Loose Winchester primers

Doesnt hurt a thing.

Federal is known for having loose primer pockets.

Click to expand...

Absolutly. after a few firings of Fed. 308 brass with average loads, the primer pockets loosen up. I've never had issues with Win primers.

I ran into this issue a while back and posted on it.

The Winchester LR primers I have in my inventory do run on the low end of SAAMI specs and are smaller in diameter than the other 3 brands I sampled

I could see where you could have loose primers if you had some brass where the pockets were on the large end of the spec and used WLR primers.

Large rifle primers, be they CCI, Winchester, Federal, Tula or any of a dozen other manufacturers of Large Rifle Primers should have a diameter between 0.2105" and 0.2130" assuming they comply with SAAMI specifications. The diameter of any given brand may vary from lot to lot as long as the diameter lies within published specifications. Measuring the diameter of a primer pocket using a tool as simple as a vernier caliper is relatively easy and accurate enough or even using a micrometer. With that in mind the diameter of a large rifle primer pocket should be within 0.2085" to 0.2100" easily measured using the ID method with a vernier caliper.
When seating primers it should be readily obvious through feel if the primers have a tight fit or a loose fit and if they feel loose going in it should be time to stop seating and take a few measurements. If the primer pocket diameters are larger than the primers diameters then it might be a good idea to stop and wait till some primers are found which allow a better fit. If the primer pockets exceed the published specifications then it is time to trash the brass.

Again, primer dimensions vary not just by brand name but by lot number within a given brand name. The same can apply to cup height and cup thickness.

Ron

I knew a guy who said he used a collet type bullet puller with .375" and .475" collets to size down 223 Rem and 308 Win case heads to squeeze enlarged primer pockets down to correct diameter; all caused by his way over safe pressure reloads.

Bart B. said:

I knew a guy who said he used a collet type bullet puller with .375" and .475" collets to size down 223 Rem and 308 Win case heads to squeeze enlarged primer pockets down to correct diameter; all caused by his way over safe pressure reloads.

Click to expand...

If I ever managed to create my own over sized primer pockets as a result of overloads I would toss the cases and not look back. I also would not share how dumb I was with someone else. To each their own I guess. I doubt that brass will ever be the same.

Ron

JackSprat said:

I shot 8 Federal,and 8 Winchester today with no problems,and when I went back in the house I unscrewed my decapping rod from my die and was able to manualy push the old primers out of the ones I tried.The Federals took less effort than the Winchesters.I took a piece of brand new Winchester 308 brass and primed it with one of the winchester primers,and I could feel a little resistance on my press handle..I picked up a few packs of CCI primers in town,and will see if they fit snugger in the fired Winchester brass,but I'm done fooling with the Federals...

Click to expand...

Measure the diameter of each which should tell you exactly what you have before you even attempt to load them.

Ron

Here's the thread I started a few months ago on primer pockets, primers and tolerances. Good info was shared.

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/checking-primer-pocket-size.814939/

The Winchester WLRM primers I have here measure under size at .2098" and fit loose in good primer pockets. These are the ones that are not plated!
However it seems that the unplated WLR primers measure .210"
I have not tried to seat the WLR primers yet.

CCI "GM210M" primers measure .2105" and the 215's measure .2103" !!

Nature Boy said:

I ran into this issue a while back and posted on it.

The Winchester LR primers I have in my inventory do run on the low end of SAAMI specs and are smaller in diameter than the other 3 brands I sampled

I could see where you could have loose primers if you had some brass where the pockets were on the large end of the spec and used WLR primers.

Click to expand...

Funny you should say that. I dismissed the idea it may have been Winchester primers on the low end of the size tolerances adding to any loose fitting primers I've ben experiencing lately after all it was in Federal brass. Ill throw some in my Remington brass tomorrow that I know is good and see how tight they fit. I'll also measure a few primers to get a reading on how they came out of the factory. Never hurt's to check.

No plans to dig that Federal brass out of my recycle though I'm pretty sure when they fall out that easy they are done and no primer will fix them.