Anyone shoot Herter's ammo?

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788Ham

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I bought 4, 50 rd boxes a week ago, 158g. FMJFP, bought it specifically for the brass. I just resized and decapped 100 of them a bit ago, now in the corn cob tumbler, my point: After decapping, I noticed the primer cup on most of the cases, looked as if a primer hadn't ever gone off in the cup, barely a burned mark. Is most of their ammo/primers this clean? Just never had any cases this clean after being fired. Thanks in advance.
 
I've shot their .38spl and .45acp brass cased ammo. The primer pockets do tend to be pretty clean but not spotless. Just a tip in case you haven't primed any of them yet, you may want to just touch the primer pockets with a chamfer tool or swage them if you have a swaging tool. The primer pockets have always been very tight for me. A very, very slight chamfer helps seat primers better. But it wouldn't hurt to try priming a few first, maybe you'll have an easier time than I did.
 
Thanks Kansas, not that it matters a hill of beans, but de-priming them was a simple task, they popped right out, no struggle at all. I've got the cases in the tumbler, getting the re-sizing stuff off, will try that in about 1/2 hr. , thanks for your suggestions.
 
Kansas,

I just went down and pulled the cord on the tumbler, pulled 6 or 8 cases out, I tried 3 or 4 without any chamfering, a smidgen too tight. I then chamfered the next 3, went in a little easier, but might have to experiment more in the morning, I'm beat tonight. The chamfering did seem to alleviate the "rim" at the start of the primer pocket a little bit, maybe I'm going to have to invest in a swage tool, trying to save monies by buying this ammo, this is what I get ! lol I'll give'r another go come daylight, if nothing I try works….. gonna get the internet hot I guess. I've never looked for a swaging tool, what'a they get for one of those? Thanks for your help Kansas, appreciate it !
 
Dillon SS600 ~$100 http://www.dillonprecision.com/#/content/p/9/pid/25263/catid/8/Super_Swage_600
RCBS die ~$33 http://www.midwayusa.com/product/235832/rcbs-primer-pocket-swager-combo-2
RCBS bench mounted tool ~$83 http://www.midwayusa.com/product/319662/rcbs-bench-mounted-primer-pocket-swager

Of course you may want to shop around for better prices. I just tend to use Midway as a reference since they tend to keep prices pretty steady. I can't personally recommend one over the other since I don't have any of them, but from all the searching around I've done, the Dillon seems to be the best and the price isn't much more than the RCBS bench mounted tool. They'd all really come in handy if you find/buy a lot of military brass with crimped primers. For the time being I take the chamfer bit out of my Lyman 6-in-1 case prep tool http://www.midwayusa.com/product/135615/lyman-case-prep-multi-tool , wrap the threads in tape, and chuck it in a corded drill, and just give the primer pockets a very quick touch. When I deal with crimped primer pockets it's usually with 500+ pieces of 5.56 brass. The drill may not be the best idea, but it's cheap and saves a lot of time processing brass.
 
Yes. Very clean. I usually only shoot the non reloadable aluminum cased nylon coated stuff. Gains another 100 FPS then regular metal jacket 115 in a carbine over my chrono.
 
Kansas,

I think I'll bite the bullet {no pun intended}, and buy the Dillon contraption, RCBS didn't get that good of reviews, breaking during use. I tried the chamfering tool, I did get a couple to seat the primer okay, but am afraid I might go too deep and remove too much brass, leaving me with a case that won't hold primer. A couple of the primers looked a little mashed, not what I'm after. Thanks for your help with the website addies, really appreciate your help. This is the first time I've "ever" had this problem with priming brass, must just be the manf. of the brass, primer crimping, ??
 
I don't think the Herter's brass has a primer crimp. I think it's just that the brass is made with tight pockets and unlike some brands of US made brass, it has no chamfer at all. Cabela's is the sole distributor of Herter's but the ammo is made by a few different companies. The aluminum cased stuff with TNJ coated bullets is made by CCI/Blazer. The steel cased stuff is made in the same factory as Tula ammo. And the brass cased ammo is made by S&B (which is now owned by Magtech/CBC). I've heard some of the brass cased ammo is made by Fiocchi but all of it that I have is identical to S&B in every way, with exception to the headstamp. It has all loaded up very nicely for me once I put a slight chamfer on the primer pockets, nicer than most other brands. Every bit of it has been trimmed much more uniformly at the factory than any brand of US made brass that I have, except Starline. Besides the primer pocket issue, my only complaint is that some of my .45acp brass has started splitting at the case mouths after as few as 3 firings of medium loads.

If you get that Dillon SS600 it might help to watch some youtube videos about it. There's very easy, non-permanent, modifications that you can make to speed up the process.
 
Kansas,

I just ordered the Dillon Super Swage 600 from Dillon. I had to call and place the order, website has a malfunction at present time, Grrr Anyway, the guy I spoke to said he has had one for some time now, works great. As far as the brass, if you're correct, and no doubt you are, S&B must have made mine, tighter primer pockets. The salesman told me if it is S&B, they'll definitely need swaging, just the way they're made, which is okay. Cabela's is exactly where I bought this ammo, very astute man.

Should ship today, should be here by Tue, hopefully this will end my frustrations, so much for wanting to get to the range this weekend. :cuss:

Kansas, again, sure appreciate your help and knowledge about these things, glad you're on this THR site, I'd probably tossed it if not for you !!
 
Kansas,
I too have had really good luck with s&b and cbc magtech brass. phenomenal actually. I was very impressed with the CBC last time I used some.
 
Kansas, again, sure appreciate your help and knowledge about these things, glad you're on this THR site, I'd probably tossed it if not for you !!

No problem. I've picked up a good share of knowledge here too. If it weren't for a few "old timers" on this site I probably wouldn't know half as much about reloading as I do, not that I know all that much :D
 
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