So I'm loading some 223 last night on a Dillon 550. Been having problems with the "fully processed brass" in that the primer pockets were not swaged very well and about 10-15% wouldn't prime. I was reading through some old reloading posts about the best/fastest way to remove the crimp and after PM'ing Eddie, settled on the Weldon bit. Ordered the Weldon bit, got it in and chucked it up in my drill press and effortlessly and beautifully removed the crimps from several hundred pieces of brass in pretty short time.
Now the brass is priming smoothly as it should. I was loading using Federal Gold Medal AR Match primers and when loading up my flip tray, noticed one or two primers were empty. The cup had a greenish priming compound in it but no "anvil" or whatever that little tri-disk looking thing is in the cup over the priming compound. I figured, ehh, it happens, discarded the bad primer, checked the others carefully and loaded up the tube and set up for another round.
Halfway through, I lower the ram to prime and "POP!" with a bright flash of light. There was no resistance, clunking or chunking, nothing forced and nothing felt out of place. I thought maybe a bit of debris had gotten on top of the priming ram/nipple and under the primer, but further inspection revealed that to not be the case. I wondering if I got a bad batch of primers or this was just one of those "gonna happen one day" type things. I've loaded 100's of thousands of rounds and never experienced a malfunction like this.
Anyway, that's a long winded way to say be careful, despite your best efforts to be safe and adhere to all safety practices, stuff happens.
Now the brass is priming smoothly as it should. I was loading using Federal Gold Medal AR Match primers and when loading up my flip tray, noticed one or two primers were empty. The cup had a greenish priming compound in it but no "anvil" or whatever that little tri-disk looking thing is in the cup over the priming compound. I figured, ehh, it happens, discarded the bad primer, checked the others carefully and loaded up the tube and set up for another round.
Halfway through, I lower the ram to prime and "POP!" with a bright flash of light. There was no resistance, clunking or chunking, nothing forced and nothing felt out of place. I thought maybe a bit of debris had gotten on top of the priming ram/nipple and under the primer, but further inspection revealed that to not be the case. I wondering if I got a bad batch of primers or this was just one of those "gonna happen one day" type things. I've loaded 100's of thousands of rounds and never experienced a malfunction like this.
Anyway, that's a long winded way to say be careful, despite your best efforts to be safe and adhere to all safety practices, stuff happens.
