How will I know why my 9mm primer pockets are worn?

[JohnhenrySTL]

I'm putting primers in 9mm's I have shot multiple times. They have also recently been tumbled. Perhaps tumbling is why, but they feel easier than I remember to hand prime. They do seem snug once in the pocket. This is mainly speer brass but assorted range brass also.

How concerned would you be if you were me?

What would happen if they are loose? Even they seem firm while in the pocket.

How do you tell?

 

[Wreck-n-Crew]

What hand priming tool are you using by chance?

If they seem snug you should be fine. Primer pocket stretch on common pistol calibers is not the norm unlike rifle primer pockets that are under a lot more pressure and have a tendency to stretch.

As long as your not running hot loads and see signs of over pressure like flattened primers and If they seat fully and are snug your good to go.

 

[JohnhenrySTL]

I'm using a Lee hand primer with the broken corners off the cover, lol. They feel firm in the pocket, but while priming them the feel real easy.

Thanks.

 

[rodregier]

As long as you are experiencing some resistance when seating the primers you should be ok. Not all primer pockets or primers are the same size when new from different mfgr, just to keep it interesting.

If it just "falls" into the pocket I don't personally use that piece of brass.

If the primers are too loose they can fall out before firing or could experience gas blow-by on firing. That will flame cut a primer pocket diameter circle around the firing pin hole in the breechface with repeated occurrances.

I've used a primer pocket swage tool or a primer pocket cleaning tool to gage how loose some primer pockets are, but that is additional effort.

 

[Potatohead]

Blow into the mouth of an empty, freshly primed case, blowgun style. If the primer goes flying, your primer pockets are worn

 

[JohnhenrySTL]

Thanks alot. I will proceed with a fresh approach.

 

[hAkron]

If the primers are still seated properly after you have fired the reloads, then you can confirm what we already suspect, that the primer pockets are just fine.

May you live long enough to shoot pistol caliber primer pockets loose.

 

[FROGO207]

My method----Take the depriming rod out of your sizing die. Use it to try to push the primer out with hand pressure. The pocket is good if it stays in.

 

[jeeptim]

Maybe your just getting stronger

 

[JohnhenrySTL]

They passed the blow test, and I pushed one in suspicion manually into the die with the decapper. It didn't move at all. But I was able to push one primer in the pocket about 70 percent of the way with my finger, it was pressed the rest of the way.

This sucks for me, I have gone out of my way to recover all these casings multiple times. I also resized and tumbled about 2000 of these.

Where I'm likely at fault is wanting to make all 500 for a formal shooting day next week. This is an experienced load of mine, but these pockets are still bothering me. The only brass bothering me are the speer casings. Not cause they are speer, but they have been loaded multiple times more than the random range brass.

I've had primers come loose out of ar 10 brass and nothing happened. They got tossed. But I don't want to be the first person in the history of the world to damage a G-17.

Considering I have thousands of other rounds, I construed a plan I'm more at ease with. I'll make about a magizine full of the loaded Speer casings, and as many assorted range brass pieces as I have available. I'll test and assess.

Thanks again.

 

[Reefinmike]

I do the same as frogo. I keep a spare decap pin on the bench for when i feel a loose pocket. If I can push the primer out by hand i scrap the case. If it feels loose but wont push out by hand, I Mark the case head with a red sharpie and use it one last time before scrapping it.

 

[alexcue]

I do the same as frogo. I keep a spare decap pin on the bench for when i feel a loose pocket. If I can push the primer out by hand i scrap the case. If it feels loose but wont push out by hand, I Mark the case head with a red sharpie and use it one last time before scrapping it.

I like that!!!!

 

[WestKentucky]

Multiple loadings? Yours don't send it to another county? That's how I know mine are worn out...I can't find them in the weeds if they are worn out. Don't question that logic, it works in my mind.

 

[Walkalong]

Yep, if it feels loose seating, try to push it out with a decapping pin. If you can, they are definitely scrap. You'll get a feel for it after awhile.

 

[FROGO207]

FWIW I have several five GAL buckets full of 9MM brass in reserve. I keep about 1K ammo reloaded and 4K brass processed and ready to load. My plan was to cycle through that lot until I find many casings that start to experience problems. So in 15 years reloading this lot shooting 2K a month average I am still waiting for problems to show up. I find more new range brass than I shoot most times. Other times I loose a couple hundred in the weeds or such. When I started shooting I saved every 9MM brass casing I could find to build up my stash even though nobody else bothered with them. I now realize that I "may" have over done it a little bit. The upside is not needing to worry about the newer brass and those problems associated with it like steel casings and internal steps. Especially should I choose to start shooting my reloads one more time then leave the brass behind. I am tempted to do that as well with the 45 ACP due to the primer pocket size issue but only have a single 5 GAL bucket of those presently. I do sort by primer size and will be offering up some 45 ACP SPP brass when I get a few K on hand to make it worth my while to ship it. YMMV