Lose primers

[Dangermouse]

I have often read about lose primers when re loading and had made a mental note to keep an feel out for it happening with my brass.

Today I de capped a load of my brass that had been sitting for around 3 weeks waiting for me to pull my finger out. I normally do it within 24 hours of shooting so was unhappy about not getting to them.

I noticed as I was de capping, using a LEE single stage press, that some took notable less force to de cap than the normal. I had always thought that lose primers refered to inserting primers.

Should I be pulling these cases from use now?

Sadly all my cases have been mixed together and I do not know how many firings they have had. Not something I will do again, lesson learnt.

DM

[The Cupcake Kid]

Even if they had the same number of firings, unless you shoot the same load every time they will be subject to different pressures so you still might get a few in the same batch with loose primer pockets.

I tend to bin the ones which take almost no force to de-prime, but one thing to be aware of is that different brands of primers are dimensionally slightly different, so just because they are loose with, say, Federal primers doesn't mean they will be loose with S&B primers.

The question is why are the pockets getting bigger (assuming you're using the same primers all the time)? Are you using any tools to clean or cut the pockets when you prep them? Are you pushing the pressures in any of your loads? Is it just that you may have reloaded some of the cases a lot of times?

If you think loose pockets in your case may be pressure-related, you should try measuring the case head just up from the extraction groove to see how much the case head has expanded as that will tell you if it's been over-pressured.

Hope that helps!

[Mattnall]

I would put these to one side and if they were easy to prime then throw them away (removing the primer first).
I also crimp them with pliers to stop them getting inadvertantly put back in the mix, or making them easy to find if they do get back by mistake.

[phaedra1106]

Only time I've noticed loose fitting primers was with Federal 308 brass, no longer use it so problem solved.

[Dangermouse]

Some good points there.

I do use tools to clean the pockets every time I fire them.
Also, I have just shot 3 day comp shooting a variety of loads including some 185's which before the comp were chronographed as shooting 100fps+ faster than expected. These have been sitting for a good 12 months and I have to wonder if the projectiles started to have a reaction with the cases. I read about this recently on the forum, all be it with older ammunition, and it made sense that this is what could have happened in this case.

Looks like I am going to have to pay proper attention when seating primers in this batch.
With all the time we spend preparing brass there is a real bond between us and it, I hate the thought of throwing stuff out that may not need to be. But safety first, at the end of the day it has to be all about safety.

DM

[ovenpaa]

I pay attention to primer insertion force and when one feels a bit looser I mark it with a cross on the case head and discard it once shot.

[Sim G]

Likewise, I found the problem with loose primers localised to Federal brass, loaded hot. Some factory .22-250 Federal stuff, I found had a loose primer fit on the first reload.

Generally, I'm not fussy about the brand of cases, but do avoid Federal.