Did I screw up??

[SSN Vet]

Sory for the length....I tend to be long winded....

Preface....I've never attempted to reload brass with crimped primers.....

I finally dug down to my range pick up .223 Fiocchi brass.

Though there was a very faint ring around the primer pocket, it did not look nearly as pronounced as what I've seen on the Lake City brass I've segregated out ... and ... I was under the impression that Fiocchi ammo. was for civilian consumption (as I also scrounged the OEM packaging which was obviously for retail sale).

I proceeded to prep the brass in my usual manner. I tumbled, lubed, deprimed and sized, trimmed, chamfered and then did a quick tumble again.

The brass deprimed with no extra effort (unlike the few Lake City cases that I've fooled around with).

So I set about reloading these with my new favorite "economy M193 clone" load (Win 55gr. FMJBT on top of 24.8 gr. of H335 & WSRP).

The first 20 or so seated the primers just fine....then I notice they seem a little "crunchy" going in. So I start taking a really close look and notice that there just a small burr on the primer pockets and some brass shavings in my primer seating cup (LCT press) . I take a close look at the primers on the 20 I just completed and though they appear to be proberly seated (flush to or slightly below the surface), the "crunchy" ones almost look slighlty off center (possibly due to the ring or residual burr).

Unfortunately I do not have a swaging tool and will not be able to aquire one any time soon (for reasons having to do with marital harmony, that I prefer not to detail ).

But in an effort to salvage the reloading session and get through this small 50 piece batch of brass, I used my Lee deburring tool to chamfer the edge of the primer pocket, which removed the visable burr, but I'm not sure about residual distortion of the primer pocket. These cases then took the primer with much less "crunchiness", though not as smoothly as my commercial Rem brass.

Soooo...

Did I screw up?

Should these rounds be good?

Is Fioochi brass crimped?

Or could the faint ring be an imprint from a rifle bolt face?

 

[strat81]

There's a good possibility it is crimped. Much of the Federal .223 brass I have (which is junk, don't bother reloading it) is crimped and it's "civilian" ammo.

While reaming isn't the best choice, it's not the worst thing you can do. And if this isn't match ammo, you'll be fine. The crimp ring is an issue because sometimes you can crush and possibly detonate a primer while seating them if the crimp ring hasn't been reamed or swaged.

I'd fire them without hesitation and give a slight ream to the others.

 

[rcmodel]

Way back in my younger & poorer days, I removed the crimp on a ton of GI 30-06 brass with an old Case pocketknife.

Removing the crimp with a deburring tool will work just fine as long as you don't overdo it.

rcmodel

 

[snuffy]

Ah, .223 primer crimps! I recently got 1K lake city once fired empties. I elected to do the case prep myself.

So I ordered a RCBS swager. It didn't work well at all. Then I put more force on it, bent the rod that goes inside the case and bears on the bottom of the case web. I also figured out that the "button" was not pushing the crimp entirely back where it came from. It seemed to be bottoming out before it finished ironing the crimp enough. A call to RCBS brought me a new rod AND new button. Same answer, it don't do the job! The primers kind of "click" into place, and are visually distorted while being seated.

So, in a recent order to Midway, I got a Hornady primer pocket crimp reamer. That's the real deal! It makes a nice clean cut right where the crimp used to be. It bottoms out on the bottom of the primer pocket when finished, can't cut too much away from the edge of the primer pocket. It's threaded to fit in a handle, but it also fits in my RCBS trim mate, which makes quick work of reaming the primer crimps, as well as chamfering.

If I EVER get more crimped .223's, I may pop for the dillon swager.

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=253550

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=565099

 

[ClarkEMyers]

Not a problem but notice pressure signs may vary -

Not a problem but notice pressure signs may vary as the primer pocket varies. That is a primer may appear flattened when the primer has less support around the edges because the primer pocket has been enlarged around the edge. Again not usually a big deal - some primer leakage around the edge may become a big deal as hot gases cut the bolt face - but a change in the brass that may show other appearance changes.

 

[snuffy]

Not a problem but notice pressure signs may vary as the primer pocket varies. That is a primer may appear flattened when the primer has less support around the edges because the primer pocket has been enlarged around the edge.

In the first place, reading pressure from primer appearance is iffy at best. Secondly, the Hornady cutter I referred to, cuts ONLY the extreme edge of the pocket, right where the crimp is. Because the forward end of the cutter runs into the bottom of the pocket it cannot cut too much.

Yes, cutting too deep with a chamfer tool could result in less purchase on a primer. Also normal pressure loads may make the primer look like the load was excessive. The primer would look like a toadstool,(mushroom), after being deprimed.