Ornery Brass

[pastera]

Had it happen with brass that had gotten wet. I just pitched them in the recycle bucket since I had plenty of brass.

^ this - If it got wet and sat for a while, you will have quite a few that won't deprime.

If you need the brass then see what you can salvage.

[Petrol & Powder]

I'm frugal (read that as meaning I'm a tight wad) but there comes a point where the value of my time exceeds what I'm trying to save.

If I was trying to save some obscure casings that were difficult to acquire, I would put forth a lot of effort. But trying to save 20% of a "bucket" of 38 Special casings that were free to start with ? I'm probably going to reach the point of diminishing returns for my time & effort pretty quickly.

[Alstep]

Thanks all for your interesting comments. This was a 5 gal bucket of brass, nice & clean, got it about 10-15 years or so ago, stored inside & dry. Also got a bucket of R-P & Speer at the same time & no problem with them. It was just the Winchester +P that gave me fits. The bad ones got scrapped, but an annoying situation just the same. Since it was free, I can't complain too much. But of all the brass I've reloaded through the years, this batch was the most ornery I've ever encountered.

[44magLeo]

I know that when pulling bullets from older cartridges it helps to seat them a bit deeper first makes pulling easier.
Perhaps this would work with these cases. Try seating the primers a bit deeper. You may not move the primer much but it may be enough to break the grip of any corrosion between primer and case.
Won't cost anything but time.
Leo

[GregLaROCHE]

It’s interesting to find out that corrosion can make them so hard to get out. Most military brass with crimped primers can usually be de-primed without too much difficulty. I would hate to deal with brass that was corroded and crimped.

[Winger Ed.]

It’s interesting to find out that corrosion can make them so hard to get out. Most military brass with crimped primers can usually be de-primed without too much difficulty. .

GI brass has a lacquer paint that is basically the same as cheap finger nail polish over the primer to keep evil spirits out.
That would be the difference.

[Mk42gunner]

It’s interesting to find out that corrosion can make them so hard to get out. Most military brass with crimped primers can usually be de-primed without too much difficulty. I would hate to deal with brass that was corroded and crimped.

GI brass has a lacquer paint that is basically the same as cheap finger nail polish over the primer to keep evil spirits out.
That would be the difference.

Actually, the brass that I dealt with that had the corrosion problem was 7.62 and 5.56 fired from rifles that I collected prior to my retirement from the Navy. I had at least one wooden ammo box of brass of each caliber that got wet and sat for a few years.

When I went to start a new batch of 100 rounds I found that the primers had corroded enough to pop the top of the primer off while leaving the ring in the primer pocket. Whether the primers corroded to the case or just weakened their tops I'm not sure, but they were tough to punch out even when they stayed together using my Rockchucker.

My solution was to stand the cases up in the bottom of an ice cream bucket with penetrating oil in the bottom and spraying a bit inside each case. After sitting for a few days the primers easily punched out using a Lyman 310 tong tool (new to me purchase and the cases were handy for testing).

After depriming and swaging the primer pockets, I tumbled the brass in walnut hulls to remove the oil. No lasting ill effects that I have been able to see.

Robert

[Walter Laich]

When I buy brass from brass resellers and it's been wet tumbled with primers in I get alot of described results. Also recent CCI small pistol have started gripping the depriming stem more often than before. Primer gets pushed out and gets semi reseated when ram goes down. Winchester and Federal haven't followed the trend albeit I haven't punched a large quantity of known Federal. But wet brass with expended primer in case is the devil.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

this is reason I deprime before wet tumbling. it's an extra step but saves time and frustration in long run

[fatelk]

I just had this exact same problem. I got a bunch of cheap .38 Special brass and a bunch of them did the same thing when depriming. Each time, I had to stop and wiggle it out of the shell holder.

I'm cheap and stubborn, and can't stand the thought of tossing good brass. If it had been 9mm maybe I'd scrap it, but .38 is worth a little more nowadays. I have a special little tool I made years ago for just this problem. It only takes a couple seconds to pop the little ring out of the primer pocket.

I wish I'd have thought of penetrating oil. I'll keep that one in mind for next time. Thank you!

[Dapaki]

I must be lucky, I have never had a single primer do that! Don't get me wrong, i have had plenty of aggravating problems but never a stuck primer. Good luck Alstep!

[KCcactus]

I had it happen with about 4 pieces of once fired Federal 38s in a batch I bought. Never had it happen with any brass I wet tumbled with primers in and dried. All of my pistol brass is cleaned that way.

[Wayne Smith]

Hey Al! I think I know why you got them free! I had some 38Special brass do the same thing a number of years go. Hasn't happened since.

[Big Boomer]

I de-prime all my brass by hand prior to wet-tumble with stainless steel pins. The only trouble like this happened with some .38 Special military brass but they had not been wet. S&B primers may have been a factor in my case. Can't be sure, though. Big Boomer

[GregLaROCHE]

this is reason I deprime before wet tumbling. it's an extra step but saves time and frustration in long run

I don’t tumble my brass, but I can’t understand why you wouldn’t déprime before. The hardest part in cleaning brass by hand are the primer pockets. Do people tumble their brass with the primers left in and then déprime and clean the pockets by hand? Doesn’t make sense to me.

[lightman]

I must be lucky, I have never had a single primer do that! Don't get me wrong, i have had plenty of aggravating problems but never a stuck primer. Good luck Alstep!

I reloaded for a number of years using range brass before I ever experienced this. Now it seems to be a lot more common.

[TRAPDOOR 4570]

I had the same problem about 10-15 years ago. 2000+ nickel P+, same headstamp, uncleaned still had the case mouth smudging. Had to be from an indoor range or ammo manufactures test house
Had 2 detonations in a Lee progressive, not a pretty thing to see or hear. No corrosion to the brass involved. I put the problem down to improperly annealed brass used to make the primer cup. Some cases pushed out the dimple from the firing pin others the cup would completely shear off or partly shear the bottom of the primer cup.
After the second detonation I set the press up with just the carbide sizer. Ran over 2000 through then inspected each case. I found around 20-30 cases that went into the scrap bucket. Been loading for over 55 years and never had this problem before or since.

[Wayne Smith]

Mine was in a bunch of brass I bought here used, supposedly once fired. Who knows how they had been stored/treated.

[KCcactus]

Do people tumble their brass with the primers left in and then déprime and clean the pockets by hand? Doesn’t make sense to me.

I can't speak for others, but I don't clean the primer pockets of my pistol brass. I'm loading for recreational shooting, not competition. My rifle brass gets wet tumbled after depriming.