seating primers?

[gilmillan1]

Hello,

I have been reloading for about a year now, and I had never paid close attention to the way I was seating my primers. I realized that most of my primers had a small indentation from the priming tool I use. I guess I was pushing the primers too much into the case. Well, I changed my style, and I started applying less force into the primers. Well they looked very nice, but then when I was seating the bullets, I started noticing that the bullet seating was not consistent since I was measuring each case after I seated each bullet. They usually vary a couple of thousands, but this time they varied way too much. Well I realized that the primer was sticking out of the case and thats what was giving me a difference in the measurement of the seating depth. It was not that the bullet was wrong, but the primer was giving me false readings.

how do you seat your primers? whats the solution to this? do I just jam the primers all the way in? even though i leave indentation marks?

Thank you,

Gil

 

[wmdron]

For years I used the priming arm on my Rockchucker press to seat primers and sometimes I would not apply enough force and get a high primer and at other times I would apply too much force and would almost crush the primer. You didn't mention the tool you are using, but to solve my issues I bought a hand primer tool from 21st Century it has click adjustments and a very good "feel" both of which I found to be very helpful when seating primers.

 

[tenring]

The only way I know to seat primers is by feel. Seat them until they bottom. Protruding primers always cause problems.

I stopped using the priming arm on my Rockchucker years ago. Initially, I used the Lee Autoprime. Then stories began erupting about primers igniting while in the tray. I switched to a K&M priming tool and have never looked elsewhere. However, the new RCBS and Sinclair, 21st Century tools are very good.

 

[MFG_BOP]

1+ for 21st Century priming tool. You will have always the same primer depth. Just let the primers .003" below flush and you are good to go. Cheers

 

[47WillysGuy]

I clean the primer pocket first with a RCBS Primer Pocket Brush , then use a Lyman Primer Pocket Uniformer Tool. The brush takes most of the carbon build up out and Uniformer tool get the imperfections (brass ridges) of the primer pocket out. It will also get the rest of the carbon in the corner of the pocket, too.

Then I use a RCBS Hand Priming Tool to seat the primers. Clean and uniform primer pockets allow the primers to be seated .002 to .003 thousands under the case head easily.

 

[Mega]

I also gave up using a Reloading Press to seat Primers many, many years ago.

I would suggest investing in a Primer Pocket Reamer and ensure all Primer Pockets are the same depth then use a Hand Primer Tool, be it 21st Century or K&M Hand Primer which I have. Just make sure you get a good feel for the tool you are using and you will feel the Primer bottom in it's pocket without any extra force that will mark soft primers like Federal.

Recently I had a mate come down the firing line and present a dozen or so loaded rounds that failed to fire, didn't have my reading glasses but I could feel the Primer sitting high. He had set his 21st Century Tool incorrectly and wasn't seating Primers to the bottom of the pocket.

 

[LCazador]

Using a primer pocket uniforming tool is of utmost importance in insuring primers get seated to a uniform seating depth. Also using a hand priming tool to seat your primers assures feel in the process of seating primers. Primers should be seated firmly in the bottom of the pocket. If the primer is not seated this way, the firing pin can drive the primer forward and can introduce variations in propellant ignition.

 

[amlevin]

Your "dent" problem could be in the priming tool. I noticed this with a new Hornady hand priming tool I bought. The top of the punch was machined with a "dome shape" and it was deforming any primer that seated a little difficult like the Wolf/Tula's.

I e-mailed Hornady and they insisted that the punch had to have the large radius "because their engineers said so".

I took the punch out, ground it smooth and polished it. Then adjusted the seating depth with the set screw in the priming tool that Hornady claims is "non-adjustable". Now I can feel my primers hit the bottom of the pocket, both the anvil and then the edge of the cup and no "dents". Only reason I'm keeping the Hornady hand priming tool is that it fits my hand well and I can use the same tray for large and small primers. Well, the fact I already own it plays a factor too Otherwise I'd buy an RCBS or one of the "boutique" hand primers from Century 21, Sinclair, and others.

 

[stool]

educations cost, how much do you want to spend ?
you just learned one..and you will not forget,.....much better than all of us telling you.
so one uniform primer pockets are not a must to reload, but are a must for uniform ignition.
the choice is yours.
seating primers is simple..all the way to the bottom of the pocket and a small crush fit..about ".002"

spent what you want on tools to accomplish this, but it is what works.

