Priming Brass

I know many of us here reload our own rounds in order to gain accuracy and save money and it can also be rewarding and fun.

Before I tell a short story I would like to get a responce on what your set up is and your standard procedure in priming brass.

I know between my best freind and myself we have done 10s of thousands of rounds priming brass and only had a couple that pissed you off because they decided to go in side ways or upside down thus wasting a primer out of a 100 round batch. All in all I always enjoyed the priming stage, that meant all the prepping, sizing and cleaning was done and now it’s prime, powder, drop a bullet and shoot.

My favorite tool – Lee Auto Prime

What equipment do you use and what is your procedure?

JH

Reverse stroke on a Lee classic press, slow and putzy, but I don’t do high volume, quick succession reloading.

Hornady Lock and Load it sets the primer on the upswing and a light push to seat the primer. I have done enough to know what it should feel like when the primer seats correctly. When first starting to use this reloader or any reloader it comes down to experience if the primer is seating correctly by feel.

Putzy somewhat, this was how I ended up doing all the 50BMG rounds using the attachment on the Hornady press but it worked well and the larger primers were easy to handle.

We also had to use this method when working with the Large Magnum Match primers when working with the Cheytac and larger based brass because Lee did not have a insert that was large enough to work in the Lee Auto Primer. The only thing we had were a couple primers that failed to fire that had oil contamination due to contact with handling, more then likely the oil in your skin/hands even though we were careful.

Nothing like pulling the trigger and all you hear is the click of the firing pin. Note if this ever happens always wait a little while then carefully lift and lower the bolt on a bolt gun and try aiming and pulling the trigger again. If it fires your good to go, if it fails again then wait a while again then carefully remove the round and store in a (safe place and direction) until the round can be address in a safe manner.

Causes of primer failure to fire
Oil contamination on primer
Lack of powder in case – yes this does happen to folks
Just a bad primer
Light firing pin strike
Head space issue

Water does not effect primers as some folks think

Note that I mentioned (waiting) a little
There was a fellow in Ohio about 6 years ago that had a new 338LM, the size really does not matter but for what it’s worth he was aiming and pulled the trigger nothing happened so he immediately rocked the bolt and the round went off, the bolt blew out the back because it was no longer locked in the lugs and all Hell broke loose. The bolt ended up taking his thumb off with a few other injuries. Something you never want to see happen.

Most folks don’t realize the power of primers let alone with a powder charge in front of it.

JH

castle-rock-clown wrote:

Reverse stroke on a Lee classic press, slow and putzy, but I don’t do high volume, quick succession reloading.

+1 Always had good luck with this method.

I’ve become very picky on my brass prep, almost to the point of diminishing returns. So when I get to priming, its like a sigh of relief.

Inevitably, we all encounter flyers and that can pizz ya off more than anything. So my priming stage is a sequence of double checks.
Trim length, deburred, another swipe in the neck with a fiber bristle reamer, CLEAR MY BENCH of all other misc stuff, double check my primer box for correct primers, my reloading data sheet I keep for each load, a second check on the pocket and hole, and the correct shell holder.

I still use the hand primer as I like how it feels. When I’m priming brass, I’m usually not in any rush and find it relaxing. I have had short life from Lee equipment and dumped that. I use a RCBS for larger runs like my 22-250, 223s…and a sinclair single feed for a select few loads that I do short runs of a 100 or less.
few thoughts on what i use
RCBS – I found variances in the thickness of the shell holders – so i need to be very careful in which i use in my priming tools (not as critical) and then use in my press. Most critical is the use in the press. The varying thickness with change my seating depth, so I had to paint my shell holder for Press and Priming. Petty, but a huge detail flaw.

Sinclair – SLOW. Single feed and need to “lock” the brass in. Absolutely the most consistent tool I found on the market. Benefits are the extreme accuracy of seating. The tool is completely adjustable squaring the brass and for the knurled head so you can get very precise.

I’ve had a few bad experiences with tube auto feeders and they are not a good fit for me. I know guys who love them and have great results. Again, it just doesn’t match my way of doing things. Most likely the need to feel like I’m in control and the “feel” of setting the primer.

I really like the feel of the hand loaders as well and it is nice to be able to dump a 100 peices of primers in the tray and go.

Here’s a question that I will ponder on, out of everyone that reloads ammo, who can honestly (honestly) say they have always worn safety glasses and maybe gloves.

I can’t

JH

Only when pulling bullets and pressing out “live” primers. Though i do kind of laugh at myself. Save my eyes and loose my hands

The two easiest and most relaxing parts of the complete process from begining to end are pressing primers and pressing bullets for me other then I like the annealing process.

Well two weeks ago I came across a hand primer that allows one to load a tray of primers eliminating having to handle everyone and fairly fast and consistent as to what we have done again 10s of thousands of primers in the past without even thinking about, muscle memory whatever its a simple process.

Very similar to the Lee Auto Prime and the RCBS, but what is sweet about this unit you can use any of your shell holders that you have, this means the Cheytac Tac and VM2 can now be primed as we had done for years with the Lee’s.

So we get it home read the instructions, put in the tray/plunger for large primers grab a box of primers – oh well this one only has 5 primers left, so 5 primers in the tray, grab the shell holder-sweet that fits nice, grab a piece of brass and squeeze the handle.

