Originally Posted by
Blackwater
Henry, FWIW, here's a "me too" for those who don't have problems with seating WW primers, and I've used an awful lot of them. They've long been the most common primers available locally, plus some CCI's. Federals have only had sporadic availability here. And I've always found that any problem seating primers was "user error," and indeed, there's been some of that. Most military brass has a crimp that MUST be removed before being able to seat primers without undue problems. This only takes a one-time treatment with one of the primer pocket REAMERS that are commonly available and not very expensive at all. These cut the primer pocket to uniform dimensions, but again, cutting ANYTHING with ANY sort of cutter inevitably must rely on the user's skill, sense of "feel," and attention to detail. Nothing with any cutting tools is "fool proof."
As someone noted above, we live in a world today of instant gratification and having most things done FOR us rather than BY us. This makes all of us who reload kind'a "special," at least in a way. But everyone who reloads has a learning curve to go through, and those who are in too big a hurry often find it's a frustrating experience. But it really doesn't need to be. Just approach it from the perspective that OS OK does - as a craft and a pleasurable and very interesting and crafty hobby/past time, and you'll begin to really enjoy it a LOT more. A WHOLE lot more!
To seat well, the primers MUST be aligned pretty well square with the primer pockets. This way, they're aligned together, and much less force is needed to seat them, and loading also goes significantly faster. Reloading is a repetitive pursuit, and once you've learned the process, by simply paying better attention to the details, it's likely that your primer seating will go MUCH faster and more pleasurably. It worked that way for me. It's been 55 years since I reloaded my first cartridge, and I'm STILL learning. And I've found no better place to learn stuff than this board.
Reloading is a process that we have to learn, because it will NOT ... not ever .... work the way we WANT it to just because we want it to. We have to learn to pay attention, focus and do things repetitively the way they tend to work best. That brings satisfaction and much pleasure. When you pay attention and focus, and don't discount the "little things," it's really amazing how much faster and better things go at the reloading bench. I know. That's how I learned, and I suspect most all of have learned. So relax and ENJOY your time at the bench, and it'll turn into something enjoyable instead of just another chore that HAS to be done to shoot more. Whatever problem you run into will have a logical and almost always pretty simple solution. it's just a matter of understanding what we're doing, as we do it, and putting our minds to the task at hand, and not on other stuff that happened that day. Letting one's mind drift is a good way to potentially blow up a gun or do something you won't like very much! Relax and enjoy, and the whole pursuit changes its whole nature for you.