Problems de-priming 38 nickel brass

[MikeS]

Hi All.

A while back I got 1000 fired 38Special +P nickel plated brass cases from somebody on the forum (Don't remember who, it really doesn't matter either). I've been cleaning them up, and de-priming them, and I've run into a problem. So far I've gone thru slightly more than half of them, and I have about 100 cases where the primer broke when I tried de-priming the case, the sides of the primer stayed in the case, the top of the primer came off. I don't know if these cases were 1x fired, or 10x fired, but the primers are pretty flattened, and the cases bulged a bit (before resizing). Should I even bother trying to get the rest of the primer out of the primer pocket, or should I just throw them away? If I should try, what would be the easiest way of getting the partial primer out of the primer pocket? Thanks!

[kmag]

Mike,
I've heard these called ringers. I've been reloading for over 50 years and have never had one. But I had a friend who ran a commercial reloading operation and he bought a large lot of brass and had a great deal of them. He told me he bought a ringer machine which would remove them, but I never saw it in operation. He thought the brass had gotten wet and been stored for a long time which allowed the primers to corrode. Have no idea of an easy way to get them out of the cases. Think it might be more labor intensive than removing burdan primers. Take Care,

[cf_coder]

I've seen that before in cases that had gotten really wet, though those were brass cases with a brass primer. The primers have corroded onto the case. They are quite difficult to get out, as you may have noticed... You might try a bit of Kroil or some other penetrating oil around the primer before running the next batch. See if that helps.

[geargnasher]

I've seen it on a few that were range pickups, it plays hoc with a progressive machine. At the price of good, indoor 1F range brass I'd just recycle the bad ones and take CF's advice to soak the remainder in some solvent, might help. I removed one from a .45 ACP case with a bottoming tap, but it was way more trouble than it's worth IMO. I don't know if the nickel has anything to do with it, but it might.

There have been some super deals on .38 brass in SS lately, some of it from indoor ranges or covered ranges where it's policed before it gets rained on.

Gear

[runfiverun]

i would just go through the rest of them.
and anything that does that toss it.
do you wanna shoot or fiddle around cutting your thumb and gouging brass.
you'll be out ,what, , 2 bucks?,

[beagle]

I think you guys are right. I've had ringers on nickel plated .38s picked up from police ranges in the old days and local ranges. They get rainned on and some chemical reaction sits in and the primer face pops out. Didn't happen with unplated cases from the same batch. I've seen a few in nickel plated 9mms as well. Send them to the scrap brass barrel./beagle

[Mk42gunner]

I have had it happen on 7.62mm Nato brass. I have a quite a bit that somehow got thrown in my pickup after range quals. It has been stored in a wooden box and got seriously wet. I thought it was corrosion between the primer and case. When the face pops off I just scrap the case since I don't shoot that many .308's anymore.

Robert

[stubshaft]

I've found them in batches where someone used a liquid case cleaner. With the cost of 38 brass as low as it is, is it really worth trying to get the remaining part out?

[Cherokee]

I have in the past removed ringers using a drill bit slightly oversize. That was for 30 carbine brass and only a few of them, I would scrap the 38 special as not worth the effort.

[gabe123]

I have been reloading for over 40 years and have never seen this. Can someone post a picture? I am really curious to see this phenomenon. Thanks.
gabe

[Sasquatch-1]

You might want to pick up a primer pocket reamer. They run about $8.00 and up on the interent. Suprised noone else mentioned it.

[Hardcast416taylor]

The only ringers I`ve encountered have been mil. surp. brass and Remington Aguila brand brass. Pitch the case into your scrap bucket, it just isn`t worth the time and effort to save a few cases - crush the case so nobody else grabs them.Robert