Primer pocket prep on pistol brass

adweisbe

adweisbe

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I have a real tough time seating primers on my Dillon Square Deal B so I have been looking into decapping on a Lee hand press (got it and started decapping) and then tumbling to see if I can clean the primer pocket a little. Once I get some money together I am also going to buy some prep tools from midway, and I am not sure what to get. I am thinking of the EJS primer pocket uniformer and the Lee primer pocket brush. What would you recommend? Should I look into powered tools to clean and ream the pockets quickly? Right now I am not doing a very high volume, I only need to load 600 or so rounds a month so I can spend quite a bit of time preparing brass.

I am also looking into setting up a Lee challenger with the auto prime 2 so I can prime on the downstroke with a consistent setting. I already have the challenger generously donated by EddieCoyle and the auto prime 2 is 12 dollars or so. I am really impressed with Lee equipment, the hand press is great.
 
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I just use an RCBS brush on a drill or sometimes I'll do them by hand. I bought a pocket uniformer but it doesn't clean them.
 
I use one of These I just chuck it up in my drill, and put a piece of wire to hold the trigger down. After I decap the brass, I will just touch the primer pocket into that cleaner, and it's all clean.

I only do this to my brass, ever 6th or 7th loading, as needed. A good tumbling after the brass has been decapped will usually do the trick.

Adam
 
Federal primers a a little softer than some others and will work well in the SDB.
Decap before tumble to clean the pockets.
The little Lee tool does a fair job of cleaning the pockets. I'd use it in a variable speed drill motor, if doing large numbers of cases.
Personally, I've never bothered to clean the pockets of pistol brass, aside from tumbling.
 
Any recommendations on what drill I should get? I don't currently have a drill.
 
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Don't load for pistol, but these work slick for all my rifle stuff. I use a cordless screwdriver. Best to get one with a battery pack and charging stand so you can switch out instead of having to plug it in.

B
 
adweisbe said:
Any recommendations on what drill I should get? I don't currently have a drill.
Click to expand...

I use the Ryobi 18V battery drill from Home Depot. I am real tough on battery tools and have had Makita, Dewalt, Milwaukee, and Craftsman and find the Ryobi the best bang for the cheap buck they cost.

As for the primer pockets, what kind of brass?? I had a lot of trouble with S&B once fired.

Regards,
 
Every kind, I pick up anything in sight. Mostly Winchester with some S&B, Remington, Speer etc. mixed in. There are also headstamps I don't recognize like TMZ.
 
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No cleaning of the primer pocket should be necessary in order to seat primers with no more than ordinary force, with commercial brass. If you have having problems, my first reaction is that your brass may be military, with a bit of a primer crimp that should be swaged out. (There is a prior thread on this forum about primer pocket swages; I like the RCBS, while others swear by the Dillon.) Primer pocket swaging only needs to be performed the first time the case is reloaded.

Beyond that, you may have an alignment problem with your priming tool, which should be examined closely.

I would not simply ream out pockets to cure some other problem.
 
drill

adweisbe, a 120volt dewalt would do just fine. yes they need electricity
but they don't need batteries and will last a very long time. Battery drills
are great if you need portability, but the batteris cost more than the drill.

Find a way to mount it and your good to go.

JimB
 
JimB said:
adweisbe, a 120volt dewalt would do just fine. yes they need electricity
but they don't need batteries and will last a very long time. Battery drills
are great if you need portability, but the batteris cost more than the drill.

Find a way to mount it and your good to go.

JimB
Click to expand...
Do the newer drills spark at the brushes like my old one?
I wouldn't want anything like that near gunpowder. [shocked]
 
I don't have a SDB, but if the priming station is like the 550 I would suggest checking the alignment of the decap and priming bars. I've found that the collar will get clogged every couple of thousand rounds. Usually at that point I will just break down the machine for a clean, lube and inspection.

I've also had problems with S&B brass to the point where I will cull them out while brass farming and during brass inspection after tumbling.
 
JimB said:
Find a way to mount it and your good to go.

JimB
Click to expand...


That's why I love my 18V Ryobi. The battery has a large enough surface area that the drill stands up on it's own. I just simply put my hand on the top of the drill to steady it, and use my other hand to feed the primer pocket into the cleaner.

To each his own....

Adam
 
I'm with RKG that you should not have to do that, I'd call Dillon.

On the other hand, I'm a tool guy, I highly recommend the new Bosch pocket driver. I've been using it a lot more lately than my cordless drill, and since it takes a 1/4" hex bit, it works great with my Sinclair case prep tools. On bench top drill press is a good thing have too.
 
I will see if decapping before tumbling does the trick. The thing is that most of them go in easy, but there are some at random that require a lot of force and still don't seat quite right.
 
