Squirrel45 Posted June 27 Share Posted June 27 I have been dealing with this issue for time now but recently getting worse. The issue is that my 38 shorts are having a hard time getting re-primed. About 1 out of 10 are getting crushed/ crunch when seating the new primer. I have just about done everything I can to adjust / replace / tune etc on my 750, problems still present. I bought a swager for my drill and that didn't help. I ran some through my swage-it on my 550 no real effect. I found a few pieces of near new brass and they seated perfectly. No issues nice and smooth. I have about 2,500 pieces that have somewhere around 10 to 15 reloads on them. Some probably have many more but I mixed them all together. My question is would loose primer pockets cause odd seating and is there a gauge for this ? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeBurgess Posted June 27 Share Posted June 27 have the case heads been compressed enough to lose the small chamfer that helps the primer go in ? if so a quick hit with a chamfer tool may get you back in business I ask because I remember seeing an article years ago, where they reloaded the same 9mm(?) case over and over looking for it to lengthen or shorten and found that the case head got shorter over multiple firings until the primer pocket was too short to accept a primer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xjwalt666 Posted June 27 Share Posted June 27 Squirrel, I was talking to another local guy at Niantic Friday night and he was saying something similar to what you're describing. His issue was that the primer pockets weren't round anymore. Do you by chance have a concentricity gauge that you can use to check the roundness of the pockets? He went thru a ton of his brass and a large amount of it has this issue. Might be something to look into if the chamfer is still there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Phil Posted June 27 Share Posted June 27 Squirrel45 There was a thread about this type of issue a few weeks ago. The primer pockets (in my case at least) were too tight to prime. I use the 38 mid (at .900). I swaged mine and have had no trouble since. I felt it was from the larger diameter case head not supported enough and the constant deep seating of the primers torquing it out of round? Don't know but swaging will help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squirrel45 Posted June 27 Author Share Posted June 27 44 minutes ago, xjwalt666 said: Squirrel, I was talking to another local guy at Niantic Friday night and he was saying something similar to what you're describing. His issue was that the primer pockets weren't round anymore. Do you by chance have a concentricity gauge that you can use to check the roundness of the pockets? He went thru a ton of his brass and a large amount of it has this issue. Might be something to look into if the chamfer is still there. Hi Walt this might be the case for sure. I don't have a primer gauge but do have a swager tool for small pockets and Ill check it out. It's not like these are high pressure loads but maybe just repeated use does it to. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squirrel45 Posted June 27 Author Share Posted June 27 1 hour ago, MikeBurgess said: have the case heads been compressed enough to lose the small chamfer that helps the primer go in ? if so a quick hit with a chamfer tool may get you back in business I ask because I remember seeing an article years ago, where they reloaded the same 9mm(?) case over and over looking for it to lengthen or shorten and found that the case head got shorter over multiple firings until the primer pocket was too short to accept a primer. Going to try a heavy chamberfer and see what that does. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squirrel45 Posted June 27 Author Share Posted June 27 22 minutes ago, Dr. Phil said: Squirrel45 There was a thread about this type of issue a few weeks ago. The primer pockets (in my case at least) were too tight to prime. I use the 38 mid (at .900). I swaged mine and have had no trouble since. I felt it was from the larger diameter case head not supported enough and the constant deep seating of the primers torquing it out of round? Don't know but swaging will help. I recall that thread and I thought I had figured it out. However that wasn't the case. Are you using the 600 swager ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squirrel45 Posted June 27 Author Share Posted June 27 1 hour ago, MikeBurgess said: have the case heads been compressed enough to lose the small chamfer that helps the primer go in ? if so a quick hit with a chamfer tool may get you back in business I ask because I remember seeing an article years ago, where they reloaded the same 9mm(?) case over and over looking for it to lengthen or shorten and found that the case head got shorter over multiple firings until the primer pocket was too short to accept a primer. This sounds like the potential issue for sure. I have 500 new cases on the way I'll compare them to some of the worst ones. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Phil Posted June 28 Share Posted June 28 My cases were Starline, fired maybe 10 or 12 times. I began to notice primers seating a bit harder, then more, then almost not seating and considered tossing the whole batch. I have an old RCBS swager for my single stage press. I did lots of about 100 at a time and they all swaged out fine. Oddly enough, I had my 686 Plus bored to 9mm so I am using the 38 cases very little now. I still have some other 38 guns that are moon clipped but not anything that I shoot in competition anymore with that ammo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmer Posted June 28 Share Posted June 28 18 hours ago, Squirrel45 said: Hi Walt this might be the case for sure. I don't have a primer gauge but do have a swager tool for small pockets and Ill check it out. It's not like these are high pressure loads but maybe just repeated use does it to. Thanks These work well. https://ballistictools.com/store/original Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xjwalt666 Posted June 28 Share Posted June 28 On 6/27/2024 at 5:39 PM, Squirrel45 said: Hi Walt this might be the case for sure. I don't have a primer gauge but do have a swager tool for small pockets and Ill check it out. It's not like these are high pressure loads but maybe just repeated use does it to. Thanks He doesn't load hot either. They are light steel challenge loads for a Smith 327 I think he said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xjwalt666 Posted June 28 Share Posted June 28 7 hours ago, Farmer said: These work well. https://ballistictools.com/store/original These are interesting. I was actually going to look around and see if there was anything like this. And if not I was going to make one at work next week just to have in my tool box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmer Posted June 29 Share Posted June 29 1 hour ago, xjwalt666 said: These are interesting. I was actually going to look around and see if there was anything like this. And if not I was going to make one at work next week just to have in my tool box. Just don’t drop them. Mine rolled out of the bag and of course had to land on the gauge end. A little file fixed it but still pissed me off. I just marked the go side green, no-go red in the groove provided. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ysrracer Posted June 29 Share Posted June 29 Axe, and ye shall retrieve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squirrel45 Posted June 30 Author Share Posted June 30 Ok so I measured them up compared to new, they are about .003 undersized. The swager doesn't remove this, also a light chamberfer doesn't either. However, a fairly heavy one does, they all seated fine, along with going bang. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ysrracer Posted June 30 Share Posted June 30 I use a Lyman VLD inside chamfer tool in a drill. Works great. And you can't go too deep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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