Scary brass

[LJH]

Just a small sample of the really screwed up ammo I picked up when scrounging brass from my last range trip. Now I can understand the missing primer, but I catch those when taking them off the press. The one with the primer not seated all the way, well I don’t really understand that so much. And the sideways crushed primer, well….
These are not all, I also found many (loaded) in split, ruptured or crushed brass.

With so many new reloaders I guess this is to be expected, but I didnt expect it to this degree.

 

[Floppy_D]

Partially seated primer was likely due to a military primer pocket that was not fully decrimped... sideways primer could have come from jerky press movements. If you yank the handle upwards on my Dillon 450, sometimes the primer flips sideways.

If you're working with improperly decrimped brass, sometimes you have to push harder than should be needed... and pushing a primer in sideways feels about the same.

All reloaders start somewhere, some without the benefit of a good reloading mentor. I put a handful of primers in sideways before I got the knack down, and I suspect I'm not alone. I learned on a progressive, before I learned that I should learn on a single stage.

 

[jcwit]

One more reason I like the hand squeeze primer tool. Especially the one made by K & M Mach.

 

[fireman 9731]

I bet its a new reloader cranking out ammo on a progressive press for his buddies.

No reloader in his right mind would leave good brass and bullets just laying around!

 

[mousegun380]

That is terrifying.

 

[fatelk]

A couple years ago I found a sideways primer in a box of factory Wolf .223 ammo.

That said, my QC on my own reloads is probably better than Wolf's, at least nowadays. Back when I first started I didn't have anyone to teach me and I did some pretty dumb things.

 

[The Bushmaster]

By the way...That sideways primer will still go off when struck by the firing pin. Talk about blow back.

No...I haven't had that problem happen to me. I have caught all of my sideways primers before I dropped the powder. I was curious though and loaded a sideways primed case in my Ruger and pulled the trigger and it did go off...

 

[ar10]

I pick up thousands of unfired .223 rounds and they're good rounds. (LEO quals, I luv 'em)

 

[Tony Sopranno]

Just one more reason to never, ever, ever, fire someone else's re-loads.

I've been re-loading for a while, but just restarted in earnest more recently. I read every single thing I could find on the subject before doing any re-loading again - starting up again just last year.

And... I still made some mistakes - all rectified before chambering any rounds of course.

Primer'd brass warrants inspection before going to the next stage. I set all my primers by hand; it's the way I first learned to do it back in 1967. And split brass necks... no excuse!

 

[ar10]

Of all the range cases I've ever cleaned .223 split necks are the hardest to spot and out number all the other combined cases by 10:1. I realize .223's are shot the most at the range but I can't figure out why they tend to have so many splits, and many of them are newly fired.

 

[D. Manley]

That's just another case of a careless loader not taking care of business.

 

[Sport45]

I'm wondering how he got that high primer out of the shell holder. I don't know about other progressives, but there's no way that would allow a Dillon 550b to turn.

 

[ar10]

I'm wondering how he got that high primer out of the shell holder. I don't know about other progressives, but there's no way that would allow a Dillon 550b to turn.

I don't own a Dillon and always use a hand primer tool. But I know those pesky little suckers have a mind of their own and sometimes try anything to not be pressed into a case.

 

[Hey_Allen]

Can't really tell from the picture but it could have been a loose pocket that allowed the primer to slip out after the fact.
Or someone was monkeying around with a case that had no primer and stuffed one in it that was sitting there, just finger tight, before tossing it in with the rest of the reject ammo that they weren't going to attempt to fire.

 

[Remo-99]

Sideways primers can occur from time to time with progressive presses, if something's going a miss.

But this should be picked up from a final inspection, when boxing up or packaging the finished rounds, rather than at the range while loading the firearm, which he should be glad of, as you may have found gun pieces or blood on the floor instead of the reject rounds.

 

[HK G3]

Maybe I'm just paranoid and less trusting of others, but it would seem to me like it could possibly be the work of a sociopath?

I mean, your average, clueless/dangerously headstrong reloader would have tried shooting those rounds, and then had their day ruined, but they would not have just left them around for other shooters to find. And it's .223, a really common round for shooters.

Maybe whoever it was wanted someone, who probably didn't even know what reloading was, to find those rounds, pick them up, and chamber them?

 

[Floppy_D]

I'm wondering how he got that high primer out of the shell holder. I don't know about other progressives, but there's no way that would allow a Dillon 550b to turn.

If it was mashed flat, it would still turn. Ask me how I know.

 

[Sport45]

I don't need to ask. I've mashed a few myself in order to remove the case from the shell holder.

I was referring to the one on the right that appears to be about .100" high.

 

[LJH]

I really need a better camera.

Sport45, you are correct the one on the right is just over .10" out, and it dosent show in the picture but it has a nice big dent in the middle of the primer.

I think someone tried to fire these and when they didnt go off, tossed them in the grass.

 

[dispatch55126]

This is why I like my single stage press...even if its slow as dirt. I can personally inspect each case through each process. From sizing, to hand priming, to filling each case, to seating to crimping. With priming, I know exactly the right pressure it takes and can feel when something isn't right. With crimping, I run my finger down the bullet and case mouth before and after to ensure the crimp "feels" right.

 

[Roccobro]

Five bucks say these were cheap reloads bought from an unknown source- rather than a careless reloader.

I bought a few thousand rounds from a "reloading outfit" that were labeled as "blems" on another popular AR site.

About 5% of the rounds had primer problems (backwards or missing all together) and another 5% had brass/bullet problems.

With primers at $.05+/ea, you really think an individual reloader would miss these huge mistakes in their own QC? Yes, it is possible one or two, but as many as the OP says he found?

Justin

 

[Tony Sopranno]

Maybe I'm just paranoid and less trusting of others, but it would seem to me like it could possibly be the work of a sociopath?

I mean, your average, clueless/dangerously headstrong reloader would have tried shooting those rounds, and then had their day ruined, but they would not have just left them around for other shooters to find. And it's .223, a really common round for shooters.

Maybe whoever it was wanted someone, who probably didn't even know what reloading was, to find those rounds, pick them up, and chamber them?

I had similar thoughts too. It's pretty unconscionable to leave little land mines around like that. A responsible re-loader would have brought them to the range's attention. I don't trust many people to do the right thing anymore.

 

[jimmertoons]

I recently picked up about 50 45acp up out of the grass. Of those 50, 7 had high primers, 4 were missing primers, 12 had primers jammed in sideways, and 1 had the bullet in backwards.
Some things defy explaination.