primer pocket enlarging

[georgepatton]

I bought a rifle from a fellow club member and brass came with it. 6.5 Creedmoor. Hornady brass. I ran 10 fired cases thru the sizer and they went with only slight resistance. Cleaned out the primer pocket and polished the outside a bit. Using my RCBS rockchucker I reprimed using Federal bench rest primers. They went in with almost no resistance as if the primer pocket had been enlarged.
Should I test a couple of rounds or is this OK?
I am used to feeling some rather firm resistance as the primer is forced into the pocket.
Your thoughts please.

 

[FroggyOne2]

Try switching to a bigger primer, like the Tula brand, they aree tighter in the primer pocket. Don't know how soft the Hornady brass is, but my understanding is that it is made by Federal and they have a history of making a softer brass that don't last as long as some other brands. That too is something to consider, that the fellow that you bought the rifle from, may have been using a load that works just fine in other brands of brass, but it is a lil too warm for the brass he gave you with the rifle.

 

[necchi]

When I get a loose pocket like that the case is mark for it's last shot and scraped.
The case is not used for load development.

However as Froggy said there are/is a difference in primer diameter, with CCI being known as larger than Rem, Win and Fed. I can't speak for Tula,,

My calibers are common enough to easily replace, so I personally don't bother changing over just to salvage brass

 

[KT]

I to have a 6.5 creedmoor. I have hornady brass that has 3 firings on it and probably will only make it one or two more times before it's trashed. The pockets are already starting to get loose. It's definitly not like lapua brass.
I run a load that's right in light with the factory stuff.

Everything I have read states that the hornady brass is soft and doesn't last longer than 6 or 7 firings.

No one else makes brass for it that I'm aware of.

KT

 

[FroggyOne2]

From what I understand, you can take Lapua 22-250 brass and make 6.5 Creedmoor brass from it.

 

[KMart]

Yes you can probably fireform 22-250 Lapua to 6.5 Creedmoor. I fireformed the 22-250 Lapua to 6 XC and it worked but not without problems.
The 6 XC is .020 shorter than the 6.5 Creedmoor.
The 22-250 brass came out with a case length of 1.870. The Creedmoor OAL is 1.920.
The fireformed Lapua brass gave a huge donut and had to turn the necks to get it out.
If you are ok with short necks and the extra turning, the 22-250 Lapua brass should be ok.

 

[bronco_buster]

I started using Wolf primers in some FGMM brass after Federal primers became too easy to seat. Four reloads later and they're still tight. I took some PPU Grendel brass that you could set on a primer without the primer staying in the primer pocket and I swaged them with my RCBS swager. I heard that this could tighten the pockets. Sure enough seating primers subsequently were tightened. I haven't fired them yet, so don't know about whether or not it will keep them tight.

My Hornady 6.5 Creedmoor brass has been reloaded many times. I've seated some primers with little resistance. No problems yet. I haven't noticed any gas leaking, none have popped out. This was with a bolt rifle. I wouldn't use that brass in my semi auto.

 

[bigedp51]

In 1967 the military set hardness and dimensional standards for its 5.56 brass to help prevent jamming. This means military brass is a higher quality than commercial brass and why it is preferred for reloading.

In AR15 shooting matches the last thing you need is for a primer to fall out and jam the trigger group.

I read below the other day and did not know that the thickness in the web area had that great an effect on loose primer pockets.

Some brands of commercial brass were more problematic than others and the posting shows how to measure the case for rejection.

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_42/378994_American_Eagle_Brass.html

 

[XTR]

This means military brass is a higher quality than commercial brass and why it is preferred for reloading.

That's a pretty broad statement. It doesn't mean they are not out there but I don't know of any long range shooters using military brass. LC and WCC are very thick and I understand that it's good for reloading for gas guns in service rifle it's great and I'll use it in my AR, but in bolt guns at the 1000 yard line everyone I know is running either Lapua or Winchester in their 308s.

I do run LC brass for my hunting loads, but I'm looking for half the accuracy there (1MOA vs less than .5)

 

[fdshuster]

Lapua brass (6BR) can also develop lose primer pockets, in my instance first noticing less resistance when seating (CCI-BR4's) primers after only 12 loadings. By 15 the brass is scrap. Really hurt after putting all that work into forming 6BR into 6BRX.

 

[bigedp51]

In the past military brass was thicker to make it stronger but on the 5.56 you have a case capacity problem if thicker brass is used.

Yes its a broad statement and I have documentation to prove it.

Lets not start a pissing contest, I just brought my first post up to show you how to measure the case thickness from the flash hole the the base of the case and see if this is why the primer pockets enlarged on firing.

Army Research Laboratory
Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-5069

Vickers Hardness Measurements of the M855
Cartridge Case Base

http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA497469