Primer Pocket CCI .223 Brass

[dbltaps]

Hello all!

I am having enormous difficulty in seating Wolf .223 (SR) primers in CCI Speer cases:banghead:. The cases are once-fired Gold Dot .223 shell casings. My question is:

Do CCI Speer cases have a similar primer pocket to LC brass, requiring primer pocket reaming?

The same primers are very easily seated in once-fired Winchester .223 brass cases using my Hornady LNL AP. I almost cannot feel the primers being seated in the Winchester cases compared to having to put my entire body weight on the press handle multiple times while rotating the cartridge between attempts with the Speer cases.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

 

[rcmodel]

I do believe Speer Gold-Dot .223 has lacquer sealed and crimped in place primers. It is premium ammo intended for LEO and SD use, and has all the bells & whistles.

If they have crimped primers you should be able to tell by looking at them.
There will be a slightly depressed ring around the primer pocket.

Or you can use your chamfering tool and trim just a frog-hair out of them and try again.

Wolf primers are known to be a little tighter then American primers too.

Regardless, you need to find out the reason for the hard seating as what you are doing now (smashing them in) is very dangerous for use in a semi-auto .223.

The smashed primers become very sensitive and slam-fire doubling or firing when chambering the first round is very possible.

rc

 

[bfoosh006]

rcmodel said it all. ( great job ! )

 

[dbltaps]

Thank you for your responses!

The Speer cases do have a slightly depressed (usually slightly offset) ring around the primer pocket, so I believe that the primers pockets have indeed been crimped. I will have to purchase a primer pocket reamer so that I can use the thousands of Speer cases I have been able to acquire.

I have loaded 40 rounds with the difficulty mentioned in my original post. Even if there are no deformities with the primers, would using these in my AR-15 be unwise?

I will gladly pull the projectiles and reuse them and the powder if you think it is best. The loss of the seated primers, while disappointing (not the cost; the 40 rounds of fun gone...), is inconsequential to my safety (and the safety of those around me).

Thanks again for your sage advice!

 

[ole farmerbuck]

If you have a chamfering tool, use it on the primer pocket just a little. I wont tell you to shoot them but if they only went in tight and not deformed, 'I' would shoot em. I use the chamfer tool on all of my brass with crimped pockets when using the LNL to make it easier to prime.

 

[qajaq59]

If you're concered about a chain fire, and you don't have too many of them, you could just load them one at a time and fire them.

 

[rcmodel]

An AR-15 slam-fire is not dangerous to the gun or the shooter.
The bolt has to be closed & locked before the firing pin can reach the primer to set it off.

The danger is the unexpected discharge when you let the bolt slam shut to load the rifle.

As long as it is pointed down range in a safe direction, no harm, no foul.

So I would go ahead and shoot them.
Just be aware that you may experience doubling or an unexpected loud noise when chambering them and treat the gun accordingly.

rc

 

[dbltaps]

After receiving my new primer pocket reamer from MidwayUSA, I used it on some of my unloaded speer cases, and sure enough, they were a breeze to load! Thank you all for your advice! I will now have to spend the next year prepping all those cases! Thank God it only needs to be done once per case!

 

[243winxb]

The danger is the unexpected discharge when you let the bolt slam shut to load the rifle.

Always load from the magazine, this slows the bolt on loading.

 

[HOWARD J]

If you have thousands of cases that are crimped---I would get a Dillion super swage 600
& make life easy on myself...........................