Decapping tearing apart old primers

[G19]

Loaded up some .380ACP on the XL650 using Lee dies. I had several cases where the decapping pin separated the back of the old primer from its body, leaving the walls of the old primer stuck in the case. The brass was purchased in bulk from a guy on another forum who sells pickup range brass.

Anyone run into this? Maybe there was some corrosion that caused the primer walls to bind to the case? What would cause that?

[slavex]

sounds like the brass got wet and sat for an extended period. waaay back I tried washing brass before loading, ended up forgetting a buck for about 2 months, went to use it and ran into this exact problem. Tossed out 5 gallons of brass as a result

[mcracco]

If it is range brass the primer pockets are not crimped so likely slavex is probably correct in saying it is a corrosion issue. I have experienced this with certain batches of military brass but percentage of failures were relatively low.

Assuming you wash/tumble after decap and size, you could try a dab of penetrating oil around the primer on a handful of cases then leave them sit for a day or two. Not a solution for large volume operation but might be tolerable for a couple thousand.

[Intel6]

It is called ringer. There are 2-3 threads on here about them. If you want to search for them you can search my screen name as I posted on them.

[G19]

It is called ringer. There are 2-3 threads on here about them. If you want to search for them you can search my screen name as I posted on them.

Thanks, you nailed it.

sounds like the brass got wet and sat for an extended period. waaay back I tried washing brass before loading, ended up forgetting a buck for about 2 months, went to use it and ran into this exact problem. Tossed out 5 gallons of brass as a result

Ouch!

It was a batch of outdoor range brass, getting/staying wet was probably what happened. Fortunately, it was only a very small % of the cases.

Assuming you wash/tumble after decap and size, you could try a dab of penetrating oil around the primer on a handful of cases then leave them sit for a day or two. Not a solution for large volume operation but might be tolerable for a couple thousand.

It was only ~1% of the cases, and I have more cases from the same batch, so now that I know what's going on, easiest thing is just to toss those cases when they pop up at station 2 (XL650). Edited August 4, 2015 by G19

[jmorris]

One thing I have found over the years is that I never have just one ringer. Seems like when I have one others soon follow.

[Guest]

^^^

My experience, also.

[Bob DuBois]

+ all of the above.

[TDA]

Loaded up some .380ACP on the XL650 using Lee dies. I had several cases where the decapping pin separated the back of the old primer from its body, leaving the walls of the old primer stuck in the case.

You're lucky!

I was loading .45ACP when I hit one. The top of the primer folded open like a tuna can, but didn't break off, jamming the shell plate, breaking the ring indexer on my XL650.

Now I keep a spare ring indexer handy...