I recently bought a lot of 1000 .38 special casings, and found some interesting things:
Severely flattened primers:
Pictured is a .357 case (i got about 50 mixed in with the .38s), but the same was seen in at least 50 .38 cases..
Primers seated backwards:
and even a live round (!!)
People never cease to amaze me with the stupid things they do...
I'm lost--what is wrong in the last picture???
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The shoulder on that semi wad cutter bullet should be flush with the case mouth.
I think it is the one with the upside down primer.Originally Posted by Walter Laich
Notice that the head stamp says "Magnum!" That is a clue to some numb nuts to "Fill er up." More and faster must be better!
Those flattened primers may only mean soft primer cups and nothing more....
Douglas, Ret.
I only use Fed primers and even with .454 brass with opened primer pockets for a LP and running a few to 55,000 psi, I have never seen a primer flat like that.
I have never seen anything like that with a .357 even when I worked over max with heavy boolits.
I watched an old man shoot IHMSA with a S&W .357 years ago and he always shot where there was a 2x2 post in the ground. After five shots he had to beat the ejector rod on the post to remove empties.
i shoot alot of 10mm and .204 ruger, primers are always flat.
I agree, you do find odd things if you look. The backward primer says to me that someone was not paying attention. Even factory rounds are not immune from strangeness. I have found Olympic 7.62X54r rounds that had ruptured primers but were still loaded with bullet and powder. The "autopsy" revealed that there were no flash holes in the brass. then there are the 300 win mags that were fired in a 300 weatherby mag, or the 7mm mags that have been fired in a 3oo win mag , or the 30/30 that had been fires in a 30/40 or 303 brit. People do things, you gotta watch em.
The loaded cartridge was found in a batch of used brass, meaning it was loaded by someone unknown to the person who purchased the brass. He is wise to not shoot it.
I'm a member of a very active range and many times brass is readily available laying around on the ground. Mostly 9mm 40 S&W 45 acp and some .380 in handgun and usually a lot of 5.56 or 223 in rifle.
I found a case a while back that had a primer flattened just as bad if not worse than the OP's picture. If I remember correctly it was a 30-06. I showed the case to another shooter that supposedly was a reloader. I mentioned that the case appeared to have been shot under abnormal high pressure. The guy looked at it and said it looked OK to him. I scratched my head some then found another case that appeared to have been shot at normal pressure and had him examine the primers of both cases. I still had to explain the difference between the very flattened primer on one case and the other case that the primer still has what appeared to be a normal round edge on it.
I'm not sure the guy ever fully understood one of the signs of high pressure.
If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.
Samuel Adams
Sam
I found several "duds" the other day where the primers were seated sideways.
Someone up at the range I shoot at has either a heaspace problem or a broken firing pin as his weapon will dimple the primers, but not set them off. They are not reloads, (Wolf steel case) and they always fire fine in my mini-14. going on two boxes now.
About the primer in up side down. I have a Dillon square deal b that invariably flips one or two upside down out of 50. I haven't been able to find out why. I don't notice it until the loaded round falls out in the tray.
That's the difference between "reloaders" and "handloaders".
My SDB does the same thing, usually two per hundred are sideways.
I've never found the magic setting for the primer arm to eliminate this.
Jack
I had the same problem with a Lee 1000 progressive press.
I could not depend on it to consistently seat primers correctly. It also had an alarming tendency to not drop a powder charge every once in a while...Most disconcerting, don't you know?
That is why my Lee progressive resides in a box in a cabinet where it can do no harm.
I have been loading on an RCBS RockChucker for years without those problems. It may take a little longer to load rounds on a single-stage, but I have never had a misfire due to incorrectly seated primers or a squib load because an automatic powder measure failed to drop a charge.
Every now and then, I get the urge to speed my reloading up with a progressive. First thing I do is pull out that old Lee and just sit and ponder a couple of lost matches because of squib loads. Back goes the Lee into its spot in the cabinet.
And back I go to the bench to do each and every step on my RockChucker.
The lack of knowledge of shooters does not surprise me anymore. When I stumble upon a knowledgable shooter THAT surprises me!
Case stuffers is the term used by an old timer in my gun club, all they do is replace the components with no rhyme or reason!
It was received in a lot of range brass...sent through the postal system. Probably nothing wrong with it, but I'm not shooting it.
UMMMN, you mean there's another way?I think it is the one with the upside down primer.
Notice that the head stamp says "Magnum!" That is a clue to some numb nuts to "Fill er up." More and faster must be better!
It's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years (Abe Lincoln)
"A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government.” George Washington
Some years ago I asked Dillon about that. They told me it is characteristic of the Square Deal and cannot be corrected.
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