Bruce H.
Member
I have been handloading pistol ammo for four years now with my Dillon Square Deal B press. I have just recently purchased a RCBS Partner Press to begin reloading 223 because of the increased price and lack of availability of this ammo. I have already successfully loaded and shot two lots of 50 reloaded rounds each. I am working on my third batch of 223. I am using once fired Federal AE223 brass that I shot in my AR-15. I am using Winchester Small Rifle Primers. With the first two lots that I handloaded I had problems seating a couple of primers with my Partner Press, but no big deal. I was able to successfully seat the primers in all 100 of them. Today I started to seat primers in my latest batch of cleaned, sized and decapped brass. I crushed the first three primers, which never seated and the fourth primer I was not able to completely seat no matter how hard I pushed on the lever. I measured the diameter of the Primers and they are 0.175" diameter. I measured the diameter of the primer pocket in the brass and it was 0.167". I found a piece of brass from my second batch that I handloaded and its primer pocket measured 0.172" diameter. Is there a tool that I need to enlarge the primer pockets or is my Partner Press inadequate for routinely seating primers in 223 brass?