PPU brass? Phooey.

[ChuckB]

Hi. I recently started loading .38 Specials after doing thousands of 9mm and .45acp. I recently bought some clean used brass from an on-line merchant. Very nice. But I've had a ton of frustration with some brass headstamped "PPU". Prvi Partisan, maybe? Anyway, I've stopped using those because the primers usually don't pop out of the primer pockets. Instead, they deform, or balloon, downward below the base. And yes, my decapping pin is set to max. So, I have to remove the brass holder from the reloader and try to remove the distorted primer with a punch and hammer. Sometimes even that doesn't work- the punch blows through the primer base, leaving bits and pieces still stuck to the case! Anyone else even see this?

And Happy, healthy New Year to all.

Chuck

 

[ReloaderFred]

I believe it's more common where liquids have gotten into the fired case. I recently purchased some once fired R-P & Winchester .38 Super brass that had been washed in some type of liquid, possibly citric acid, and out of 1008 cases, I had 206 that the primers were practically welded in the pockets and either the top came off the primer cup, leaving the walls of the cup stuck in the case, or the primer punch went through the primer. There was a white residue inside the cases and in the primers themselves. I've used citric acid to clean tarnished brass, but I've always deprimed within a couple of days, and these had set for a long period of time before I purchased them.

In years past, I would scrounge brass in the desert and found that PMC primers left a white residue in the .38 cases. When I deprimed them, I would lose a small percentage to the same problem I had with the recent .38 Super brass. I attributed this to a combination of the priming compound used by PMC at the time, and possibly moisture after firing and laying on the ground.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[chbrow10]

I've loaded 1000's of PPU in 9mm, .40, and 45 ACP with no problems. Maybe something happened to your particular lot of brass?

 

[R.W.Dale]

I've gotten in the habit of sorting PPU and NNY out of my bulk handgun loadings. Aside from the decap issues you note they also tend to have extremely tight primer pockets that almost crush a primer in order to seat.

IMO not worth the trouble, they go straight into my junk brass bucket.


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[Adair]

What RW said x2

 

[jcwit]

This what they make primer pocket uniformers for, NO?

 

[R.W.Dale]

This what they make primer pocket uniformers for, NO?

I think I'd just rather toss a couple three cases out of a hundred or so. Than to ream the entire primer pocket to spec on a few 9mm or .45 range pickups


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[ArchAngelCD]

The only PPU cases I have are in .223 and they seem to be just fine for reloading. I haven't had any problems with the primer pockets.

Oh yeah, PPU = Prvi Partizan

 

[Hey_Allen]

The only PPU I have I went out of my way to acquire.
7.62x54 in reloadable brass is a pain to get though.

 

[shooter_from_show-me]

My brother had the same issues with some range pick up Prvi 9mm brass with the red primer sealant. Went to decap and resize. Instead of the decapping pin pushing out the spent primer it just bulged it out. So we scrapped it.


Bill

 

[ChuckB]

Went to decap and resize. Instead of the decapping pin pushing out the spent primer it just bulged it out. So we scrapped it.

My problem exactly.

I had 206 that the primers were practically welded in the pockets and either the top came off the primer cup, leaving the walls of the cup stuck in the case, or the primer punch went through the primer.

Again, my experience. I have one case that still has a ring of the primer "permanently" attached to the cup. Guess I'll just continue to toss the PPU's into the box for the scrap metal dealer.

Chuck