Primer head separation from side or skirt during de-priming

[mold maker]

Yesterday evening I drilled a piece of steel to safely hold the 223 brass and ground an Allen wrench like Possomcops suggestion. I had to reshape it several times during the operation. The results is that about half the primer sleeves were easy to remove. About 1/4th more were removed with some difficulty and the rest were just too tight to budge. Many of these had been found while attempting to swage the pockets and the ring had been compressed. It appears that all of them had significant tarnish and the pockets were really dark after the primer remains finally gave way.
There were HS of all kinds and no brand showed up important out of the represented group. It appears they were simply badly tarnished range brass that had severly weathered or been improperly stored. The Mil brass dated from 80 to O9 so it may have weathered for many years under adverse range conditions. None had green spots or pits, and citric acid with SS pins cleaned even the pockets to bright brass with a normal time tumbling. I also found half a doz. that were dark brown that the acid didn't touch. They were not magnetic???
Being retired and welcoming a sit-down task, the brass I saved was worth the effort, but those without spare time might understandably forget it. I saved a #10 food can almost full of mostly X1 Mil brass which is my choice to reload.
mm

[Big Boomer]

Lightman: You and Fred are probably correct ... I can only conclude now that the primer I was using has to be the culprit. For years I used nothing but CCI, then finally in desperation used some Winchester & Remington primers. Also along the way I ran into a bunch of Alcan primers that were o. k. The primer shortage sent me looking for whatever was available and I found Wolf (was there a Wolf primer?) and S&B. Don't remember any problems with any of them until this episode. Given what happened, something had to cause the problem and it has to be a primer problem and not a brass problem. Thanks to all for the input. Big Boomer

[Wayne Smith]

Wolf and Tula are both made at the Tula armory in Russia.

[Soundguy]

Fred: Apparently you know something about S&B primers of which I was unaware. However, S&B brass that I have used has all been very good - .380, 9mm, .38 Spl., 357 Mag - those were all pieces of brass that I picked up at the range when I retrieved my own cases. I have not purchased a round of ammo in many years. Primer pockets on all S&B brass are noticeably tight. The .38 Spl. ammo I loaded was loaded in a short period of time and could well have been with the S&B primers. Perhaps that is the answer.

Mold Maker: Dremel has a device that will allow you to simply drill away or, more accurately, cut away one area of the primer side or skirt and the remnant comes out easily. I just do not think it is worth the effort. The device looks similar to a drill bit but is not designed for drilling, but for "carving" I suppose. It cuts rapidly and is just a smidgen smaller than the remaining hole when the base of the primer cup comes off. Best wishes on a gallon can of cases with that problem. It will work, though. Big Boomer

I've used S&B brass and primers for years.. never an issue.

On rare occasion I've had some old greek 30-06 from the 60's have a primer poke thru or skirt separation ( old 1-shot brass that was left not deprimed for decade+ ). In those rare ( less than 1 per 1000 ) instances, whenever I ran the case on the crimp reamer and then primer pocket tru-er, it snatched the primer skirt right out.

Most of my S&B is pistol, however I do have some rimmed 8x57 rifle and a few other select I load for that have seen low #'s of relaods, but have had no problems.

One thing to mention. While I have S&B primers and brass, it's not always paired. I may be loading S&B brass with whatever brand of primer that is up next in rotation by age.. IE.. could be winchester.. tula.. etc..

[toallmy]

I have recently ran into this problem as well , a friend sent me a couple gallons of nickel 38 brass . I have only got around to loading the Fed brass , but I have had 4-5 just knock the top off of the primer . This is at least 8-10 year old once fired nickel brass that I washed in citrus acid before deciding priming . I just decided to deprime all of it before loading it will go a lot smoother through the loadmaster with the primer all the way out