primer pocket tool

[chet]

looking to get a primer pocket tool, problem i have at times is when seating lg primers, sometimes they are not seated deep enough, what tool is needed to cut a little to cut a few thousands deeper. i see there are pocket reamers ect, they dont seem to cut have any cutting edges to cut bottom of pocket. so maybe someone can tell me what tool will work.

chet

 

[Dusty Stevens]

21st century micrometer adj tool works good

 

[jepp2]

I use the Sinclair primer pocket uniformer. Solid carbide, nothing to get out of adjustment and cut them too deep. You will not believe how bad some of them are, until you start cutting them. https://www.brownells.com/reloading...m-primer-pocket-uniformer-kit-prod104707.aspx

 

[SteveOak]

Have you measured the depth of the primer pocket with a depth tool?

I have some new Lapua cases. The primer pockets are so tight that I have to reef hard on the lever to get the primer to seat. I am using an RCBS automatic bench priming tool.

If I reef down hard on the lever I can get the primer seated deep enough that the bolt will close. This is after I cleaned up the primer pocket with a K&M primer pocket tool.

 

[6MMsteve]

Have you measured the depth of the primer pocket with a depth tool?

I have some new Lapua cases. The primer pockets are so tight that I have to reef hard on the lever to get the primer to seat. I am using an RCBS automatic bench priming tool.

If I reef down hard on the lever I can get the primer seated deep enough that the bolt will close. This is after I cleaned up the primer pocket with a K&M primer pocket tool.

tight is a good thing you know, my 260AI with palma brass are tight and I have run some hot loads through them

 

[SteveOak]

Not complaining, for sure.

I was trying to help Chet understand that there might be more to the question than just the depth of the pocket or something that a primer pocket reamer might resolve.

To continue that thought, of all of the many elements that are part of accurate shooting, the one that is the least perfect is the brass.

The dimensions on custom/high end actions are controlled to .001" or less as is the barrel, both the rifling and the chambering/threading. You have ball bearing triggers and $2,000 scopes that are held with precision machined rings. We we weigh powder to .1 or even .01 grain and start over again if we change to a different lot. We may sort bullets but if you are using Berger or bullets from a custom maker there are exceedingly few 'rejects'. Still many shooters will procure large quantities of or seek bullets from a specific lot. Some may weigh primers, as far as I know most don't, they use them out of the box but do pay attention to lot numbers. We pay many hundreds of dollars for stocks and then proceed to bed them with the utmost care.

Then we have the brass. Mass produced by among the crudest of all manufacturing methods, it is stamped and drawn. (Bullet jackets are too but with much greater attention to uniformity.) Even among the best brass it is not the least bit unusual to find pieces of brass that are thicker on one side. The thickness of the neck of new brass decreases from the shoulder to the mouth. It must be neck turned or at least skimmed to have any sort of uniformity. If you don't the squeeze on the bullet increases as you get closer to the shoulder. Brass has to be fired several times before it is fully fire formed to the chamber. It is still not all that good, just as good as it is going to get. Each time you fire the brass it changes shape again. Every time or every few times you fire it, depending on your reloading regimen, you have to resize the brass. Soon you have to trim the length and watch for a donut to appear at the base of the neck which requires additional neck turning to remove. Every time you work the case, shooting or sizing, it becomes harder. Annealing, every few firings or even every time it is fired, has become commonplace. As the case is worked from firing and sizing the brass flows toward the mouth causing the body to get progressively thinner and the case volume larger. Perhaps not significantly larger but if you are testing and weighing powder charges to .01 grain how much of a change in case volume is significant? Every time you fire a case the amount the body expands is less. Do you clean the brass between shootings or not? Or just run a brush in the neck? Which neck bushing (available in .0005" increments) should you use now? Do you need to run the brass through a small base die every so many firings?

Eventually the case will fail in one way or another. The primer pocket becomes too loose to hold a primer or the case may separate at the head or the neck may split. Does the head compress and flow with successive firings? Equal and opposite reaction and all it has to flow some. Why do primer pockets become loose?

About the only element of the brass that might not change is the flash hole. Even then most debur the flash hole with a uniforming tool which is done because the manufacturer makes the flash hole by punching and does not control the dimension of the flash hole.

It is a wonder it works at all. And yet it does, sometimes producing extrodinary results.