CCI primers/Hornady brass

There was a recent thread about this combination.......
Anyway, today I reloaded a box of .30-30 Hornady brass I acquired from someone on the forum, and found the CCI Large Rifle primers to be very difficult to seat in the pockets. I've got one of the little Lyman primer pocket reamers which I used once I realized that I was having a problem. It allowed the primers to enter (still with difficulty) but they didn't seat deep enough that I'm comfortable enough with them to load them in a lever action's tubular magazine. I finally got them flush with the surface of the cartridge's base, but not below it. Guess I'll use them for target practice, single loaded, or as the first round up in the magazine. Next time around I'll try some Winchester primers and see if I get a better fit. I really don't think it's the fault of the CCI primers, as they fit well in everything else, so that leaves the brass. Since I'm the second owner of the brass, which arrived in a sandwich baggie, I don't have a lot number to refer to, but I think I'll call Hornady anway and chat with them. FYI

Why not swedge the pockets?

You're probably pretty socked in after last weekend.

I just got done with about 250 .30-30s using Winchester LR primers.

They were mixed cases, and a few Hornadys.
They seemed a little snug compared to other head stamps, but not really a problem either.

You could uniform them to make them deeper. I'm interested to hear what Hornady has to say about them.

Kinda sounds like the Sellier & Bellot Czech brass with the short primer pockets. Since S&B makes brass for Winchester in some of the metric calibers, maybe they are making some of the brass for Hornady as well?. Frank

I didn't know S&B makes brass for winchester. Like what 7.62x54mmR?

I used to use CCI primers for just about anything (as they were slightly cheaper when I started), but found in the 30-30 only (no problem with other calibers), I was getting a large number of fail to fires. I switched to Winchester, since they were reported to be a little softer than the CCI's. I have not had a problem since switching to WLR, but still generally use CCI in everything else. Just FWIW...

I did follow up on this. First, I phoned Hornady and was told that they've had no complaints (a little defensive--it is their product), and that they use Winchester and Remington primers for all of their ammo. I was also told that their specs are that when the loaded round leaves the factory the primer is .001" below the surface of the rear of the cartridge.

Next I phoned CCI. They also said that they have had no complaints specifically about the compatibility of their primers and Hornady brass, but found it interesting. The Tech provided the following information: All primer-related specs are set by SAAMI, and all primers fall within these ranges:
Primer diameter: .2105" to .2130" Primer pocket diameter: .2085" to .2100" Primer pocket depth: .125" to .132". So the Tech's theory was that
it may be a case of primers near or at the maximum diameter, and primer pockets at or near the minimum diameter and minimum depth. He said that CCI made ammo leaves the factory with the primers seated .003"-.005" below the surface of the rear of the cartridge, seemingly a significant difference from what the Hornady Tech said.

This sounds logical, since the Techs from both companies said such complaints were rare. I don't want to tear down the ammo I just loaded, so I'll shoot it up and reload with Winchester primers. That won't be until Spring though......:-D

Bazoo, yes the 7.65x54r could well be made by S&B. I have a gallon bag of once fired S&B brass that was fired in my old 1948 Fazakerky No #4MKII The primer pockets had to be uniformed before seating any primer. Crimp was removed by using a chamfering tool. Much of the S&B 45 auto brass a quick swipe on the mouth of the primer pocket is done with the same chamfering tool there seems to be a very small crimp and the tool takes care of it easily.Frank

Thanks Frank.

Thanks for the follow up DG.

I guess I've tried most primer types and brands and used most available brass in handgun and rifle cartridges during more than fifty years of handloading. However, I've used far more CCI primers than anything else. Occasionally, I've found a batch of primers and/ or brass that requires somewhat greater than normal effort to seat primers. This has always been a temporary thing, something I've never been able to attribute to a particular primer or brass.

Do you have another way to prime the brass? I had a RCBS hand primer that had to be replaced because of the exact same thing you stated. RCBS sent me parts to rebuild it but that did not work. I sent the whole thing back to them and they sent a new one and the issue went away.

Another thing to check is the shell holder. if it is to thin in the recess it can also do the same thing. If it is too thin it lets the case be too far away from the punch so it can not seat deep enough. And 30/30 brass is all over the place on the rim thickness. So that can play a part. Tolerance stacking is what you may be running into.