Primer pocket prep on pistol brass

I switched over and loaded some 9 last night. There is no comparison between how easy it is to seat the small primers compared to the large ones in .45. There has got to be something wrong with the shell plate, locator buttons, or large primer assembly.

[EDIT]
Called dillon this morning. The guy I talked to said that the brass was the likely culprit. The majority of my brass is WWB with random range pickup mixed in. I am going to try and sort the brass by headstamp and see if I can narrow down the source of the trouble. He recommended a Sinclair primer pocket uniformer. I am going to go with the EJS uniformer because it is cheaper and can go directly into a drill.[/EDIT]
 
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Hmmm. Weird. I've loaded lots of Winchester. Their pockets are "snug" but not tight. CCI brass is loose by comparision. S&B pockets are tight and I'm almost afraid to try them.

FWIW a pocket uniformer will only clean the bottom of the pockets, not the sides- so if it's tight, it will stay tight. It uniforms the seating area of the primer.

Good luck!
 
adweisbe said:
Would this work better?
Click to expand...

Ariel,

If Dillon is suggesting the problem is the brass - then I'd suggest buying some new brass or quality once fired brass and run those thru the press. If you have no problem seating primers - then it's the brass. If it's still a problem - I'd send the press back to Dillon and have them refirb it.

Progressive presses are...well progressive ...having to prep pockets is an unneeded step in pistol loading ...well that is if it's not crimped or military barss.

If you want to try a hand full culled of 1x brass let me know.

Goodluck.
PMD
 
Paul said exactly what I was going to say. I have some nice once fired Speer Lawman brass I shot. If you are going to AFS this Sunday or Independent next week I'll bring some. Supermoto has reloaded it he can tell you how it primed for him.
 
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I am going to get some more .45 bullets Wednesday night and I will try loading again and keeping track of headstamp on the high primers. I doubt all my brass is bad. The majority is once fired WWB that I bought, maybe the brass in the 100 round value pack is no good?
 
GTOShootr said:
Paul said exactly what I was going to say. I have some nice once fired Speer Lawman brass I shot. If you are going to AFS this Sunday or Independent next week I'll bring some. Supermoto has reloaded it he can tell you how it primed for him.
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The Speer loaded fine, S&B is tight and Amerc is crap, but everything else is fine

Check that you are using large pistol primers not rifle. I have a lee hand primer that works great, you might want to look into one of those if you are going to prime separately
 
Supermoto said:
The Speer loaded fine, S&B is tight and Amerc is crap, but everything else is fine

Check that you are using large pistol primers not rifle. I have a lee hand primer that works great, you might want to look into one of those if you are going to prime separately
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Ditto on the AMERC "brass", junk. I was told it was not meant to be reloaded but have not verified that myself. I DO know that it swells enough when fired that it is very hard to run through the sizing die on my Square Deal-B. I just toss them. When I have a primer that is hard to seat it is usually due to a crimped primer pocket. I'll run the tip of an Exacto knife around the pocket to remove the burr which works pretty well. I STRONGLY suggest that you pack the machine up and send it back to Scottsdale. (Where I happen to be right now waiting for my flight back to Boston) I went by the Dillon factory on Wednesday and saw the assembly line. They'll take it apart, clean it, replace any worn parts, re-lube and reassemble it. All it costs you is shipping one way. Can't beat that. I have had my SDB for many years and have loaded tens of thousands of rounds on it with complete satisfaction. [grin]
 
Found some bullets, going to switch over the press tomorrow and try just priming. I am going to use the same force I use to prime 9MM and no more and record the results.
 
adweisbe said:
The majority is once fired WWB that I bought, maybe the brass in the 100 round value pack is no good?
Click to expand...

I doubt it. Most of my .45 brass is WWB that I bought in value packs and is just fine. I really don't think the brass is the problem, especially if it's WWB. IMHO.
 
From what I have read, I doubt if the problem is brass related; there is some thing wrong with the press. Unfortunately, I have very little experience with the SD. I bought one many years ago, but was so disappointed with it that I returned it to Dillon who graciously allowed me to exchange it, plus some cash, for a 550 B.

If the primers are entering the cases, but not seating fully it is likely that either the shell plate isn't screwed down sufficiently or that the press's range of motion is restricted by either an obstruction or an adjustment. On the 550 you screw the shell plate down until its motion is restricted due to friction and then back it off until it just turns freely. Maybe the SD uses the same set-up. I don't know if the SD has an adjustment that controlls the range of motion of the ram; the 550 doesn't. Good luck.
 
PS I would check the seating stem on the large pistol priming system. If it isn't long enough (perhaps damaged) no amount of force will fully seat the primers.
 
I just sized and primed 100 cases, I used only a little more force then was necessary for seating small primers in 9MM. Yesterday I loaded 400 rounds of 9MM without a single high primer and all of them were nicely below flush. The high primers I am mentioning in .45 were a bit more then slightly above flush, I am not including the flush and a smidgen above flush primers that are a fact of life for me right now (I prefer slightly below flush but can only get it in 9MM, even if I grab the press in both hands and squeeze as hard as I can I cannot get nicely bellow flush in .45 on some cases). I used Winchester primers.

18 high primers total.

1 FC 62 Match

1 R + P .45 AUTO

7 S&B .45 AUTO

9 Winchester .45 AUTO


S&B had the highest primers on average, but Winchester was not far behind. The remington and the FC62 were not very high.

