coloradokevin
Member
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2008
- Messages
- 3,285
Okay, I'm finally back to reloading, now that I have enough primers to comfortably load again. Tonight I decided to prime a bunch of .223 brass that I had previously prepped (I used CCI small rifle primers).
The brass was all once-fired Federal brass (FC headstamp), and each piece had been fired through an AR-15. After sizing and processing this brass, the primer pockets were all swaged with a Dillon "Super Swage 600" to remove the military crimp.
This is my first attempt at loading swaged brass in this caliber, and I'm having a few issues. On some of the pieces the priming process went just as it has on every piece of commercially purchased brass I have previously loaded. However, this wasn't true across the board:
-A number of pieces required considerable force to seat a primer, almost behaving as a piece of brass would if you had tried to seat a primer without first removing the military crimp.
-A number of pieces had pockets that were so loose that the primer practically just fell into the pocket, requiring virtually no contact with the handle on my loading press (A Lee Classic Turret).
-A few pieces had loose pockets when the primer was first being seated, but then left the primer seated high. To finish seating the primer to an appropriate depth on these pieces then required a considerable amount of force.
-Finally, one piece required a good bit of force to seat the primer, but the primer then hung loosely from the primer pocket (I could push it in and out with my finger, though it wouldn't come back out of the primer pocket).
So, with those issues highlighted, can anyone tell me where I might have gone wrong in this process? I strive for consistency in my handloads, and I don't seem to be getting it during this particular process. Is it an issue with my brass, my swager, my technique, my primers, or maybe something else entirely?
The brass was all once-fired Federal brass (FC headstamp), and each piece had been fired through an AR-15. After sizing and processing this brass, the primer pockets were all swaged with a Dillon "Super Swage 600" to remove the military crimp.
This is my first attempt at loading swaged brass in this caliber, and I'm having a few issues. On some of the pieces the priming process went just as it has on every piece of commercially purchased brass I have previously loaded. However, this wasn't true across the board:
-A number of pieces required considerable force to seat a primer, almost behaving as a piece of brass would if you had tried to seat a primer without first removing the military crimp.
-A number of pieces had pockets that were so loose that the primer practically just fell into the pocket, requiring virtually no contact with the handle on my loading press (A Lee Classic Turret).
-A few pieces had loose pockets when the primer was first being seated, but then left the primer seated high. To finish seating the primer to an appropriate depth on these pieces then required a considerable amount of force.
-Finally, one piece required a good bit of force to seat the primer, but the primer then hung loosely from the primer pocket (I could push it in and out with my finger, though it wouldn't come back out of the primer pocket).
So, with those issues highlighted, can anyone tell me where I might have gone wrong in this process? I strive for consistency in my handloads, and I don't seem to be getting it during this particular process. Is it an issue with my brass, my swager, my technique, my primers, or maybe something else entirely?