I was given some 6.5x55 brass that is boxer primed....great I can reload this and use in my Rem. 700 6.5 Swede!

Wrong............it turns out that even though it is boxer primer the flash hole is much smaller than a standard large decapping pin. Broke two pins before I figured THAT one out....Small decapping pins are too large as well.

Anyone else ever see such a thing? Fortunately there are only 20 of them.

Sure is an odd one, in that I cannot deprime them because of the flash hole.

Randy

What is the headstamp of the bad brass?

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S&WCA 1729

You might have to put together a 'hydraulic' deprimer like used for Berdan primers. You fill the case with water, put a dowel in the neck that just fits, and hit it with a hammer. The water pressure forces the primer out.

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Chris
SWCA #2243 SWHF #292

Hardly worth the headache for twenty pieces of brass. Best to scrap it and get good brass.

I shot up 1K of Euro 5.56 and had the same issue. I sold it for a song but if it was a less common item I would have either, set up my drill press and punched out the holes or chucked up a couple of small pins and made them small by filing/sanding them smaller. However with 6.5x55 brass easy to come buy - - Junk it (I shoot 6.5x55 also)

For a long time, back before 6.5x55mm boxer-primed brass was commercially available (except from Norma), I reformed many 6.5 cases from .30-'06 brass. Run the .30-'06 case through the 6.5 FL die, trim to length and turn the neck thinner. The .30-'06 case base is somewhat smaller in diameter than the 6.5, but that is not really a problem. I would wrap a couple of turns of 1/4" wide masking tape around the base to act as a centralizer, allowing concentric case expansion at the first shot. No tape needed thereafter. The formed cases work fine. I even shot sporter-class bench rest using those cases (I had a custom 98 Mauser action with a Douglas heavy barrel chambered in 6.5x55).

Back when neither 6.5X55 rifles or reloading components were commonly encountered in this country, RCBS would tell you that you were well and truly doomed if you did this. You were bound to blow up your rifle, lose an eye, etc. Then came the plethora of 6.5X55mm Swedish Mausers to the U.S. Remington and Winchester began making 6.5X55 brass - with a standard .473" case head and... not a peep from anyone in the industry! Amazing. I related this fact to some people on another forum at the time, and got the 'I've loaded mine many times with Remchester brass with no problems' reply. European brass for this cartridge (and CIP case drawings) call for a .480" case head. The fact that everyone has been using .473" case head brass for decades now doesn't change that.

Use a Flash Hole Uniformer Tool and make the flash hole larger and then deprime.

I formerly loaded some very hot 6.5x55 loads in those reformed .30-'06 cases (mainly from GI brass), and never experienced a case failure. I mean really hot to the point that raising the bolt handle was difficult. The worst 6.5x55 cases I ever used were from Herter's (remember them?). I was getting incipient case head separations on the second shot. That never happened with Norma or reformed .30-'06 cases.

I follow the same procedure in making .303 Savage cases from .30-30 brass. The .30-30 case's base diameter is smaller than that of the .303 Savage case, but using the "masking tape-as-centralizer" for the first shot works well for it too. And there is no need to turn the case neck wall thinner and no need to trim the formed case to length. One of the easiest case conversions ever. There is no reason not to shoot all those old .303 Savage lever action rifles out there for lack of factory ammo. Of course, the .303 Savage and .30-30 do not develop nearly the chamber pressures of the 6.5x55. Lee used to have .303 Savage as a standard die caliber, no idea if they still do. But I am sure that if they don't they could make you a set if you wanted one.

SAAMI 6.5x55 case manufacturing tolerances

Rim diameter .4803 - .010 or .4803 to .4703
Case base diameter .4782 - .008 or .4782 to .4702

SAAMI 6.5x55 chamber dimensions
Chamber base diameter .4794 + .002 or .4794 to .4814

Bottom line, most American made cases run on the small side of tolerances. But nothing is wrong with these American made cases. And the European CIP also has plus and minus manufacturing tolerances.

Below both of these British .303 cases were fired in the same No.4 Enfield rifle, and both are within CIP tolerances.
The Serbian Prvi Partizan case is larger in base diameter and the Greek HXP case is smaller in base diameter.
And you can see the HXP case had further to expand to contact the chamber walls.

Like bigedp51 said, a flash hole uniformer will do this with no problem. My brother ran into this problem with some European .223 brass and he just chucked up his flash hole uniformer in a drill and opened the flash holes up by going through the case mouth, then resizing and depriming them normally. If you don't have a uniformer, you might try finding what size drill bit will fit your normal cases and see if you can do it with the drill bit.

Some bits come with a small diameter "anti-walking" second bit at the tip, and those work fine. It's been awhile, but I once used such a bit (1/4" dia) for flash hole uniforming. I'd clamp the bit in a vise, stick it inside the case, and twist the case. Those bits really do work for hand drill use in drilling metal. They do not walk when you start the drill. Same idea as the pilot bits used with metal lathes to drill starter holes.

I'm just getting started shooting a 6.5 Swede, I had no problems at all finding virgin Winchester brass at very reasonable prices. I wanted to use Norma or Lapua brass because it tends to be more consistent and once again although resorting to Epay I found no issues locating "once fired" brass in both manufacturers at a reasonable price, in lots of 50 or 100. Winchester brass has the thinnest wall and is the only manufacturer that will allow me to get a full 70gr. of 1-1/2 Swiss in a case and still fully seat a 535gr. slug.

"Winchester brass has the thinnest wall and is the only manufacturer that will allow me to get a full 70gr. of 1-1/2 Swiss in a case and still fully seat a 535gr. slug"

In a 6.5x55 case?

Sounds like a black powder load. They like to be compressed, and have bad results if there is a gap between powder and boolit.

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The triple smoker