Getting a lot of primer 'pull back' .

[ManNamedJed]

I recently started loading .40. I have a bunch of range pickup brass as the local cops use our IPSC range. A good portion of it is nickel SPEER.

I'm having a high number of instances where during sizing/depriming, the primer is pulled back into the case. I can usually feel it on the primer seating stage, and pull it out, but a few sneak through. I always get a little freaked out when I find a round with a spent primer when I run them through the case gage - hafta wonder if it means I created a squib.

Lately I've been getting 4-5 per hundred rounds. Does anyone have any ways to prevent this? It seems to happen most with the nickel Speer (which seem to have kinda loose pockets, as the new primers go in really easy). I think I only had maybe 3 in the last 10,000 rounds of 9mm.

I load with a dillon 650 BTW.

Thanks!

[al503]

Take a dremel, sandpaper, file, or whatever you have and take some material off of the decapping pin on one side only. This will push the spent primer out at enough of an angle to where it won't get pulled back into the case on the upstroke.

Hope I've made sense.

[SixBarSpur]

al503: hadn't actually heard of that approach. Mostly just sanding some off the edges of the

punch pin. Though as my press has been broken in, I've had fewer problems with primer drawback.

MNJ, you say you usually feel it during the seating stage.

I've had the same problem but since it usually doesn't allow full seating travel of the arm, it

results in the new casing not being fully inserted into Station 1. Doesn't this happen to

you? That has been my indicator that I've got a spent primer in the Station 2 case.

None of my 'un-deprimed' cases have made it past station 2, but I've had plenty of unprimed

cases make it round-the-horn on my 650 when I didn't pick up on how 'easy' it was to seat the

primer....the primers weren't getting fed cuz my primer plate pawl was hung up and not returning.

Causes alot of powder to fowl under the shell plate.

Edited January 26, 2010 by SixBarSpur

[ManNamedJed]

al503: hadn't actually heard of that approach. Mostly just sanding some off the edges of the

punch pin. Though as my press has been broken in, I've had fewer problems with primer drawback.

MNJ, you say you usually feel it during the seating stage.

I've had the same problem but since it usually doesn't allow full seating travel of the arm, it

results in the new casing not being fully inserted into Station 1. Doesn't this happen to

you? That has been my indicator that I've got a spent primer in the Station 2 case.

None of my 'un-deprimed' cases have made it past station 2, but I've had plenty of unprimed

cases make it round-the-horn on my 650 when I didn't pick up on how 'easy' it was to seat the

primer....the primers weren't getting fed cuz my primer plate pawl was hung up and not returning.

Causes alot of powder to fowl under the shell plate.

I have not had any problems with a new casing not making it into the shell plate. I don't think you need that part of the arm's movement for that to happen ?

An unprimed case is a whole other problem. If the plate advancer thingy isn't working it could be bent. If you got the spare parts kit there is a spare in there.

[Sarge]

Take a dremel, sandpaper, file, or whatever you have and take some material off of the decapping pin on one side only. This will push the spent primer out at enough of an angle to where it won't get pulled back into the case on the upstroke.

Hope I've made sense.

Do you mean beveled like a hypodermic needle? Or shave the entire length of the pin? I get this problem every great once in awhile.

[al503]

Do you mean beveled like a hypodermic needle? Or shave the entire length of the pin? I get this problem every great once in awhile.

Like a needle. The angle doesn't have to be extreme and the cap doesn't have to be sharp. Take away about 10% off of one side of the decapping pin and you should be good to go.

[Sarge]

Good info. Thanks

[Foxbat]

al503:

MNJ, you say you usually feel it during the seating stage.

I've had the same problem but since it usually doesn't allow full seating travel of the arm, it

results in the new casing not being fully inserted into Station 1. Doesn't this happen to

you? That has been my indicator that I've got a spent primer in the Station 2 case.

Exactly the same here.

[commando57]

Dillon, on the phone, told me to make the primer punch flat with a file on my RCBS dies.

[smokshwn]

The angled solution above works great on the pin when it is aligned. Take a second and make sure that the pin is centered. Once in a great while a case will not be perfectly center and the pin will get bent slightly and cause some pullbacks.