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Hold everything! In a properly set up press there should be no problems seating primers, unless the primers are the problem. I had a lot of trouble using CCI primers in my progressive presses many years ago and switched to WW which cured the problem. I have heard that CCI has taken steps to cure this problem, but never checked because I was too happy with my WW and Federal primers. The brass could be a problem (crimped primers) but this crimping is easy to ID as there should be a ring around the primer pocket. This type of brass is also rather rare.

I would visually examine the brass for the evidence of crimped primer pockets. If the brass is OK I would try WW or Federal primers. If this doesn't work, the press may need adjustment; check yor manual. You should not have to clean your primer pockets; I have been reloading for almost 30 years and have never cleaned a primer pocket.
 
Gammon said:
Hold everything! In a properly set up press there should be no problems seating primers, unless the primers are the problem. I had a lot of trouble using CCI primers in my progressive presses many years ago and switched to WW which cured the problem. I have heard that CCI has taken steps to cure this problem, but never checked because I was too happy with my WW and Federal primers. The brass could be a problem (crimped primers) but this crimping is easy to ID as there should be a ring around the primer pocket. This type of brass is also rather rare.

I would visually examine the brass for the evidence of crimped primer pockets. If the brass is OK I would try WW or Federal primers. If this doesn't work, the press may need adjustment; check yor manual. You should not have to clean your primer pockets; I have been reloading for almost 30 years and have never cleaned a primer pocket.
Click to expand...


This observation tends to reinforce my suspicion that there may be an alignment problem with the progressive tool's priming mechanism. I, too, have been reloading for more than 30 years, use an RCBS auto priming tool (http://www.rcbs.com/default.asp?menu=1&s1=4&s2=5&s3=45), use CCI primers exclusively, and have never had a problem.

Until recently, I also thought that crimped primers could always be detected either by a swage ring around the primer pocket or three stake marks around the primer pocket. Not too long ago, however, I encountered some 9mm Luger brass (I now forget the headstamp) that plainly had crimped primers with no visual indication on the case.
 
In the Dillon forum, people having priming problems are usually told to make sure they have the press bolted down really well, with either a lot of weight on the bench or the bench bolted to the wall.
 
The press and bench are secure and weighted down. If I grab the press in one hand and handle in the other and squeeze them together really hard it is still not enough to seat some of the primers and this is with Winchester brass and primers. The issue is that excessive force is required to seat some primers and others slip in with no force at all and it varies widely. Sometimes they will slip in part of the way and it will feel like I did it right but they end up high. The only way to get it all the way in is to grab the press in one hand and handle in the other. The bench is weighted down by 2,000 .45 bullets and 2,500 9MM bullets. The force required to seat is definitely excessive and it varies with the brass unpredictably. I do not have any difficulty with the small primer assembly, I can count the number of high primers on one hand that I have loaded in 9. Maybe it is time to call Dillon.
 
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Sounds like the bench is good. I'd call them, its free.

Are the primers that won't go in easily distorted? Is there an adjustment to check on whatever holds the shell in the shell plate? That would change going from 9mm to .45 and could mess it up.
 
The square deal B uses a different shell plate and locator button to position the case. I have never verified that the combo I am using is correct, I bought the press used. I am not sure what you mean by distorted. When would I see if they are distorted? They generally go in but are high.
 
I mean if you stop short of seating it right when you feel it to be difficult and look at the unseated primer to see if the edges of the primer are distorted.
 
The variability in seating ease that you report with the same make of brass and primers tends strongly to suggest a press issue.

I'm not an expert in Dillon progressives, but it sounds to me like either the shell plate is not uniformly centering the case or the primer tool is loose.
 
RKG said:
I'm not an expert in Dillon progressives, but it sounds to me like either the shell plate is not uniformly centering the case or the primer tool is loose.
Click to expand...
After talking it out here I am beginning to agree with you. It also only happens on the large primer assembly. The press is old and has seen it's share of rounds. I am thinking of moving priming off press anyways to avoid filling primer tubes.
 
When I get high primers its from a used primer that fell between the shell plate and the press, not allowing the shell plate to all the way down.. I'm not sure how the Dillon works so this may not be of any help
 
I looked on the BrianEnos Dillon forum before lunch (sorry, didn't copy the link) and someone with a similar problem tightened the shellplate, took a burr off they found on the shellplate, and checked the "nipple" that the primers pass through and had no further problems. He described the "nipple" as a plastic cup the seating punch passed through that could have burrs (red plastic). A loose shellplate wouldn't hold the case in place correctly above the primer punch, accounting for the difficulty to insert and the high primers.
 
An old Square Deal, correct? Is it a B model? Early Square Deals would have either the handle crack, or a link arm crack. Resulting in....you guessed it, inconsistant priming. Call Dillon, they will have an answer or tell you to send it back to them for repair.
 

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