Loose Primer Pockets

[yukonal]

Has anyone tested, and come up with a concrete answer, whether loose primer pockets affect accuracy, or................ES, or SD?

I use mine for foulers...just because I don't have time to test, and am too cheap to throw them out. Every time I find a loose one, I wonder if I should sort it...or just carry on.

 

[rammac]

I don't know the answer to your question but I don't understand why you would use the brass and take a chance of etching your bolt face or maybe getting hot gasses in your face.

 

[nicholst55]

I crush the case mouth on mine and put them in the recycle bucket.

 

[cw308]

Why even use them , waisting good powder and primers on a used up case , as others mentioned , screwing up your bolt face or yours . Don't wait until something bad happens , Be Safe and dump them

 

[jepp2]

whether loose primer pockets

I'm not sure what your definition of a "loose primer pocket" is the same as mine. There are many degrees of looseness:

A. Primer seats with slightly less pressure when seating
B. Primer seats with much less pressure when seating
C. Primer seats with hardly any resistance
D. You seat the primer and you can tap the head of the brass and the primer will fall out
E. You seat the primer and it just follows the seating tool back out of the case head

For B through E, they go in the scrap brass bin. But my decision is based on primer failures I have encountered with multiple lots of Rem 7 1/2 primers. Always in brass with noticeably loose primer pockets. The failures always look the same and the results are always the same. Divot on the bolt face and face full of gas.

 

[yukonal]

jepp, the ones I describe are...your "B". Noticeably less resistance to seat. Never had any gas leak like that, tho.

I didn't know you guys felt so strong about trashing them! Guess I'll just put them in the anneal box for getting the Tempilaq just right.

 

[hawkeyeshoooer]

1 change to another brand of primer, some are a tiny fuzz larger than others
or
2 time to scrap that bunch of brass.

 

[dickn52]

Or the obvious thing, check and make sure you have the right primers. I watched a neighbor load small (Tried) primers into 308's. It was funny to watch I guess....I let him try 4-5 of them before I pointed it out.

 

[yukonal]

I'm quite sure that the only size primer (in my arsenal)that fits into a 223, and the cases in question...is a small rifle primer.

 

[JRS]

I'm quite sure that the only size primer (in my arsenal)that fits into a 223, and the cases in question...is a small rifle primer.

If you have small pistol primers in your arsenal, they too fit in your .223 cases.

 

[rardoin]

I'm quite sure that the only size primer (in my arsenal)that fits into a 223, and the cases in question...is a small rifle primer.

If you can get hold of some Sellier and Beloit primers, try them and see if you get a tight fit again. My experience is that the S&B as well as the unobtanium Wolf primers are slightly larger in diameter and require more pressure to seat than my US made primers.....just a thought.

 

[yukonal]

If you have small pistol primers in your arsenal

I don't.

 

[ClassCat]

I get about 30-40 firings on a PPC/Lapua 220 case using a Redding S B die, pushing about 3450 fps With Federal Match 205M's. The pockets start to loosen up a little around the 25th -30th firing and the accuracy difference is minimal, but can be non-competitive given the conditions.
The only way to really know is to play with it in a tunnel. Ask Butch Lambert,they played with that in the Houston Warehouse, Or Lou Murdica who does testing for Berger in his private tunnel.
I do not uniform primer pockets. Lapua brass is pretty uniform. I clean the pockets when i see a little primer/powder residue building up, but don't cut into the brass.

 

[Kracken McGraw]

I'm not sure what your definition of a "loose primer pocket" is the same as mine. There are many degrees of looseness:

A. Primer seats with slightly less pressure when seating
B. Primer seats with much less pressure when seating
C. Primer seats with hardly any resistance
D. You seat the primer and you can tap the head of the brass and the primer will fall out
E. You seat the primer and it just follows the seating tool back out of the case head

For B through E, they go in the scrap brass bin. But my decision is based on primer failures I have encountered with multiple lots of Rem 7 1/2 primers. Always in brass with noticeably loose primer pockets. The failures always look the same and the results are always the same. Divot on the bolt face and face full of gas.

View attachment 1058525 View attachment 1058526

Jepp2, was just curious. Do you dislike the Rem 7 1/2 primer or just showing what they do in a loose primer pocket? Just trying to learn which primers to stay away from.

 

[jepp2]

Do you dislike the Rem 7 1/2 primer

Great question.

I shoot more Rem 7 1/2 primers than any others in SR. But! Remington has had primer failures just like I show on their 9 1/2 primers many years ago. Remington wound up refacing some bolt faces for users as a result. And of course I had some of those that I was using (many years after the problem surfaced and prior to me recording primer lot numbers in my reloading records).

As far as I know, I am the only person to experience the failures with the 7 1/2 primers. But at least two different lots involved (you can tell by the color difference in the primers). And always when the primer pockets were not tight. And NEVER with any other primer. I use a lot of CCI's (BR 4, 41, and 450's mostly). It was only recently that I began documenting the failures with pictures. And if you look at the pictures, it isn't the primer leaking in the pocket, it is a failure in the curve on the cupped portion of the primer where a section blows out. And never with a "hot" load, you can see how the primer retains the original curve, not flattened any.

So as a direct answer to your question, I really like them, but I am very careful about the condition of my primer pockets. I am still shooting up a specific lot I know will have failures (Lot 428), but always with tight pockets in a AR, where a bolt replacement is less of an issue.

 

[Kracken McGraw]

I have just purchased 2000 7 1/2 Rems, Lot 999. Fingers crossed their good ones!

 

[STOMP442]

R.W. Hart sells a tool that will retighten those primer pockets that are slightly loose. It's easy to use and works really well. They sell for right around $60 bucks but you should be able to get a few more firings from your cases.

 

[JRS]

Like bullets, primers, powder and barrels, your brass is a consumable item. When the primer pockets get loose, pitch the brass.

 

[Rsadams]

If you can get hold of some Sellier and Beloit primers, try them and see if you get a tight fit again. My experience is that the S&B as well as the unobtanium Wolf primers are slightly larger in diameter and require more pressure to seat than my US made primers.....just a thought.

You can get them at your local Cabela's , sometimes for $19.99 a thousand.... I use them for pistol loads in small cases like 9mm.... Fired thousands with zero failures....

 

[pirate ammo]

If you have small pistol primers in your arsenal, they too fit in your .223 cases.

according to CCI,the small magnum pistol#550 and the small rifle #400,,are the same thing,but not the sm.pistol regular,,be careful