[André]

Dillon dies come with a spring loaded decapping pin to avoid this problem.

[Fireant]

They may be spring loaded, but I still had this problem until I filed an angle on the pin as well.

[jmorris]

I can usually feel it on the primer seating stage, and pull it out, but a few sneak through. I always get a little freaked out when I find a round with a spent primer when I run them through the case gage - hafta wonder if it means I created a squib.

A squib is a live primer and no powder what you are making is a dummy round with powder in it. You can tell when you didn't seat a primer on the 650 easy, when it shows up in the little chute.

[XRe]

Dillon dies come with a spring loaded decapping pin to avoid this problem.

I see this problem with Dillon dies and CCI primers (Speer stuff uses CCI primers). The fix is to just round out the head of the decapping pin a little bit. I wouldn't make the pin have a sharp, hard angle - not sure why Dillon would tell anyone that. It's the hard angle that causes the problem in the first place - it tends to dig into and grab onto the primer, which stays stuck to the tip of the pin. I haven't had to do the "hypodermic angle" thing on any of mine, but that would work fine, too, I imagine - it ends up rounding out parts of the tip, anyway...

[shooter_rob]

I load on a 1050 and have had the same issues. I round/taper the tip and then polish it to knock off any rough edges and it seems to fix my problems. If I bend a pin and have to change it and forget to prep the new pin, I get the same problem. I too have wondered why Dillon never changed the design to prevent this problem.

[3gunnah]

I have run in to the same type of issue with speer brass on my 650. The issue was not so much with pullback as it was with the primer being pushed into a cone shape and not being deprimed at all. The primer would stay in the case and jam up the works when I got to station 2. If it got there at all! I use a lee undersized die and I found I had to move the decapping pin down to fully deprime Speer brass.

[wide45]

I have run in to the same type of issue with speer brass on my 650. The issue was not so much with pullback as it was with the primer being pushed into a cone shape and not being deprimed at all. The primer would stay in the case and jam up the works when I got to station 2. If it got there at all! I use a lee undersized die and I found I had to move the decapping pin down to fully deprime Speer brass.

Lee dies have the same problem. Set the top of the pin flush with the nut. They use a very hard pin, so you need to use a stone or sandpaper to clean up the tip.

[h2osport]

Dillon dies come with a spring loaded decapping pin to avoid this problem.

The spring in the decapping pin is to keep you from bending or breaking your pin if the primer is stuck. It does not keep the primer anvil from sticking to the pin.

I have seen the primers stick to the decapping pin, mostly on once fired speer nickel cases.

Randy

[sirveyr]

Do you mean beveled like a hypodermic needle? Or shave the entire length of the pin? I get this problem every great once in awhile.

Like a needle. The angle doesn't have to be extreme and the cap doesn't have to be sharp. Take away about 10% off of one side of the decapping pin and you should be good to go.

Thanks for this tip. I was having a 20% pullback rate with my newer set of .40 dies and was eating my brain trying to figure out what was happenning. After beveling the tip at a 45 degree angle on one side of the pin and polishing the pin with some fine grit sandpaper, I ran 300 rounds flawlessly.

[rodell]

Do you mean beveled like a hypodermic needle? Or shave the entire length of the pin? I get this problem every great once in awhile.

Like a needle. The angle doesn't have to be extreme and the cap doesn't have to be sharp. Take away about 10% off of one side of the decapping pin and you should be good to go.

Thanks for this tip. I was having a 20% pullback rate with my newer set of .40 dies and was eating my brain trying to figure out what was happenning. After beveling the tip at a 45 degree angle on one side of the pin and polishing the pin with some fine grit sandpaper, I ran 300 rounds flawlessly.

Another "fix" is to use a Lyman decapping pin. They are a little bit smaller and fit the Dillon die just fine. No pullback problems at all.

It seems like the first thing that is recommended is to round off the pin - I wonder why Dillon just doesn't put the profile on them that works best?

Edited November 24, 2010 by rodell

[los]

Sarge - tried what you suggested, sanding a flat spot on one side - minimum amount - definitely helps the issue.  Note - I had previously files the tip flat as others suggested - that helped very little...

 

Again - thanks for sharing...