High Primers

[Thatcher]

I've upgraded my RCBS Rockchucker with a Piggyback 3 kit and have noticed some of the primers are a bit high and not fully seated.

Does anyone know of any tweaks that can be done to encourge better seating ?

This is only 38 special/357 magnum so I don't really fancy sizing the primer pockets of thousands of cases. As it is the primer pockets look pretty clean.

I suppose the down-side of a progressive is that you don't notice the primer problem until the round is loaded, and then its too late to correct without pulling the round and running it through again. As things stand I could end up pulling half the rounds I'm loading.

I'm not really keen on the idea of trying to reseat a primer in a live round, so I don't want to go that route.

 

[LAH]

Welcome to the board. Wish I could help but I know nothing about the piggyback. BTW yore correct about seating high primers in loaded cases, not a good habit to get into.

 

[Master Blaster]

The shell plate needs to be screwed down tighter, if its sitting too high/ too loose you will get high primers because the punch is not long enough to seat the primer with the shell plate set up so high.

 

[ReloaderFred]

Seating Primers

I make it a practice to seat all primers in a separate process, even when loading with a progressive. I've got four presses on my loading bench, the Hollywood that I started out with in 1963, an RCBS Rockchucker, a Hornady Projector that I've had since about 1986 or so, and a Magma Case Sizemaster Jr.. I either seat my primers on the Rockchucker or the Hollywood, since I can feel them seat, then they go through the progressive, without a sizing/decapping die in place. That way, I know each and every primer is seated properly.

I load for 26 different calibers and thousands of rounds per year. This is how I do each and every one of them. It's much quicker than trying to fix or pull down rounds because of improperly seated primers at a later time.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[BigSlick]

The shell plate needs to be screwed down tighter, if its sitting too high/ too loose you will get high primers because the punch is not long enough to seat the primer with the shell plate set up so high

+1

BigSlick

 

[The Bushmaster]

I seat primers in a seperate press. All primers seatings are inspected. Any high ones get passed through the primer seater one more time to set them properly.

 

[Ky Larry]

I seat all primers by hand with a Lee priming tool. Yes, it's tedious and mind-numbigly boring. However, I don't have a problem with high primers.

 

[BluesBear]

Having either worn out or broken three Lee hand priming tools in less than two years I switched to an RCBS model. It's a MUCH better unit.

Plus since you can better feel the seating process I feel it's the best way to prime.

I haven't used anything else in over 10 years. In fact I don't even have a priming arm for my press.

It's the ONLY actual reloading step I'll do in a room with a television.

 

[armoredman]

I use the primer arm on the RCBS jr single stage I have, and inspect before putting it away for the next one.