I have been reloading pistol for a few years and have just begun loading 5.56/223 for my AR. I have read a lot and been progressing slowly/carefully as I learn the many steps of reloading rifle cartridges.
I am reloading my own once fired Federal 55 gr FMJ 5.56 brass.
After depriming, resizing, swaging & trimming I am now set to prime, charge & seat new bullets.
As I seated the first few primers (CCI 400 Small rifle) I noticed they weren't seating as deep as normal. Rather than being just below the case lip they are flush and perhaps even .001 high. I tried seating the primers more firmly with little/no affect. I tried re-swaging the pockets and then seating the new primer also without change.
At that point I called Dillon to ask if my new Super Swage could be out of adjustment and causing the issue. After talking through the situation the Dillon Tech was convinced it was the CCI primers which he said were taller and much harder than the Federal primers in the factory ammo.
He suggested I measure the CCI LRP height and compare it to a Federal. I don't have any other small rifle primers so used a Win Small pistol for comparison. Findings are CCI SRP 0.1175" tall / Win SPP 0.1155" tall. I was surprised at the consistent (measured several) .002" difference! I was under the impression (mistakenly it seems) that primer dimensions were standardized!?
So as an experiment I seated one of the WPP in a case. It seated just like the factory ammo primers.
I have uploaded a few photos that hopefully show what I am describing.
So now I have some questions that I hope you can help with:
1) Can I safely use my CCI 400 primers seated deeply but as they are?
2) If they can't or shouldn't be fired seated as is ... is there a fix to the brass to enable deeper seating?
3) Are primer heights truly not standardized?
3) Should I just buy Federal small rifle primers as the Dillon tech suggested?
I am hoping you experienced 5.56/223 re-loaders have already encountered this situation and can advise me.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Bob
I am reloading my own once fired Federal 55 gr FMJ 5.56 brass.
After depriming, resizing, swaging & trimming I am now set to prime, charge & seat new bullets.
As I seated the first few primers (CCI 400 Small rifle) I noticed they weren't seating as deep as normal. Rather than being just below the case lip they are flush and perhaps even .001 high. I tried seating the primers more firmly with little/no affect. I tried re-swaging the pockets and then seating the new primer also without change.
At that point I called Dillon to ask if my new Super Swage could be out of adjustment and causing the issue. After talking through the situation the Dillon Tech was convinced it was the CCI primers which he said were taller and much harder than the Federal primers in the factory ammo.
He suggested I measure the CCI LRP height and compare it to a Federal. I don't have any other small rifle primers so used a Win Small pistol for comparison. Findings are CCI SRP 0.1175" tall / Win SPP 0.1155" tall. I was surprised at the consistent (measured several) .002" difference! I was under the impression (mistakenly it seems) that primer dimensions were standardized!?
So as an experiment I seated one of the WPP in a case. It seated just like the factory ammo primers.
I have uploaded a few photos that hopefully show what I am describing.
So now I have some questions that I hope you can help with:
1) Can I safely use my CCI 400 primers seated deeply but as they are?
2) If they can't or shouldn't be fired seated as is ... is there a fix to the brass to enable deeper seating?
3) Are primer heights truly not standardized?
3) Should I just buy Federal small rifle primers as the Dillon tech suggested?
I am hoping you experienced 5.56/223 re-loaders have already encountered this situation and can advise me.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Bob