Problem seating primers in Federal 223 once fired brass.

[Bruce H.]

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?

 

[ReloaderFred]

Sounds like the primers are crimped in for military work. You'll need to remove the crimp by either swaging or reaming. It's just a very slim sliver of brass right at the mouth of the primer pocket that needs to be removed.

You can check this by taking a slim pointed knife and running it around the mouth of the primer pocket and see if you remove a shaving of brass. Then try to prime that case. If the primer seats easily, then that's your cure.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[SDefender]

My guess is your primer pockets are crimped. This is pretty standard on military-type ammunition. I am unsure if this is your actual situation. I had the same issue with IMI brass in .45 Auto.

Dillon makes a primer pocket swager for this purpose (~$85) and RCBS has a die-type system (~$25). Others make a bit that chucks into a drill press, but I am leary of removing metal from my cases like this.

I have the RCBS and it is a lot of work if you need to swage a lot of primers, but works effectively. I have heard others tout the Dillon and saw the drill press option in operation on youtube and it seemed the simplest.

 

[Bruce H.]

Thanks SDefender and ReloaderFred. I didn't know that the Federal 223 primers were crimped. I know that ammo made for the military has crimped primers. I have some South African Military surplus ammo that I shoot in my Mini 14 and that has a very easily seen crimp. I just ordered a Lyman Primer Pocket Reamer from Midway and will give that a try next weekend.

 

[nitesite]

You're on the right track that your primer pockets are crimped. If you bought a tool to remove the crimps, you'll soon have almost no problem seating your primers. But be warned, CCI primers are still a bit stiff to seat because of their hardness and slightly larger diameter.

Some brands of brass cases are also a bit tight, even after you remove the crimp. S&B comes to mind. And Federal American Eagle .223 ammo has occasionally used production over-run Lake City Nato Brass that was primed and crimped, and then run on the commercial .223 Remington line.

 

[Draven32]

Alot of the Federal AE223 we're getting these days is in brass made for Federal's Lake City plant- occasionally, you'll open a box of it and it will actually be stamped as Lake City brass.

 

[45ACPUSER]

Remember that Federal Heastamped brass is considered soft, and that the case life is not that great. The primer pockets enlarge after a few firings......