[DrLogik]

Apologize if this has been covered before...

I used to run into this onzy twozy but I had probably 20 cases out of 300 range brass and each of the 20 the primer did not seat in my 550C. Each case had a Winchester head stamp but closer inspection I see a reddish ring on the outside rim of the primer pocket. Other Winchester brass I picked up don't have this and neither did the other brand head stamps I picked up.

When I try to seat the primer it is met with resistance so I stop, pull the case and set it aside. Have any of you encountered some Winchester cases that did this, and/or have a slight reddish red ring around the primer pocket? Are these maybe some weird military brass with a primer crimp of some kind?

 

[FTMFXR]

Do you uniform your pockets? Several great tools on the market.

 

[GRR]

The red is usually a sealer. Crimped pockets can have a sealer but have a lip around the pocket. Attached picture.

 

[DrLogik]

GRR,

That's what the 20 Winchester brass pockets look like. Were these factory crimped? Do you have any history or info on who makes these, who sells them, etc. They are quite a PITA and not worth swaging, at least for me they aren't.

 

[Rock_Crawler_Jeep]

Look at the pic in Post #3. Do your cases have the inner depressed ring?
If not, just use your chamfer tool to clean up the sealer in the pocket.

 

[FTMFXR]

What I use except put the reamer in a drill

Hornady Primer Pocket Reamer Package

The Hornady Primer Pocket Reamer Package is perfect for quickly removing the military crimp from primer pockets. Notes: This package comes with both...

www.midwayusa.com

 

[GRR]

GRR,

That's what the 20 Winchester brass pockets look like. Were these factory crimped? Do you have any history or info on who makes these, who sells them, etc. They are quite a PITA and not worth swaging, at least for me they aren't.

Yes they are factory crimped. Usually a military round. Ammo manufacturers make them under contract to the government. I think civilians get them as military surplus. I don’t know which manufacturers have supplied them.

 

[DrLogik]

GRR,

Yeah I figured. I guess I'll be doing head stamp checks from now on...

 

[FTMFXR]

So you’ll sacrifice perfectly good brass because of one preparation step?
You won’t want to get into 223/5.56 reloading then.

 

[Rock_Crawler_Jeep]

Seriously, if all you're dealing with is a handful of cases every hundred or so, it's silly to not deal with them.
A few seconds per case, done one time, and you never deal with it again.

 

[GRR]

So you’ll sacrifice perfectly good brass because of one preparation step?
You won’t want to get into 223/5.56 reloading then.

I’ve got 5 gallon buckets full of 9mm pick up brass.The few military crimp pieces I get go in the trash.

 

[dresserisland]

Yes I have encountered that exact same thing. When I can feel it when using my Lee hand primer. It's always a Win case with red around the pocket.

 

[FTMFXR]

Winchester is contract manufacturer at Lake City so they may be putting milspec out on the street.

 

[9x45]

WIN does manufacture MIL SPEC brass. Just set them aside and swage the crimp. MIL brass is a few grains heavier because of the thicker brass. RCBS Primer Pocket Swager Combo 2

 

[sciolist]

These come in waves for me, like other range brass characteristics. Usually not sure of the exact sources, but I associate them with 3Gun and some LE stuff.

The swage on the 1050 generally takes care of them. I had a few problem cases at one point, adjusted the swage, and now it seems to be 100% effective. Cutting a case in half makes it easier to see what's going on with the die.

 

[Matteo1371]

I always sort those out and remove the crimp. Then it’s no longer a concern.

 

[p.d.]

I always sell them to the recycling center, then they make me money instead of costing me time and money.

 

[DrLogik]

Thanks everyone! Like GRR I have two 5 gallon buckets of mostly 9mm brass. It's not worth my time to swage these casings now but I will probably hang on to them though. When I accumulate enough to justify the effort I'll swage them all in one go.

 

[Jim]

About six years ago I had several thousand rds of Winchester .380 ammo, made around the same time but different lot numbers. It all fired correctly, but when I went to reload the cases they all required more effort to seat the Winchester SP primer than normal, and maybe 10% of them the primer could not be seated to be flush with the brass. If I used enough force to seat the primer flush, it would end up being "mashed".
The same box of primers seated normally in other brands of brass.
The Winchester cases did not have a primer crimp, and even if I slightly funneled the opening of the primer pocket to help the primer get started, it would still jam before being fully seated.
Just another mystery.

 

[fredj338]

So you’ll sacrifice perfectly good brass because of one preparation step?
You won’t want to get into 223/5.56 reloading then.

Only range brass a sort is 9mm. Most foreign brands wont take 147 without a small bulge That hampers chambering. So i toss back most foreign stuff. Its not perfectly good if it doesnt work for the reloader.