nitesite
Member
The only rifle round I load which uses small rifle primers is for a Bushmaster AR-15. So, in order to best protect me from slam-fires, I bought a few thousand CCI #41s sometime in 2006.
These things have been a freekin pain-in-the-butt to fully seat. Been trying for over a year now to figure out why. I know that #41s incorporate a harder primer cup than any other primer, and that the anvil design requires a deeper strike to touch them off. Sounded like a good idea when I bought them.
I personally shot another bunch of factory-new LC XM-193 cartridges, and after tumbling & sizing/de-priming I removed the crimps and cleaned the primer pockets. So tonight, I once again sat down to seat some of these #41 primers in some of my once-fired LC brass. I quit at forty.
These #41 Bastidges simply won't crush flat enough to leave the primer below flush with the case head, unless I really crank down on them several times and turn them between tries. I'm using a Lyman T-Mag press which is basically a single stage, so I have the mechanical advantage of a compound lever with more power than a hand primer could ever give me.
I used my digital micrometer to compare several brands of primers I have on hand for width as well as the height of the cup (not including the anvil).
All of them (CCI 400, CCI 450, Rem 6½) were .1745" dia and .1135" high, which is exactly the same as these durn CCI#41s. Using the same batch of brass, the only primer I have trouble with during seating is the #41. All the other SR primers smush into the pocket just fine with minimal effort.
It appears to me that the hard primer cup of a #41 requires a tremendous amount of force to seat below the the case head. The cup just doesn't want to flatten below flush and set the correct gap for the anvil.
Damn, this is frustrating after loading and shooting thousands and thousands of .223 rounds using other primers with 100% success. I'm about to quit trying to use up these #41s.
They might make a fun display when I'm burning trash.
These things have been a freekin pain-in-the-butt to fully seat. Been trying for over a year now to figure out why. I know that #41s incorporate a harder primer cup than any other primer, and that the anvil design requires a deeper strike to touch them off. Sounded like a good idea when I bought them.
I personally shot another bunch of factory-new LC XM-193 cartridges, and after tumbling & sizing/de-priming I removed the crimps and cleaned the primer pockets. So tonight, I once again sat down to seat some of these #41 primers in some of my once-fired LC brass. I quit at forty.
These #41 Bastidges simply won't crush flat enough to leave the primer below flush with the case head, unless I really crank down on them several times and turn them between tries. I'm using a Lyman T-Mag press which is basically a single stage, so I have the mechanical advantage of a compound lever with more power than a hand primer could ever give me.
I used my digital micrometer to compare several brands of primers I have on hand for width as well as the height of the cup (not including the anvil).
All of them (CCI 400, CCI 450, Rem 6½) were .1745" dia and .1135" high, which is exactly the same as these durn CCI#41s. Using the same batch of brass, the only primer I have trouble with during seating is the #41. All the other SR primers smush into the pocket just fine with minimal effort.
It appears to me that the hard primer cup of a #41 requires a tremendous amount of force to seat below the the case head. The cup just doesn't want to flatten below flush and set the correct gap for the anvil.
Damn, this is frustrating after loading and shooting thousands and thousands of .223 rounds using other primers with 100% success. I'm about to quit trying to use up these #41s.
They might make a fun display when I'm burning trash.