.223 Snafu

[Twraska]

Bought a bunch of range brass. Cleaned it up, swayed and trimmed it. Went to reload it and a BUNCH of it has shallow primer pockets. The primers won’t go flat with the base, much less a couple thousands below flush. Instead of .120 ish deep, they are .090-.100 with some even shallower. I know you can clean them with a tool but we are talking taking forever to do it.

So, my question is….. does anyone make a much shorter primer? Or is there a ‘metric’ or other oddball primer size?

FYI, this is plinking and general shootin’ rounds, not trying to get super precise.

 

[shootist~]

A. What brand(s) of brass are we talking about?
B. You can put a p.pocket uniforming tool in an electric screwdriver or drill to speed things up. Still a pain, but often necessary.

AFAIK, there are no short primers.

I also bought bulk range brass, once.

 

[rdog]

S & B brand brass & ammo have shallow primer pockets , easily fixed with a primer pocket uni former.

 

[Twraska]

S & B brand brass & ammo have shallow primer pockets , easily fixed with a primer pocket uni former.

I know you can fix it but it takes a LONG time to do so. That pocket uniformer is not made to machine off .020 while holding the case in your fingers. What primer did they use at the factory that will fit the shallow pocket?

 

[UpNorthMI]

I've had mixed experiences with buying range brass in 223 / 5.56, I hate processing mixed 223 brass, crimped primers, very tight primer pockets etc. I recently purchased "processed" 223 brass from several sources. The processed 223 brass from North East Reloading was the best I have ever used, I just loaded over 1,500 rounds of this brass, I rejected one case from 1,500 due to a burr on a rim made by an extractor / ejector, the other 1499 rounds went in my case gauge with no issues and were processed extremely well. All primer pockets had been de-crimped and made uniform, they reprimed very smoothly.

Another once fired case source sold me "processed" brass that was not processed very well, 30% would not fit into my case gauge block!

North East Reloading can be found at nereloading.com

My favorite case / ammo checker:

Case Gauge Ammo Checker 5.56 x 45mm NATO 7-hole

Check your 5.56 x 45mm NATO ammo with Evolution Gun Works’ durable Case Gauge. Precision-engineered from 6061 T6 aluminum for reliable performance and long-lasting use.

egwguns.com

 

[rdog]

I know you can fix it but it takes a LONG time to do so. That pocket uniformer is not made to machine off .020 while holding the case in your fingers. What primer did they use at the factory that will fit the shallow pocket?

I do not know, i have purchased both small and large S&B primers & they are tight & do not fit into their brass i have a K&S primer pocket uni-former that is driven by a cordless drill use a little wd40 as lube it fixes the pockets so any brand primer seats with ease. i have a lot of S&B 7x57 6.5x55 8x57 & 9.3x62 brass.