Pulling bullets to load less powder - what to do with primer?

[ArchAngelCD]

Late to the party as usual. I agree with the many above who said just remove the decapping pin and then resize the case. You will have proper neck tension and no harm done to the primers at all. No reason to waste a few hundred perfectly good primers.

 

[Jim Watson]

Has anyone ever felt a static shock when picking up a brass case? Neither have I.

Or anything else conductive. Which is why my plastic powder scale pan is coated with graphite mold release to prevent static cling.

 

[whughett]

One of the most dangerous things you can do is to pour the powder out of a bottleneck case like a 25-06 and then measure another charge and dump it into the case. Some of the powder from the 1st charge can be held in the case by static electricity, moisture or oil and then you will really get a big charge. Don't do it! Run the case through a full length sizing die that removes the primer and then wash the case before loading it again. I know there are others who will disagree but you only need one mistake to ruin a rifle, or worse. If you reload 100 cases with the original primer in place and 99 cases get the correct new charge it only takes 1 bad charge to ruin your day.

Ever hear of air compressors, a low pressure squirt, no residual powder kernels.

 

[AK Hunter]

For all of my necked down rifle dies don't expand the case mouth like they do on the pistol dies. Just pull your bullets, knock the powder out & use a light to look inside to verify all the powder is out. Measure the proper amount of powder & pour into the cases, re-seat the bullets then crimp. If you have not shot the bullets the neck tension should still be good enough to hold the bullets long enough to crimp.

 

[Engineer1911]

For all of my necked down rifle dies don't expand the case mouth like they do on the pistol dies. Just pull your bullets, knock the powder out & use a light to look inside to verify all the powder is out. Measure the proper amount of powder & pour into the cases, re-seat the bullets then crimp. If you have not shot the bullets the neck tension should still be good enough to hold the bullets long enough to crimp.

This is too simple and effective for Worriers and Perfectionists.

 

[FROGO207]

The problem of not resizing the neck is loss of some of the neck tension. When the bullet is originally inserted it expands the brass and provides a tight friction fit. Pull the bullet and insert it again and you remove some of that friction fit. Crimping after may add bullet hold but sometimes it buckels the case and that further weakens your friction fit. Those match shooters that seat their bullets with their fingers are using the lands to provide the hold for complete burn of the propellant and they always single load. The crimp is there to stop fore and aft movement of the bullet.

 

[AK Hunter]

This is too simple and effective for Worriers and Perfectionists.

In my opinion there are way too many OCD/Perfectionists in this world.
I guess they don't understand what happens to the metal when it is annealed. When you anneal brass it makes the metal more malleable & elastic so it can be flexed or moved without cracking. If you have annealed the brass properly it should be able to have enough neck tension one time pulling the bullet & resetting it. Another thing if you are crushing the neck of your brass to crimp you are way out of the ball park of proper reloading & need to go back to read your reloading 101 book. If you can seat the bullets with you fingers, no you don't have enough neck tension. The crimp is there to stop fore and aft movement of the bullet when the gun is cycled.

 

[mdi]

I have done almost exactly what the OP has questions about. I purchased 400 HXP 30-06 rounds for my Garand (have no idea how many years this military surplus ammo has set in a warehouse under unknown conditions, or if powder had solidified). Pulled bullet, dumped powder (trash) removed decapping pin, F/L sized, new weighed powder/charge and reassembled. Made a few this way then tried a few premium bullets. Of course when I dumped the powder I tapped the mouth of the case on the bench, habit more than worry about "stuck" powder. Unless I went immediately to a new powder charge from just pouring out old powder, I doubt if I could have had any problems. I re-did about 200 rounds like this and didn't see much difference from my other handloads. Accuracy wasn't quite as good as my normal handloads, but better than "stock".

I don't crimp my rifle handloads for my Garand or SKS (or my bolt guns). I experimented and reloaded 16 rounds of 30-06, mixed brass, with Hornady bullets and no crimp. Loaded eight in a clip, fired 7, ejected the 8th. Did this twice. Then reloaded the previously fired 8th rounds in the 8th position in a new clip. Fired 7, ejected 8th. Did this with the two previous "8th rounds". Measured test cartridges; less than .001" movement. The only time I have "needed" to crimp rifle rounds it when they are fed from a tubular magazine.

I have worked with metals (life long machinist/mechanic), and know a little on brass characteristics. Brass, for reloading, is annealed when it becomes work hardened and brittle, not to make it "elastic". It returns the brass to it's original malleability. Cartridge brass does stretch and seating a bullet with a .002"-.003" interference fit will stretch the case neck.

 

[JJFitch]

I have a couple hundred 25-06 reloads my father-in-law (RIP) gave me a while back. He mentioned that he was foolish and went beyond the recommended specs and that it caused his bolt to jam after shooting. Sure enough, I went to shoot one of the rounds (I had forgotten that he told me about overloading) and the bolt jammed on me too. I pulled a few bullets and the powder measures a full gain over the max load spec. So I'm going to pull all the bullets and re-reload with the correct powder specs.

I'm thinking I'll need to use the resizing die to expand the case mouth again prior to seating the bullets. However, the shells have good primers in them that the resizing die will punch out.

Is there a way to use the sizing die minus the decapping pin in order to keep the primer? Or should I just carefully (and with eye protection) deprime them just like with fired primers?

Last question - is it a serious 'no-no' to try and reuse the primers? I'd be throwing away a couple hundred primers, but they aren't that expensive.

Thanks!

WOW, a dozen ways to pull bullets! I know what I've had success with!

Once you decide on what works for you, please let us know what you discovered and what you recommend!

Smiles,