I checked the shell plate with the primer ram partially and fully sticking through and there is zero play. The locator button has quite a bit of movement, but not more movement then the locator button for 9MM. The case has quite a bit of play in the shell plate between the loose locator button and the tolerance of the shell plate. I think it might be enough to be significant.

I just broke out the calipers and measured the diameter of the primer ram, it is .210, which is the same diameter as the average primer pocket. The S&B pocket I measure was .208 in diameter. I decapped one of the high Winchester primers and the pocket was also .208 in diameter. I think that is the problem. The primer ram should be slightly undersized no?
 
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While I think you're on the right track that it is a press issue, you are beyond my capacity to diagnose your particular machine.

However, I caution that no high primers are acceptable in any round to be fired in a self-loading pistol, because of the risk of a slam fire. All auto rounds must have their primers seated below flush.
 
adweisbe said:
I just broke out the calipers and measured the diameter of the primer ram, it is .210, which is the same diameter as the average primer pocket. The S&B pocket I measure was .208 in diameter. I decapped one of the high Winchester primers and the pocket was also .208 in diameter. I think that is the problem. The primer ram should be slightly undersized no?
Click to expand...


The primer ram on mine is .205
 
My Hornady LNL AP is slightly less than .208 in diameter. You do have me curious. I need to go see how easy it fits into the primer pocket!
 
adweisbe said:
I just sized and primed 100 cases, I used only a little more force then was necessary for seating small primers in 9MM. Yesterday I loaded 400 rounds of 9MM without a single high primer and all of them were nicely below flush. The high primers I am mentioning in .45 were a bit more then slightly above flush, I am not including the flush and a smidgen above flush primers that are a fact of life for me right now (I prefer slightly below flush but can only get it in 9MM, even if I grab the press in both hands and squeeze as hard as I can I cannot get nicely bellow flush in .45 on some cases). I used Winchester primers.

18 high primers total.

1 FC 62 Match

1 R + P .45 AUTO

7 S&B .45 AUTO

9 Winchester .45 AUTO


S&B had the highest primers on average, but Winchester was not far behind. The remington and the FC62 were not very high.

I checked the shell plate with the primer ram partially and fully sticking through and there is zero play. The locator button has quite a bit of movement, but not more movement then the locator button for 9MM. The case has quite a bit of play in the shell plate between the loose locator button and the tolerance of the shell plate. I think it might be enough to be significant.

I just broke out the calipers and measured the diameter of the primer ram, it is .210, which is the same diameter as the average primer pocket. The S&B pocket I measure was .208 in diameter. I decapped one of the high Winchester primers and the pocket was also .208 in diameter. I think that is the problem. The primer ram should be slightly undersized no?
Click to expand...


This reminds me of a problem I had a long time ago; the primers wouldn't seat flush no matter how hard I yanked on the press arm. I was using large rifle primers by mistake.
 
drills

jhrosier, the dewalt might spark, but do this operation at another location.

if you don't have a use for a portable drill the 120 volt drill is the one for
you.

JimB
 
I have 2 550 presses and have never had a priming problem since properly adjusting the press. (7 years ago)

Make sure the shell plate is tight enough, the primer ram moves freely, and the primers are just below the plate prior when at rest.

S&B brass is notorious for tight pockets to the point, I will not use it on revolvers that need to be set just below flush.

I will bring some brass to Foxboro next week for you to try.
 
My measurements of primer pockets were inaccurate. The are .210 at the bottom, more like .215-.220 at the mouth. The ram does fit in to the pocket deep enough rather easily.
 
I called Dillon again, again they blamed the brass and my technique and said that there was probably nothing wrong with the press. Nothing left to do but move to off press priming. I swear, even if I grab the press in one hand the and the handle in the other it isn't enough to seat the primer, even with Winchester brass!
 
I would box it up and send it to Dillon with your large pistol setup in place with a note telling them you want a rebuild. For the price of one way shipping, you'll have a like new machine. It is a service you've already paid for in buying a Dillon product.
 
adweisbe said:
I called Dillon again, again they blamed the brass and my technique and said that there was probably nothing wrong with the press. Nothing left to do but move to off press priming. I swear, even if I grab the press in one hand the and the handle in the other it isn't enough to seat the primer, even with Winchester brass!
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I thought they were supposed to have good customer service.
 
GTOShootr said:
I would box it up and send it to Dillon with you large pistol setup in place with a note telling them you want a rebuild. For the price of one way shipping, you'll have a like new machine. It is a service you've already paid for in buying a Dillon product.
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+1 on sending your press back to Dillon...oh Ya I already said that [smile]


Ariel - the other thing you could do is unbolt your press and bring it to MRA - we could clamp it to the bench there and check to see if you have it setup right (shell plate..) and then make a few loads to see how it works.

As with every thing in life, solutions usually found thru the process of elimination.
 
GTOShootr said:
I would box it up and send it to Dillon with your large pistol setup in place with a note telling them you want a rebuild. For the price of one way shipping, you'll have a like new machine. It is a service you've already paid for in buying a Dillon product.
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DOUBLE TAP Damn open shooters with their light triggers [rofl]
 
I will mail it to Dillon after I try out the Lee Auto Prime 2 and case prep tools to verify that the press is indeed the problem. Those should come on Thursday. It may be that it needs to on a bench bolted to the floor and at chest height so you can lean into the handle. That is what the guy on the phone at Dillon suggested.

Here is my new off press priming setup along with my new drill (used to make off press priming setup):
0219071910.jpg

0219071908a.jpg

0219071907.jpg
 

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