What am I doing wrong?

jdrslyr75 · Post by **jdrslyr75** » 29 Dec 2013 11:08

Yesterday I resized/deprimed 50 .223 Rem. cases. They were Peters (PMC) and Federal cases, all of which were fired once by me in my gun from factory new boxes of ammo. Of the 50, seven of the primer cups had the "head" separate, allowing the anvil to fall out of the case, leaving the rest of the primer cup stuck in the case. These are all commercial .233, not military 5.56, and no crimp is evident on the primer pocket. The primers are however sealed with a red substance. Should I be doing something to remove this sealer before depriming? By the way, of the 7 cases that this happened to, 4 were PMC and 3 were Federal. Any advice or insights would be appreciated. I do not want to throw away 7 pieces of brass if I can help it!

Post by **Ranch Dog** » 29 Dec 2013 11:51

These seven cases, did you try resizing them again or running them through a decapper die?

jdrslyr75 · Post by **jdrslyr75** » 29 Dec 2013 12:28

I don't have a stand alone decapper die so they went through my standard resizing die. I guess my question is about technique: should I run the case into the die quickly, slowly, etc. I just want to make sure there is nothing that I could improve on to keep this from happening. In the meantime, I am going to try to remove the primer cup walls from the brass without destroying it. I'm thinking a little heat from a propane torch will soften the sealer and expand the pocket enough to remove the primer remains. If it doesn't work, I am just out 7 pieces of brass (which can't be used as is anyway) so no big deal

Post by **Ranch Dog** » 29 Dec 2013 15:02

jdrslyr75 wrote:I don't have a stand alone decapper die so they went through my standard resizing die. I guess my question is about technique: should I run the case into the die quickly, slowly, etc. I just want to make sure there is nothing that I could improve on to keep this from happening. In the meantime, I am going to try to remove the primer cup walls from the brass without destroying it. I'm thinking a little heat from a propane torch will soften the sealer and expand the pocket enough to remove the primer remains. If it doesn't work, I am just out 7 pieces of brass (which can't be used as is anyway) so no big deal

Just be careful of the amount of heat applied as it could make the brass unsafe to shoot. I would suggest a hairdryer vs. a torch to limit the amount of heat applied.

jdrslyr75 · Post by **jdrslyr75** » 29 Dec 2013 15:08

Good suggestion. I figured if I ruined the brass with a torch, I would be no worse off than I already am, but the hair dryer idea is much better. Thanks RD!

Post by **daboone** » 29 Dec 2013 19:19

I check the expander/decapping rod to see if it's properly adjusted. It might be just a tad to short to completely push out the primer.

Post by **Ranch Dog** » 29 Dec 2013 21:13

jdrslyr75 wrote:Good suggestion. I figured if I ruined the brass with a torch, I would be no worse off than I already am, but the hair dryer idea is much better. Thanks RD!

A torch is capable of annealing the brass, not a good idea for the case head.

Post by **daboone** » 29 Dec 2013 21:55

Am I missing something here? Are these primer actually sealed in? I've never seen anything like that in commercial ammo.

jdrslyr75 · Post by **jdrslyr75** » 30 Dec 2013 08:44

The decapper is good to go. What is happening is the cup of the primer is tearing off allowing the anvil to fall from the primer pocket but leaving the walls of the cup still in the pocket. The primers are sealed with markron or a similar compound to prevent moisture contamination and not all ammo has the primer sealed. I have some S & B 9mm with sealed primers and some .223 by various manufacturers with sealed primers. Not all ammo manufacturers use it though

Post by **Maximumbob54** » 30 Dec 2013 12:00

I almost want to promise you if you look close enough they are crimped in place. Sometimes it's hard to see. I don't remember PMC but I know all the Federal brass I've processed lately has a slight crimp. I bit the bullet about a year ago and bought a Dillon Super Swage 600 and wow I don't regret that purchase one bit. I now run all my .223 brass through it at least once if it was crimped or not. It makes it soooooo much easier to seat the primers giving them all a uniform feel when starting them into the pocket. As a side note, I run all my brass dirty through a Lee universal decapping die and then tumble them clean before sizing them. It's slow but it makes for really good ammo.

Lee Loader

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