass. And a No neck turn reamer.
So I Toss em when the primer pockets loosen. But, What works for me, may not be what you're interested in...

 

[ebb]

The RW Hart tool is a waste of money don't get stung like i did. Do like dusty says. A 1000yd BR guy at BR central used to talk about super glue, never tried it. LESS POWDER is the best way.

 

[ebb]

RCBS makes a tool that is supposed to work. I've got one but it would probably cost as much to ship 2 ways as to buy a new one these days. What chambering are you going to replace the 6.5-284 with?

 

[JSH]

I find my time to valuable to fool around with putting a crimp in for one more firing.
I get really POd at myself when I look back at all the time I spent cutting the damn crimp out of milsurp brass. I don’t need numerous gas leaks to spoil another wise good day.

I spent a lot of time on a large lot of brass for a wildcat a few years back, resize, reform then neck turn. When they got loose I never hesitated and tossed the whole lot and started over.

Brass that is available I won’t mess with trying to “fix” it.
Seems I recall in some reading some time back a fellow making bushings for primer pockets, as the parent brass was some odd ball one off.

I just made several hundred cases for a 20VT, enough for the life of the barrel before they wear out. Couldn’t find 221 or 17FB, and if you did it was $1 or more per case. I bought dies and equipment to make them, new virgin brass as well, I had less that than the cost of $1 per case. And equipment to do it again if I want too. I should probably seek out some type of professional counseling, lol.