Primer seating depth and primer seating force

[TylerFromMS]

I do. There seems to be a lot of friction between the sides of the anvil feet and the inside of the cup. Play around with some fired primers and I think you may come to the same conclusion. It takes very little force to remove a primer and I believe that I have a sensitive feel. I do not jerk on the handle or rush things. I bring it down until I barely feel the primer, and then slowly remove it. If you do this, be cautious. Wear eye protection. Until I got quite a bit of experience, I would hold up a piece of wood or a thickly folded bath towel between my face and the case. I have never set one off in many years of doing it.
On the $600 dollar priming tool. All of the HOF members and record holders that I know seat by feel. I think that there is a lot of merchandising going on. People want to be told that more complicated and expensive things will shrink their groups when in fact they need to buy a set of flags, tune at the range, and learn how to keep their loads in tune as conditions change, but that is just my opinion.

Interesting, I’m going to have to try it. I’ve deprimed a number of live primers but it’s never occurred to me to measure a primer afterwards. Thanks for that info.

As an aside, you can seat by feel with the CPS. Also, according to the game you play, changing loads as conditions change at the range throughout a competition may not be an option.

 

[BoydAllen]

Interesting, I’m going to have to try it. I’ve deprimed a number of live primers but it’s never occurred to me to measure a primer afterwards. Thanks for that info.

As an aside, you can seat by feel with the CPS. Also, according to the game you play, changing loads as conditions change at the range throughout a competition may not be an option.

To be clear, I was only using the calipers to hold the primer so that I could examine it with the loupe. This was to determine if the bottoms of the anvil feet were flush after seating. Two were, a third had a tiny bit showing below. The seating force was all that my big old hands could muster with a 21st Century tool. A while back, I measured a few loaded Lapua BR cases that have not had their pockets uniformed. The primers were 205s and if memory serves they were all around .009 deep, and pretty consistent. To repeat myself, I seat by feel. I saw no damage to the pellet, or flattening of the top of the cup.

 

[TylerFromMS]

The seating force was all that my big old hands could muster with a 21st Century tool.

I could see that. And we load 200-400 at a time . That’s why I was referencing the expensive primer.

Thanks again for the ideas. I’ve got some loupes I use for chamber inspection and I think they’ll work great.

 

[mikecr]

I think that there is a lot of merchandising going on.

It's merchandising that leads a notion of feeling instead of measuring,, right?

 

[BoydAllen]

It's merchandising that leads a notion of feeling instead of measuring,, right?
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IMO the opposite, since virtually all tools can be used to seat by feel. Similarly there is no profit to be made by suggesting leaving Lapua primer pockets unmolested.

 

[mikecr]

Someone suggested NOT uniforming Lapua pockets?

 

[jimmymac]

Still using the old Lee Autoprime with no issues. This year I decided to stop messing with primer pockets in my Lapua cases. I don't even clean them anymore. I've seen no difference on target. I've had a pretty decent season. KISS YMMV

 

[wildcat3d]

 

[coldboreshot]

 

[mikecr]

When you swap primers, they all go off, but grouping opens & closes with testing.
When you adjust primer crush, which includes pocket depth & primer height, grouping opens & closes.
When you adjust striking, pin fall, diameter or mass, or spring, grouping opens & closes.

You may not notice this at 100yds, but if you're not testing it at distance, you're likely leaving something behind. You could suggest that so & so won once with mud packed under his primers. But that doesn't mean he couldn't have won, or done even better that weekend with more efforts.

I don't believe ignition affects grouping only, but SD as well. Another attribute to watch with testing.

 

[mikecr]

When YOU

 

[Bill Norris]

Still using the old Lee Autoprime with no issues. This year I decided to stop messing with primer pockets in my Lapua cases. I don't even clean them anymore. I've seen no difference on target. I've had a pretty decent season. KISS YMMV

Still using the Lee Bench Primer. I do clean the primer pockets but truthfully I don't think I would see a difference in group size if I did not clean them.