KA-BOOM holy crap

The very first squeeze and the two of us look at each other like what the heck just happened.

It blew the upper portion to heck
Not a chain reaction like a pack of fire crackers but the whole works right now, and yes we found the caps in the shop blown clean with no pin strike marks so we know these came from the explosion. This was only 5 right there in front of us and it seemed to be equivalent to a 1/4 stick or M80, a few flash burn marks on one hand that stung a little and we both were lucky nothing struck us in the face.

10s of thousands never blinking a eye an easy process. The squeeze was an easy one, felt very normal, we do not have a clue and yes we all know how a primer on its side or upside down feels. Wow well anyways we picked up what was left of the tray and it’s cover. Thats when we noticed the big print Always wear safety glasses when priming.

The company replaced the upper portion and last night I tried the process again, first just one primer then a batch – all works great. Don’t ask me why but I was holding it away about as far as I could hold it scared SH less on the first couple.

We did notice the original plunger left a very slight pin prick mark in the center of the primer and when looking at the plunger there was a rise you could hook with your fingernail that was left in the manufactoring process.

All I can say is wow, something you will never forget, and YES I will be wearing safety glasses more often.

Someone once said that 100 large rifle magnum primers are equivalent to a stick of dynamite, not sure if it’s true but 5 close up was something I’m not wanting to do gain, and I like like things that go bang.

JH

I bought a used lever action rifle and wanted to test the trigger and firing mechanism including firing pin strike. I loaded a primer into an empty brass, chambered, and fired outside. I was mildly surprised by the muzzle flash and report sounding like a 22. The firing test was good and I have a very nice older rifle, but what impressed me was the power in a single primer. As a side note, the barrel was perfectly clean before the test and after just 1 primer only shot, it was a black, sooty patch that exited the bore. Primer residue is dirty, I don’t care what the box says.

Jh, I had a burr in a Lee unit. Fortunately it was low enough that the primer didn’t fall into place. Never had that happen, but will be extra carefull. Thank god no serious injuries

If I’m loading bulk 223, or handgun, I use my Lee auto prime. If it’s for the 22.250, I use my co-ax press. I’ve had that for over 30 yrs,best $100 bucks I’ve EVER spent!

I don’t really enjoy priming cases, it’s one of those steps to get through in high volume and as quickly as possible for me. I cycle through a lot of loads during the course of a year, so I tend to do hundreds in one session just to get it done, even if I’m not going to reload the cases right away.

I use an RCBS hand primer for everything except .223. The RCBS has the universal base that holds all brass with no change of shell holder. It’s fast and that’s all I want.

For .223, I have so many different makes of case and despite repeated de-crimping, some of the pockets remain so tight it just makes hand priming a PITA. So fore .223, I go old school and bust out the RCBS Rockchucker and the auto-feed primer tubes.

With the primer feed tube, it’s pretty close to as fast as the hand primer and the additional leverage makes those tight pockets no problem.

Grouse

Jeff Heeg wrote:

Someone once said that 100 large rifle magnum primers are equivalent to a stick of dynamite, not sure if it’s true but 5 close up was something I’m not wanting to do gain, and I like like things that go bang.

JH

I have a dillon XL650 that I reload anything from 380 pistol ammo to 300 remington ultra mag on.
several years ago,I had an entire stack of magnum rifle primers detonate in the primer tube,120 of them to be exact,it was my fault,I had loaded over two hundred rounds of 300 rum when it didnt feel right as one primer was standing on its side when I cycled the lever and it went off setting off the remaining primers,it shot the the primer follower up through a two thousand dollar scale model airplane that I had flown the day before,the low primer indicator was destroyed as well as inner primer tube,the outer primer tube was not affected at all.

this was in a twelve by twelve shed were I keep my r/c planes and reloading stuff,if you want to talk about loud,you dont have a clue,I stood there not moving for a moment,I moved all of my fingers to see if they were still there,then checked my vision,while my ears were ringing,I looked at all of digits which were still intact looking for blood and checked my arms.

I could still see okay so I started checking other things out,other than the pain in my ears,I was okay,but the sheet rock in my ceiling had a small hole in it as well as the plane.
the primer follower looked like a cork screw and there was small plastic bits of the low primer indicator every where.
I called dillon and explained what happened,I even gave them my card number to order the parts that I had destroyed.

two days later,a complete primer station showed up with no charge for the parts and or freight,their no bs guarantee is spot on even though it was my fault.
I can only attest to the quality of the build of their primer stations ability to withstand such a blast to my fortunate health body wise.

I now wear safety glasses and hearing protection even though I am quite confident that I dont need it,but you never know,I am only human and will screw up again of that I am sure.
as others have said,take your time,loading is fun and rewarding,and it helps having high quality equipment that is designed to protect you and your well being.

as far as that many primers being equal to a stick of dynamite,the power isnt there,but the noise sure is! but that is an unconfined space,if you were to make a bomb out of them,that may be a different story.

side note: I patched up the 300XS model plane and flew it two days later,if someone wants to see pix of the inner primer tube and what happened to it,I still have it and will post it along with the primer follower,I keep them as a reminder to not be in a hurry.