tight primmer's

[earlcurtis67]

Having a bit of an issue with seating federal 205 primmers. Using LC brass from a lot (once fired) the federal primmers are seating with much more difficulty than the CCI-450's. This is the second firing of this brass with the 205's and yes the first time was also tough to seat. I stoped then and tried some 450's and they slid right in no problem. This morning when I noticed the problem happening again I tried some BR-4's and they also seated with a little more force than usual. I dont have any 450's left to test fit or I would try those just for comparison. This brass did not have a millitary crimp but it is kinda beat up, cull rate is about 30-40%. lastly, my primmer pocket uniformer will go in the pockets and turn, but not all allways easily
I'm leaning toward this being a issue with the brass but I've never used federal primmers either. The gun was shooting pretty good with the CCI 450's but was on the low end and sooting the necks. The first round with the 205's showed me some promise at 24gr. hoping to go out Thursday and get that to repeat
Anyone have ant issues with this type of primmer/brass problem??d

 

[chevytruck_83]

The only time I ran into issues with primers being to tight it was due to Lake city brass. Never could blame the primers. If there is a primer that's running just a shade big please let me know. I have a ton of lapua brass with loose primer pockets.

 

[Iowa Fox]

This is why I like LC Brass. Tight primer pockets, which never stay tight for long with the little 373 head.

 

[DRNewcomb]

I assume you reamed the primer pockets? Have you miked the primers to learn the difference between their diameter and the primer pocket?

 

[earlcurtis67]

I assume you reamed the primer pockets? Have you miked the primers to learn the difference between their diameter and the primer pocket?[/QUOTE
Yes, I've reamed the pockets, the depth is fine,and as far as I can tell the side's (?)feel fine. I bought abought 250 pieces of LC brass in a lot ( used ) Looks like ya'll are saying the primer pockets are not consistent and that's causing the hard seating ? Maybe I need to do some more testing with different primers to narrow down the issue....i.e. Measure primmers

 

[gzig5]

How do you know the brass doesn't have a crimp? I'm under the impression that all LC brass has crimped primers (unless new) and that crimp has to be swaged or cut out for primers to go in properly. A primer pocket reamer doesn't cut the walls so it won't take out the crimp, at least mine won't. If the crimp isn't the culprit it's likely your F205's are a little on the high side of their tolerance. Everything that is mass produced has a tolerance so big primers are bound to meet tight pockets.
I think if I was throwing away 30-40% (for what reason?) I'd just chuck the whole batch and start over. That should solve your primer seating problem.

 

[earlcurtis67]

gzig's statement about LC brass having crimped primers makes perfect sense. The brass must have came to me already swaged and would also explain why most of it was so beat up causing the cull rate ( neck and body dents) I did measure the primers just to be sure and they all measured .1745, the pockets did vary some though, but only on the second batch of 50 that I prepped.
I have a club shoot this weekend and after that Im gonna scrap the whole lot and start over with brand new brass, lesson learned! .....Maybe even a brand new 8 twist barrel hmmmmm

 

[Shynloco]

earlcurtis67,
Its the LC Brass that's making it difficult to seat those primers. My guess is, that it was or is military brass that wasn't swagged properly. A few years ago, I tested several brands of brass in .223 and .308. And invariably, LC always gave me headaches. So I bought and used my Sinclair small pocket primer cleaner (mounted in a hand crank setup/Forster DBT Base Sinclair #749-003-702SV - $27.99) to finally get those pockets to make seating tolerable, but still was tight, which is a good thing. Might consider giving it a try or changing to another brand of brass.

Alex