Primer woes 9mm

If the primers have a ring around them they might be military surplus ammo and have crimped in primers. That will mean you will need to swedge them out to use those cases. Lyman and RCBS have tools to do that with,


Jim

This is military brass with crimped in primers so as to not risk blowing a primer in an automatic weapon and causing a jam while shooting at foreigners.

If you have a lot of it, you can get swage tools from Dillon or RCBS to take the crimp out smoothly, if you only turn up a few, you can ream the crimp out with a case deburring tool or a common countersink.

Those are crimped. I toss all WCC stamped brass away. 9mm is to cheap to buy, you can find tons of it laying on the ground at most ranges. I just don't think its worth it

Yup, There a pain. But when I do come across some of those, I just get the chamerfing/ deburr tool out and remove it right quick. I don't have a whole lot of them but when I do get one that is all I have to do.

I toss the few I find in the mix straight in the recycle bucket. Not worth the trouble for 2 cents, IMO.

It's worth the few seconds to me. Remove the crimp just once, and keep loading that brass until you lose it.

So if you pay .02 each for 9mm cases, and you shoot each one 5 times before you lose it, that's not tossing .02 into recycle; it's tossing .1, and that adds up fast. If you had ten of them in a bucket, and spent 6 seconds each removing the crimp, you spent a measly minute and saved a whole buck. Would you toss a buck into the bin?

Most brass any more is crimped. Might as well get a swage die while they are reasonably priced. I love my CH4D swage & ram prime set. It was $35 delivered but I think the price went up & I know shipping did so it may be $40 now. I believe this is the best tool for this project.

beatledog7 said:

It's worth the few seconds to me. Remove the crimp just once, and keep loading that brass until you lose it.

So if you pay .02 each for 9mm cases, and you shoot each one 5 times before you lose it, that's not tossing .02 into recycle; it's tossing .1, and that adds up fast. If you had ten of them in a bucket, and spent 6 seconds each removing the crimp, you spent a measly minute and saved a whole buck. Would you toss a buck into the bin?

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Interesting way to look at it. I mentioned .02 because that's what 9mm seems to go for. I get mine for free when I pick it up/sort it (well, not free if you count the time/electricity for sorting/cleaning).

When I get my CH4D system I'm sure I'll feel differently. But it's a hassle now. And I have a billion non-crimped 9mm cases waiting, so I don't bother. *shrugs*

Most brass any more is crimped.

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That has not been my experience.

Just about everything I pick up at the range is crimped. I just run everything new to me through the swage.

I just got 2500 pcs of WCC 94.
I saw the crimp and freaked out that I would be unable to use it.

Well I tried to prime it and they went right in. The brass had NOT been swagged. I was amazed. Federal crimped brass (from the same order, it was a mixed bag) would NOT seat primers at all. I get to swag those.

Take a 3/16 drill bit and ream the pockets to get them to seat correctly.

I just cut the handle off of a hand held pocket reamer and chucked the reamer in my cordless drill. Put on a latex mechanics glove to ensure a decent grip and you can zip through quite a few in a minute.
T

kingmt said:

Just about everything I pick up at the range is crimped. I just run everything new to me through the swage.

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Interesting... is it a military-populated range? I get maybe 1 in a hundred that are crimped.

I get maybe 1 in a hundred that are crimped.

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Yea same here, I got 3 out of the last 1k I bought. Must be certain areas.

I save them up in a separate baggy until I get enough to bother with, then swage the primer pockets. I know 9mm brass is cheap, and I've got a ton of it, but I still hate wasting them.

Mostly Hornady, Federal, & Speer which are all crimped. I find a little WW & Win but not sure they are crimped.

I bought a Hornady primer pocket reaming tool for about $10. A couple of twists and the crimp is gone forever.

As stated, they're crimped, but once the crimp is removed they load just fine.

I get a lot of range pickup brass which occasionally has some of the Berdan-primed military stuff in it (Cyrillic on the headstamp is a dead giveaway on those), so I have to individually inspect the cases anyways. I just separate out all the military brass and when I get enough of it I'll remove the crimps and load them up.

You don't even need a special tool. I typically use a Lee chamfer/deburr tool to remove them, but in a pinch I have used all sorts of make-shift tools (such as a bottle opener for example).

I know a lot of people just toss them but I tend to be both a) patient and b) a cheapskate, so to me its still worth the extra effort to use them.

Here's a thread regarding crimp removal from WCC cases - http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=8219174#post8219174

I'm glad somebody finally posted a picture! Looks like the crimp is that inner ring? I've been reloading 9mm this week and have had a number of the WCC cases to deal with. Some take a primer and some don't. I'll have to give the drill bit idea a try.

1KPerDay:

Interesting... is it a military-populated range? I get maybe 1 in a hundred that are crimped

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That "used to be" the case for me too, but no longer.
WIN 9mm is my favorite brass. WWB of 100 loose rds "used to be" WIN brass. NOW, 95+% of the 9mm Luger Win ammunition at my ranges use wcc brass. This started mainly this year. I suspect the military demand tapered off and they are geared up for mil brass.

I have a LOT of 9mm brass, but can't pass up the Winchesters. I'm experimenting with a drill press with a set depth of cut using a sized steel rod in the table vise to slide the brass on. Looks like it will be fast and consistent.