What is with the love affair Federal has with crimped primers?

[Alan in Vermont]

I was going to dive into loading a bunch of 45 ACP, just picked up 600+ SP 45 cases, have a bucket of 200 gr SWCs and almost 20 lbs of free Hi-Skor that is way older than voting age.

Ever dive into an empty pool? I had one round prime fine (RCBS Pro 2000) then crushed one, spent a while trying to finds the problem. Wasn't the setup, it was damnfool quasi-military cases.

The majority of the brass is headstamped Federal NT,,,,,,,,,,,,, and has crimped primers. Not all of it is crimped, there are some that are distinctly more yellow than the NT stuff, no crimp, and, to further cloud the waters maybe 25% of the NT isn't crimped.

On top of that I just finished loading a batch of 223 using Federal brass and probably half of THAT was crimped also.

I know the military crimp was done to keep a primer from blowing out and tying up the weapon but on civilian ammo? Gimme a break! Or is this just something to wow the tactifool crowd with thinking the crimp makes it more suitable for "operators".

OK,, rant off.

[Char-Gar]

The Dinol (lead free) primers back out much more violently and the case uses a crimp for a better hold and a larger flash hole to reduce pressure. That is Federal NT (non-toxic I believe.

[W.R.Buchanan]

The Federal .223 stuff is Military. The other stuff who knows, but if they are all mixed together I would suggest just countersinking all of them or swaging the pockets on all of them. That way you'll know what you've got.

With a small 6 flute countersink in a cordless drill you should be able to do about 20 cases per minute and in 30 minutes you'd be done with this problem.

I love the Youtube vid of the guy with the Dillon Swager with the auto eject. You can't really go much faster than that unless you have an automated 1050.

I could not use that method even though I have a Dillon Swager. My cats would attack the flying cases !

I just know you'll figure this massive problem out.

Randy

[scottfire1957]

Federal did it to screw with you. Simple as that.

Or, you could call 'em and ask. Or sort better.

First wold problem.

[6bg6ga]

Very easy solution... you cuss a little knock out the primer and use a reamer to remove evidence of the crimp and you move on. No rant mode needed.

[lightman]

I agree, it is frustrating. Just another reason that I cull Federal unless I'm really hurting for brass in that caliber. After all of the work prepping the brass I have found it to have a short life. Usually the primer pocket goes South.

[OS OK]

Good rant…I expect I'll be reading more of this. You fellas that de-prime and re-prime on your 'autos' without ever doing anything to that end of the brass are going to get frustrated.

[dkf]

The Federal AR .223 is crimped. I figure they crimp it because it is marketed for AR and other semis. For .223/5.56 I make sure to check every case for crimp. Federal also tends to dump a bunch of contract overruns from time to time for sale.

[s1120]

Now I don't have all the fancy tools as a lot of you guys, but whenever I get any old cases to add to my stash, I clean, decap, and take my old Lyman pocket reamer to every single one of the new cases, before I add them to my stash. I had a few crimped show up when I just started loading 45acp, so I started this procedure right off the rip. my eyes are not that good, so if I do them all, I don't miss any. Takes a little more time, but in the long run its a lot less hassle. It also gives me a chance to eyeball the cases a few times to check for any defects. Once Ive done that, I don't have to worry on future reloadings.

[Scharfschuetze]

With my stash of military cases, I've not run into the NT marked cases yet, but I have read of the primer issues with them and thus the crimp.

Given my almost total dependence on military cases for 5.56, 7.62, 9mm and 45 ACP, I just take it for granted that in prepping my cases for reloading, I de-crimp the primer pocket as well as ensuring that they are all at minimum case length before sizing. It's just a one time operation with the primer pockets and while time consuming initially, it's now just part of the process for me.

[goryshaw]

Federal .223 cases aren't a problem, I've got hundreds of FC headstamp ones that don't need anything done to the primer pocket. The Federal NT .45 ACP cases are a different story. I've gotten to the point I leave them on the ground, and just chuck any that I find in my stash. I've cleaned the crimp with my deburring tool, and with the Hornady crimp cutter, and they are still a royal pain to seat primers. Not worth the time of setting up my swager for them, just toss them and load ones that don't frustrate me.

[Garyshome]

I bit the boolit and picked up the Dillon super swage. Crimped pocket? No problem!

[Alan in Vermont]

The Dinol (lead free) primers back out much more violently and the case uses a crimp for a better hold and a larger flash hole to reduce pressure. That is Federal NT (non-toxic I believe.

