Flash hole drilling tool/fixture needed

[foxhound5150]

Im looking to see if anyone has a handtool or drill dress fixture to drill flashholes in cases that dont have any. I looking for a product already in exsistance or something homemade but not but fast and accurate enough to be safe. I dont need the '"drill a hole in wood" ideas please. this will be for rifle brass, with primer holes drilled. thanks in advance.
-Fox

[Walter Laich]

not sure I've ever seen cases that we use without flashholes. Are/were they defective from the factory? home made?

tell us more about them--pictures are always nice

p.s. welcome to the forum

[foxhound5150]

I found some new primed brass for blanks on DS Arms website, with no flasholes for $99.00/1k. http://www.dsarms.com/New-manufactured-556-223-Brass-cases-from-ADCOM--strong1000-per-bag---_strong---223UAEBRASS2K/productinfo/223UAEBRASS2K/ I don’t see why the cases are primed with no flash hole but any chance to deprime and drill flash hole? Im not too concerned with the new primers $99 for 1,000 new brass is pretty awesome. -Fox

[Alan in Vermont]

Are you sure you're not dealing with Berdan primed cases? Like you said, primed cases with no flash holes seems pretty darn foolish.

[largom]

Take a good light and look inside the case for 2 Berdan primer holes. If primed with live primers where would the pressure from firing go?

Larry

[mdi]

If you don't have them yet, contact the vendor to find out exactly what they are. They don't look like blanks to me...

[flounderman]

those have to be berdan primed. nobody would prime a case without a flash hole. You can't deprime them, live, without a flash hole, drilling a flash hole with a live primer in place isn't something I would recomend. could fire them in a gun first and punch them like you remove berdan primers. If the two holes are in the case like I think they are you can load them and use the berdan primers that are in them. I don't know if boxer primers fit berdan brass if you drill a flash hole. You will end up with three flash holes if you do. check the dates and the country, as they could be corrosive primers. you can still shoot corrosive but wash the barrel with hot water afterwards.

[o6Patient]

-sounds like a miss run that should have been scrapped before they were sold, if they
indeed have no flash holes.

[montana_charlie]

I magnified the image of the brass for sale and examined the case heads that are visible through the plastic bag.
I am pretty sure there are no primers in the pockets.

I think the box is printed for the intended product, but the contents were found to be 'defective' because of the missing flash holes.

Looks like the unit price is up to $200, now.

If you DO get the brass, it seems like a Wilson trimmer could be adapted to drill holes. The cutter crank would need to be replaced with a smooth one that will hold the right size drillbit with a set screw in the side.

CM

[troyboy]

At 100$ a thousand might do. At 200 they can keep them. You could use a lee trimmer, cut the end off, anneal, drill a hole and solder or braze the drillbit into the tool. Might work might not. You would have to get the neck in the ballpark as well but a HF mini chop saw would work for that. Good Luck.

[zomby woof]

seems like an awful lot of work...

[W.R.Buchanan]

You could make a simple bushing to go into the primer hole with a 1/16" hole in the center. Hold the cases in a vise with wooden soft jaws so you don't crush it, and drill it thru. Should take 15 seconds/case. Use a cordless drill motor to run the drill thru the bushing.

Anyone with a lathe can make the bushing. it's pretty simple should take <10 minutes. Make the thing large enough so you can hold onto it easily. Drilling 1000 holes will get old pretty quickly

Randy

[mdi]

A flash hole needn't be perfectly centered (just look at some imported brass), and it could be done by hand (don't use the simplest method; a wooden block drilled to accept the case!!); hold the case in your left hand. Hold the drill in the right hand. Insert drill bit into primer pocket, eyeball for center, and turn drill on and push/drill through bottom.

Or better yet, since .223/5.56 brass isn't all that hard to find, forget about it, especially for $200.00!

[DLCTEX]

If the brass is like 308 blank brass they are not properly annealed for hot loads. The blank brass is too soft for regular loads. I would check it out first.