Loose primer pockets...what's going to happen?

[savagedasher]

blow one out with a Jewell trigger and you might be replacing it also,,it is just not worth it,,it will mess your boltface up,,possibly ruin your trigger and thats not even counting the injurys possible,,

Part you can replace . Eyes you can't.
Safety first Larry

 

[cdparker]

Do NOT trash any brass! I have a 5 gallon bucket out back and when a piece of brass fails inspection it gets to reside in the bucket. When there is no more room in the bucket I take it to the scrap yard and they pay me slips of paper with pictures of dead American Hero's on them. Trade the papers for more brass. Works good that way.
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[DennisH]

Rw hart used to make a tool to tighten primer pockets. I have never used them or read anything about them but it's worth looking into if you annealed them.

I have both the small and large RW Hart tools.

They work pretty good, but I only tighten the pockets up 1 time on my brass. I am just skeptical about doing this. Of course with some brass shortages, it comes in handy. The rest of the brass is OK (Lapua), just the primer pockets start loosing after about 7 rounds, just on a few calibers.

Dennis

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Runout in the back of the chamber is the cause of most unexplainable loose pockets like say on the first factory loaded firing. And then theres the extreme hot loads that cause loose pockets. Between poor accuracy, cut bolt faces, broken triggers,and blindness that consumable should be replaced

 

[riflewoman]

Loose pockets at 5 to 6 loading screen is indications that your load is marginally too hot. At the price of brass lately you might want to back off 5%.

 

[wapiti25]

I would not shoot them. I keep hearing about hornady brass being "soft".

 

[CH Luke]

Loose pockets at 5 to 6 loading screen is indications that your load is marginally too hot. At the price of brass lately you might want to back off 5%.

If you are even possibly pushing hot loads get a primer pocket gauge. Use it after every firing on every case. You will be able to feel them starting to loosen. If it's only been a few firings you have a choice to make. Follow riflewoman's advice (still keep checking the pockets) or spend more money on brass.

 

[DennisH]

This statement comes from a 2 time national champion.

If your load is accurate, and not showing any other pressure signs, Brass longevity is not an issue. Buy more brass. It's a cheap price to pay if your load is accurate, and not posing any any danger to you or your competitors.

Interesting, but I have never forgot his advice.

Nor am I advising anyone to max out their loads.

Dennis

 

[snert]

Deprime it all...you will only be out 200 primers. Then reprime and when you find the bad one, pitch it. carry on...

 

[dkhunt14]

Some brands of primers are a little bigger then others. If you research you find one that is a little bigger and tighten up your fit again. Matt

 

[scope eye]

Note to self start a primer company, and specialize in oversize primers.

Dean

 

[fourpower]

I am getting primer pocket loosness reading all over the place on Hornady brass with 5-6 firings on them. Priming some yesterday I had a handful that were so loose I had to double check that one went in! I mean, i probably could have pushed it in with my fingers!

At the time I didnt think much of it, but when it happened again, I started setting them aside. However, I'm sitting on 200 primed, annealed cases with a couple super loose ones in the mix....but dont kow which is which.

Should I be worried?
Should I toss the two I set aside?

Thanks for any advice here!

I was having the same problem and was about to toss the brass and then I measured my primers! I was using Winchester and they are a little smaller then cci. I put in the cci and they were tight. problem solved and now I use cci and brass is doing great.

 

[earthquake]

Wow, lots of good info here! Yes, this is Hornady brass on a 6.5mm Creedmoor. I'm loading 42.9 gr. of H4350 jammed 0.010" into the riflings. Speeds are 2,856 fps at a temp of 60-degrees from a 27" Bartlein barrel with a 140 gr. Berger VLD hybrid bullet. I had a 4-shot (2" vertical x 3" horizontal) group at 800 yds yesterday with this load. No ejector swipe, no hard bolt lift, no pressure signs. They shoot and cycle well. I put 60 of these loads through the gun yesterday and so this barrel now has 100 rounds on it. I didn't load the last 5 that I know had very loose pockets...but there's 1 or 2 in the rest that do...did they go through yesterday or are they still in the trays awaiting powder & bullet...I don't know. Thanks for all the advice guys & gals!

Edit to add, I'm using Redding type S full-length sizing dies and a 0.289" neck bushing. Using Fed 210M large rifle primers.

 

[Ringostar]

Federal primers run a little smaller than CCI. You can get a few more firings by switching primers. I do the same with my 284 loads. Start with Federal primers until they start to loosen, then switch to CCI.

 

[Patch700]

Forgive my ignorance , but is it not possible to form 6.5 CM out of 308 palma brass? This would alleviate 1)having to use junk hornady brass and 2) being able to use a small rifle primer..

For me this was a no brainer when I decided to park the 6.5x284 and go with a more efficient 6.5 cal... I went with the 47L and could'nt be happier. Excellent case life when loads are kept at 2825-2850 with 139 scenars. Two contributing factors that allow that are Lapua brass and a small rifle primer pocket so there is more meat in the backend.

Having brass that only lasts a few firings becomes a tail chasing venture if you shoot frequently , I cherish my cases once they are sorted and doing their job lol.

 

[tenring]

Wolf and Tulammo primers are just a tad larger and will get you a few more firings.

 

[Sdeve]

Interesting. I've recently primed up a load of once fired (hot load) Hornady brass and had about a quarter of them very loose indeed. Using a 45/70 die as a decapper I could push them out by hand. No more Hornady brass for me.

 

[Hummer]

1. trash anything with primers getting loose for the reasons others have posted above.
2. LC Match cases had hard heads and can be loaded many times. Without trying I have loaded M118 brass 75 to 90 times and still had snug pockets.
3. I have a LC M72 case (66 Match) I have loaded 157 times and pocket is till tight.

The tightest pockets I ever loaded was DWM 30.06 cases that had been once fired for a friend.

FA Match from 58 on has good pockets far as I know. Some of the FA57 did not.

My contact at Olin told me their brass should be reloadable 5 to 7 times.

My experiences with Federal if reload it twice and leave it laying.

The worst I have ever experienced was Lapua 30.06. I loaded it with 53 gr. 4350 under a 190 gr bullet, not a hot load in anyone's manual and primers were falling out on first loading. The kicker is I won the Palma Trophy Match at Camp Perry with Lapua brass in 85 and 86. I had bought a couple boxes of it at Perry in 84.

I also had some soft brass in 7MM Mauser.

Those that use it tell me the 308 brass is fine but the 30.06 was not. I won't be buying any more of it.

 

[earthquake]

I shot it all....nothing happened. Thanks for all the information though fellas...I definitely learned something. I will experiment with CCI primers to squeak more use out of this brass, since I lost a LOT of it at the match. I'll toss the really loose ones from there. I'm building a 6-Dasher now and just bought a bunch of Lapua brass for it (6BR). Hopefully those smaller pockets will last longer!

 

[jonbearman]

I wish lapua would make brass for the 6.5 creedmoor then people would have a real decent case to start out with.