BUT, about 25-30% of the cases marked Federal NT are NOT crimped. Both the crimped and non-crimped have the large flash holes, which tends to discredit your explanation.

I can deal with having it crimped, PITA, but so what, only have to swage them once. It's the idea that you can't sort by headstamp, you have to look for a crimp, which is not real prominent at best and almost invisible at worst. These old eyes have a hard time dealing with that, I can read the headstamp fine at normal distance but have to get right up into the close range part of the tri-focals to see what is crimped and what isn't. I had already sorted them to get out any large primers. It was too cumbersome to try to sort out the ones that weren't crimped so I ended up just swaging all of them.

[Alan in Vermont]

s1120, does the Lyman tool cut the whole pocket and leave a radius around the mouth of the pocket, is it hand held or fit a trimmer? I've got both Forster and RCBS trimmers, sure would hate have to buy a Lyman but if their reamer works I might be tempted to. Does either Forster or RCBS have a cutter that works on both diameter and entry radius? I would need a tool in a trimmer, left hand doesn't have the dexterity to hold the case while I was cutting the pocket with a hand tool.

[mold maker]

RCBS bench swage tool makes short work of all of them eliminating the aggravation caused by aging eyes..
The You Tube of the Dillon auto eject is a hoot. I haven't figured it out for the RCBS YET.

[DonMountain]

I bought a bunch of 7.62 NATO cases with crimped in primers and after using the Hornady hand-held reamer on some of them, I purchased the RCBS press mounted swagers. My question is, am I supposed to lubricate the swaging tool to aid in forcing it up into the case head like with some sort of case sizing lube? Its hard pushing on the press handle with the tool dry?

[Scharfschuetze]

I bought a bunch of 7.62 NATO cases with crimped in primers and after using the Hornady hand-held reamer on some of them, I purchased the RCBS press mounted swagers. My question is, am I supposed to lubricate the swaging tool to aid in forcing it up into the case head like with some sort of case sizing lube? Its hard pushing on the press handle with the tool dry?

No need to lubricate. Just use without a worry. I've used the RCBS swager for about 40 years without ever taking that additional step. You're moving metal during the process so even with a Rock Chucker press, there will be some resistance.

[dudel]

Good rant…I expect I'll be reading more of this. You fellas that de-prime and re-prime on your 'autos' without ever doing anything to that end of the brass are going to get frustrated.

+1 Simple answer, prep your brass and you will know your brass. Crimped primers are a pain; but you only have to remove the crimp once.

[Alan in Vermont]

RCBS bench swage tool makes short work of all of them eliminating the aggravation caused by aging eyes..
The You Tube of the Dillon auto eject is a hoot. I haven't figured it out for the RCBS YET.

That's exactly what I ended up doing. The crimps were not real close to being center around the pocket, which ended up throwing the swage punch off center. That was magnified by the cases not staying straight on the support rod that goes inside the case. I ended up wrapping duct tape strips around the support rod until I got enough built up to keep the cases in line with the swage punch. I think I will make a brass bushing I can put on the swage punch to hold the case in the future.

[dondiego]

Federal .223 cases aren't a problem, I've got hundreds of FC headstamp ones that don't need anything done to the primer pocket. The Federal NT .45 ACP cases are a different story. I've gotten to the point I leave them on the ground, and just chuck any that I find in my stash. I've cleaned the crimp with my deburring tool, and with the Hornady crimp cutter, and they are still a royal pain to seat primers. Not worth the time of setting up my swager for them, just toss them and load ones that don't frustrate me.

These use small pistol primers!....

[W.R.Buchanan]

Way too complicated to fix a simple problem,,, swage or countersink all of them and you're done.

Never did like the RCBS Swager,,, started countersinking,,, now have Dillon.


Randy

[s1120]

s1120, does the Lyman tool cut the whole pocket and leave a radius around the mouth of the pocket, is it hand held or fit a trimmer? I've got both Forster and RCBS trimmers, sure would hate have to buy a Lyman but if their reamer works I might be tempted to. Does either Forster or RCBS have a cutter that works on both diameter and entry radius? I would need a tool in a trimmer, left hand doesn't have the dexterity to hold the case while I was cutting the pocket with a hand tool.

Well granted, mine is older then I am, so not sure if they are still like it... but it is flat on the bottom, and has cutters that cut the side, and top bevel.