 

[Dos XX]

Do you set the hand seaters to a depth below flush, or can you set them for over travel and just stop when you feel them seat? If you set a hand seater to .003" below flush, how do you know it is on the bottom? What if the primer pocket is deeper than your pocket uniformer's reach? What if the primers aren't the same thickness?

I like the idea of the K & M, but it seems like it is going to be really slow. If that's the price you pay for uniformity, so be it?

 

[artbosco]

First, I uniform the primer pocket with a Sinclair Carbide Uniformer. Then I use the RCBS hand priming tool pictured here: http://www.amazon.com/RCBS-90200-Hand-Priming-Tool/dp/B000PW71LO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1404668371&sr=8-3&keywords=rcbs+priming seating to the bottom of the uniformed pocket with enough force to ensure that it is at the bottom. After seating, I rotate the case 180 degrees, and squeeze the handle again.

 

[bigedp51]

My RCBS priming tool dates from the 1970s and has good feel.

Below seating primers with a slight primer crush. (you don't want to finish seating the primer with your firing pin)

Below the military requirement is for the primer to be .008 below the surface of the cartridge. This will depend on YOUR primer pocket depth and the height of the primer and uniforming the primer pocket helps with this problem.

Primers: Seating Pressure and "Pre-Compression"
by Germán A. Salazar
http://riflemansjournal.blogspot.com/2009/11/primers-seating-pressure-and-pre.html

 

[gilmillan1]

Amlevin just nailed my problem!! I am using the hornady hand priming tool too. I didnt know better that the damn thing was defective. I will buy a quality one.

thank you for all of your replies. let me try to modify my hornady priming tool and ill get back to you all

this is a great forum!! I had been shooting long distance, but only hunting. Now I got into F class and it is a whole different world. thank you all!!!

Gil

 

[5spd]

Ive been using the old style Lee hand tool for eons and never had a primer go off.
Its about the perfect feel seating them in and I load 1-2k at a time.

 

[Chaotik]

This is what works well for me:
1. Uniform the primer pockets (I use a Sinclair primer pocket uniformer with a drill)
2. Clean the primer pocket
3. Seat primers with 21rst Century primer.

 

[mshelton]

What advantages do you guy see in the 21st over a Sinclair priming tool?

 

[BoydAllen]

I have both, and they both seat primers, but I prefer the 21st. The fit, finish, and materials are the best, and the design is more integrated and simpler to adjust. With a twist of the head, you can adjust the working range of the handle to compensate for differences in cases and primers. You can have the handle range of motion during seating exactly where you want it, virtually instantly, no disassembly required. It is built to aerospace standards. Don't get me wrong, I am not throwing my Sinclar away. As I said, they both work.

 

[stool]

i love it when some quotes a "standard"....."areo space standards"

i have worked in the airplane and outer space business....as in launch vehicles.
the prints are nearly always the same plus or minus 0.xxx bases on the number of digits AFTER THE DECIMAL POINT.
1.0 is plus or minus 0.1
1.00 is plus or minus 0.010
1.000 is plus or minus 0.001
and then there are special cases like for hoses and valve, balls etc....

it means little taken out of context....what does the print say ??

It is built to aerospace standards.

 

[bigedp51]

Well I for one worked in aircraft maintenance for half my career, and then in quality control for the other half.

And none of the aircraft I work on ever crashed or got stuck in the sky and Boyd Allen's "aerospace standards" are even higher than my standard are.

So who gives a rats A$$ what you think.

97% of all aircraft crashes are caused by human error and only 3% are caused by actual mechanical failures.

So I guess you buy all your reloading equipment that is made to Chinese "aerospace standards".

Confucius say: Man who give stool samples in grocery store get A$$ in jam!

 

[BoydAllen]

To clarify, what I meant is that the tool seems to be made and designed to a higher than normal standard, as to quality of materials, design, and machining tolerances, by someone who has, in the past, built parts for that industry. It is my impression that parts that are produced for things that fly, many of them for rather well funded projects, tend to have higher design and build standards applied to them than say the average automotive part or reloading tool. That is what I meant. So nice of you to be concerned about my use of descriptive terms. I would not have wanted to have led you astray. This started out as an answer to a question as to the relative merits of a couple of high end hand operated priming tools, that I happen to own.