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Primer pocket problem- Update-Reply from Dillon


Lawdog Dago Dom

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I'm doing a batch of once/twice fired brass, some I fired and some I bought. Using Federal primers on a 550. About a dozen or so cases out of 500 or so would not accept the primer. I used my Lyman pocket reamer and that saved about half of the cases and they were primed. The rest just would not seat the primer. It would go in on one side and deform the cup. Not happy about trashing primers in these times.

 

So is it the pocket in the brass case or is this an oddball bunch of primers that slipped by the quality control folks? I have never had this happen before. Puzzled that the reamer only worked on half of the cases. 

 

Just FYI, the cases are de-primed and wet tumbled without pins.

 

Thanks,

LDD

 

Dillon's reply today, after I emailed them last night.

 

Be sure the rod that pushes the primer slide back pivots freely in the bracket.  If necessary, sand the short end of the rod where it goes into the bracket, and then grease it.

 

Next be sure the bottom front corner of the bracket is almost touching the frame.  If it has slid upward, then it changes the angle the op rod moves.

 

Finally, be sure the bolts that attach the roller bracket to the underside of the platform are tight.  If loose, this part angles down and the small roller fails to apply enough pressure to the op-rod

 

When you clean the primer slide, use steel wool or a Scotchbrite pad to scrub the sides and bottom of the primer slide, scrub the top of the frame where the slide rides, scrub the interior of the primer feed body where it fits over the slide, then wipe these off with alcohol.

 

We have several helpful videos on our web page. 

Here is a link to that page.

http://www.dillonprecision.com/videos.html 

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i have had that happen with Remington cases.  Never had a problem with any other makes.  Reaming out the pockets helped, but finally got rid of them.   I also stopped using the primer seater on the 550, as the primers would seat at a slight angle, and now seat the primers with a RCBS hand primer.

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I use a Dillon Super Swage on stubborn primer pockets and it fixes them all.    Much easier than a hand held reamer, and about as fast as a power reamer.  I would guess your hand reamer is dull and needs replacement.

 

First, never load an Amerc case.  So far out of spec that they barely fit in my recycle brass box. B)

 

In .45 Colt cases, I see the most that need primer pocket help are S&B and Winchester.    In .38 special, it's S&B hands down.  The Super Swage takes care of them all.

 

good luck, GJ

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31 minutes ago, Garrison Joe, SASS #60708 said:

I use a Dillon Super Swage on stubborn primer pockets and it fixes them all.    Much easier than a hand held reamer, and about as fast as a power reamer.  I would guess your hand reamer is dull and needs replacement.

 

First, never load an Amerc case.  So far out of spec that they barely fit in my recycle brass box. B)

 

In .45 Colt cases, I see the most that need primer pocket help are S&B and Winchester.    In .38 special, it's S&B hands down.  The Super Swage takes care of them all.

 

good luck, GJ

 

So does a garbage can and it's a lot cheaper.;)

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In addition to culling out bad brass, I use THIS priming tool, which works great, even on S&B brass!

 

https://www.rcbs.com/priming-and-powder-charging/bench-mounted/automatic-priming-tool/16-9460.html

 

I first used a dillion 550 priming system which was a pain, with frequent stoppages.

I then went to Lee hand primers; ok for 357/38; a bear with anything other like 45 colt or 45 acp and difficult brass like S&B.

I then went to the priming systen on a Redding turret press; worked but was tiring and slow with the above mentioned cases and brass.

Then I finally found the RCBS bench primer and voila! Primes quickly, neatly/evenly and easily everything I've fed it!

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I agree with the others that have suggested multiple brands of brass. I recently gave away a gallon jug of mixed .38 brass. I only kept Starline, Federal and Win. Too many hassles with several brands mixed and some of dubious quality. A number of "quality" brands shoot well and dont reload worth a hoot.

 

Imis

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54 minutes ago, Cypress Sun said:

What was the brand of brass. Wasn't S & B by any chance was it.

Mostly Federal and Winchester. Some Speer.

The S & B brass worked after reaming. 

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21 minutes ago, Lawdog Dago Dom said:

Mostly Federal and Winchester. Some Speer.

The S & B brass worked after reaming. 

I have no issues loading those brands on my D550.

Maybe you should ck your press over.

OLG 

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20 minutes ago, Lawdog Dago Dom said:

Mostly Federal and Winchester. Some Speer.

The S & B brass worked after reaming. 

 

I don't even bother with S & B anymore, just throw them away. Same with Amerc as GJ stated. Not only is the Amerc way out of specs, the case rim is very small. Some rifles won't even extract them.

 

Years ago, I started marking my loaded brass with a Sharpie so that I would know that it's mine, it's already been loaded by me at least once and that it's okay to reload again.

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48 minutes ago, Imis Twohofon,SASS # 46646 said:

I agree with the others that have suggested multiple brands of brass. I recently gave away a gallon jug of mixed .38 brass. I only kept Starline, Federal and Win. Too many hassles with several brands mixed and some of dubious quality. A number of "quality" brands shoot well and dont reload worth a hoot.

 

Imis


Good decision.  I’ve gone farther and use only Starline brass.

 

Reducing the number of variables always reduces problems.

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1 hour ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

I have no issues loading those brands on my D550.

Maybe you should ck your press over.

OLG 

That may be the thing to do, since this just started.

Here is one of the mistakes.

PrimerBad Big.jpg

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5 minutes ago, Lawdog Dago Dom said:

That may be the thing to do, since this just started.

Here is one of the mistakes.

PrimerBad Big.jpg


Less than ideal, certainly, but may be ok for practice if it does not prevent the cylinder from rotating freely.

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2 minutes ago, J-BAR #18287 said:


Less than ideal, certainly, but may be ok for practice if it does not prevent the cylinder from rotating freely.

We can just quietly slip those into Shortcake's bag.:D

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1 hour ago, Cypress Sun said:

 

I don't even bother with S & B anymore, just throw them away. Same with Amerc as GJ stated. Not only is the Amerc way out of specs, the case rim is very small. Some rifles won't even extract them.

 

Years ago, I started marking my loaded brass with a Sharpie so that I would know that it's mine, it's already been loaded by me at least once and that it's okay to reload again.

I got to the point where I just don't even load S&B. I have a pretty decent stock of .357 brass now and would just rather not deal with it. (I put them aside for that moment when I'm super bored.)

What's an amerc headstamp look like?

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8 minutes ago, Hendo said:

What's an amerc headstamp look like?

says AMERC on it, when they managed to get the stamp press to work. 

 

Fortunately, my info shows that AMERC folded up shop several years ago.

 

good luck, GJ

 

 

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My favorite priming system is hands down the lee Ram Prime.  if you want to process the primer pockets on a lot of brass quickly, (and do lots of other brass and bullet processing things quickly) the Lee App press will do it as fast as you can load the hopper and pull the crank.

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For .38 Spl, I only have consistent problems with CBC brass, all others, onesy, twosy. 

For .45 Colt, my 550C usually runs em all through no problem, IF I have the prime mechanism adjusted correctly.

Ever have a primer go off in the press? Scares the $#!@ outta ya!

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