Stuck primers problem

[John Hill]

I have been reloading a lot of 38 special ammo and have found a lot of brass doesn't release the primer when run through the resizer/depriming die (Lee). The stuck primers just punch and tear out the center of the old primer and leave the walls of the old primer still stuck in the primer pocket. These have happened in several different brand of cases, not just one. I don't know the origin of the cases in question.
Has anyone else had this problem? Any known solution? Any way to remove the stuck primer walls in order to continue to reuse the brass?
Thanks
John

 

[Clovishound]

Are they S&B headstamped? I have a few S&Bs scrounged at the range. The primers came out easily enough, but had to ream the pocket mouths slightly to get the new ones to seat. I guess they were crimped primers originally. I suppose some really hard crimped primers might exceed the strength of the primer cup itself.

 

[jepp2]

I have only encountered that in some foreign 5.56 brass. And only on a few of those. I just tossed them. Not enough to deal with and no easy way I could see to remove the cylindrical portion of the primer left in the pocket.

 

[Engineer1911]

Bad primer pocket = scrap brass

Life is too short to "fix" primer pockets.

 

[moxie]

Check how far your decap pin is protruding from the bottom of your sizer die. It should only stick out about 3/16". Counterintuitively, if it sticks out too much it will give results like you are getting.

 

[SMSgt]

Can't remember where I saw a similar problem or fins it now, but the shape of the end of the depriming pin has something to do with punching thru the primer. It needs to be rounded, not squared off. The depth of the pin will only cause the primer not to clear the pocket if not deep enough.

 

[jwalts27]

i have the same issue with S&B brass. i just toss them. Mainly only the 9mm. never had a problem loading 40sw

 

[Trooperdan]

Is it possible this brass has been wet-tumbled? If allowed to dry slowly, the primers can corrode and stick badly in the pocket./

 

[Paul5388]

If the problem was with a cartridge that was a little more rare than .38 Special, I might spend some time on the issue. However, since .38 Special brass is so common, just let it go and move on to the next one.

 

[venomballistics]

Bad primer pocket = scrap brass

Life is too short to "fix" primer pockets.

true for the most part.
One should still have the means on hand to do so none the less.
when all else is loaded and the urge to try something new rears its head ... these little problems can be quite annoying

 

[Paul5388]

See if you have an EZ out that's close to the correct size and try that, even if you have to screw it in and then use a decapping pin to drive it all out.

 

[Maximumbob54]

I'm finding more and more brass these days that has crimped in primers. I've read that the new "green" lead free primers have issue with backing out and thus we will see more crimped primer pockets but I don't know if that is the full truth if at all. But I do have a .45 ACP with a large primer pocket that has a crimp. That's the first one of those I've ever seen. I've seen plenty of the new small primer .45 ACP but I've not seen any of them crimped.

 

[sophie]

Most of the people that I read that has this problem are using Lee decap/sizing dies. I have owned RCBS 38/357 dies for over 30 years and have never had this problem. I don't know what the difference is since I have not owned the Lee brand but there could be a difference in the primer push out pin size. I have never ran onto crimped primer pockets in .38 special but from what I read there are some out there and that could be a problem. I have reloaded WW 9mm brass with crimped primers and still have not punched thru the spent primer with the decap/sizer die even though they are a little tough to push out. Then I do a slight deburr of the primer pocket and don't have a problem with the new primer. All of my die sets are RCBS simply because that is what I bought to begin with. My press is an old RCBS jr one at a time. Just my 2 cents.

 

[John Hill]

I dry tumbled all of my brass. All of the bad ones seemed to be corroded around the sides of the primer pocket. I am not worried about the expense of losing some brass to bad rounds but am real curious as to what has happened. I have turned on my wood lathe a wooden collet that will hold the brass square in a 4 jaw chuck. I plan on spraying the primer pockets with Kroil, let it soak then try to get a drill bit to barley cut it and see if they release.
John

Is it possible this brass has been wet-tumbled? If allowed to dry slowly, the primers can corrode and stick badly in the pocket./

 

[Jboutfishn]

All I use is once fired .223 military brass. Some of the South Korean brass is really crimped and the first reloading can be a real challenge. I use the Lee universal decapping die and to date have been successful at getting all primers out.

 

[Jboutfishn]

Bad primer pocket = scrap brass

Life is too short to "fix" primer pockets.

Depends. I use a Lyman Case Prep Xpress to make quick work of primer pocket issues unless the pocket is totally destroyed.