Undersized Primer Pockets

[poppy42]

As posted by others, there are inexpensive tools made to do this. Bubba has a drill and saw because he is too cheap to spend $15 to prep $2 cases for his $1700 rifle. Kind of like buying a $60k pickemup truck and taping plastic wrap over the broken tail light to save $50.
Yes, I have opinions of Billybob trailer park fixes.

I suggest you check a little bit more carefully until you knock somebody else’s fixes I’ve run into several 9 mm cases manufactured by specific manufacturers that cannot just be reamed the actual pocket is too small and they need to be drilled! With 9 mm I don’t bother I throw them out! I can tell you from experience The several primer pocket Reimers that I’ve used that are meant for Raymond military brass do not work on undersize primer pockets! It’s not a Bubba fix it’s what’s needed to be done! I would strongly suggest that you engage the thing between your ears and do a little research before you open the pie hole and start knocking somebody else’s methods!

Constructive criticism is one thing. Outright insulting somebody’s place of residence or heritage is another especially if you have no experience in a specific problem and there’s no place for it here!

[Recycled bullet]

Poppy you've got me laughing and you are doing to him exactly the thing that you are claiming that he's doing.

Why don't you put away the emotional projection and focus on the issue of small primer pockets, and try to find a productive and mature way to communicate about it.

[M-Tecs]

For crimped pockets I use a swager. For undersize or inconsistent pockets I use a carbide uniformer.

https://www.brownells.com/reloading/...et-uniformers/

https://www.rcbs.com/case-processing...rbide/575.html

https://kmshooting.com/product/premi...rrection-tool/

These are not cheap, but I have switched to these for better control of the depth.

https://21stcenturyinnovation.com/bu...niformer/v/500

[czgunner]

My Speer 357 SIG brass had tight pockets AND undersized flash holes.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[country gent]

I use the right tool for the job at hand. a uniformer when pockets are shallow. a swager when there are crimps and sometimes when to small, if not to much. A reamer for those cases that are truly undersized.
The uniformers are normally a flat face cut with sharp corners and no side flutes. They fill with chips and bind after just a few thousandth cut. The reamers have side flutes and a small 45* angle to lead and follow the hole. Im spoiled as I have industrial reamers in the primer sizes. the reamers will not cut on the bottom. Swages are just what they are they expand by pressing the material into place and may make a harder surface that will last longer.
A flat ground drill with slight radius or 45* on the corners will work and can be used. Here shorten the drill up to just what is needed to do the job.

In reality you shouldnt have to remove more than .001-.002 from the pocket to make it usable. The first thing to check when priming issues like this arise is the primers them selves measure for dia, and thickness. Then the primer pockets with pin gauges. Last is the actual priming set up for concentricallyand alignment. A primer punch thats slightly bent or dosnt center can greatly increase force.
There are tolerences on everything primer cups, primer pockets and a +cup in a - pocket may be tight. same way a - cup in a + pocket is going to be loose. Before modifying expensive brass you need to know what you have and where things are at.

[justindad]

Turns out these primer pockets are shallow… 0.030” shallow. I bought a case of 1,000 rounds… some primer pockets are normal and some are 0.030” shallow. The Fiocchi factory must have allowed a temporary deviation, instead of scrapping non-compliant parts. The bummer here is that the floor of the primer pocket is only about 0.02” thick now, and I don’t know if that will translate to light primer strikes. All well, at least I have these adjustable Hornady primer pocket uniformers now. Thank you for the help!

[ebb]

OHHHH if only I could say that about my Ultra Mag cases.

[poppy42]

Like I said I’ve only ran into this with 9 mm brass. I don’t load 357 sig . S&B tbrass if I remember correctly. Also have undersized flash holes small enough to break or bend de-capping pins! With 9mm being so plentiful I just throw them out. However I did use a drill with the right size bit to see if I could fix it and it worked. I used a small punch on the flash hole. But very labor intensive. Like I said not worth the effort with 9mm. I’ve only noticed it in about the last year. Now if it was something hard to get like 357 max I would probably spring for the primer Pocket uniformer. It just so you know a drill will work! Anyone know if the uniform tooll reams out the flash hole? Or do you need another tool. As for the drill, I suggest a drill press. I used a cordless drill. But I was just seeing if it would work. Keeping the drill perpendicular to the face of the brass is critical. A press would make it easier.

[FLINTNFIRE]

Uniform tool only cuts out the primer pocket ,squares it all up , I find some brands of brass need it some not at all .

The thing is on the uniformer it goes in and bottoms out against the base of the brass , keeps it true and straight , I may not need it all the time but it comes in handy .

On scarce brass or when altering rims it has been good to have , on plentiful brass that is cheap as 9mm or 40 I may not bother with it , but then again I do hate to toss brass .

[deltaenterprizes]

The primer pocket tools sold by Lyman that came with my case prep machine did not ream the pockets enough so I bought the ones sold by RCBS and they work well!
The Lyman tools are made in China and are garbage.
The RCBS primer pocket swage tool works well also!

[M-Tecs]

I've never used the cheaper steel primer pocket uniformers. The carbide ones that I have are ground to minimum diameter for that primer (smaller are 0.173" and larger are 0.2085") so yes at least some will resolve undersize diameter issues in addition to uniforming the depth. That company is no longer in business.

https://ballistictools.com/articles/...d-diameter.php

https://ballistictools.com/store/exc...-pocket-gauges

[justindad]

I thought about carbide vs steel. I believe the Hornady is just steel. Then I thought: “I’m cutting brass.” I expect the steel will hold up for quite a while against brass. The carbide ones I came across were not adjustable. Adjustable and carbide would be worth consideration.

[rbuck351]

The Sinclair tool is carbide and makes the primer pocket the correct diameter and depth. If the primers were crimped in, there will be a sharp edge on the pocket that needs to be removed. I use an inside neck chamfer tool with a twist or two that quickly removes the sharp edge.

I have so much 9mm brass that I just trash crimped 9mm.

[KitShickers]

I use the Lee Ram Swage. Does the trick for me.

[steve urquell]

I just finished cutting out crimps and reaming ~1000 military brass 9mm cases. I have the RCBS 90379 carbide uniformer. The cutter has a set screw and is adjustable for depth of cut.

I picked up an 8-32x1/4" long T-nut from Atwoods so I could use the cutter in my cordless drill. Stacked it with a nut under it as a spacer since the t-nut didn't cover all the threads.



I first hit all the crimped brass with a 1/4" carbide burr in a cordless drill to cut out the crimp and radius the pocket followed by the uniformer and ended up with good usable pockets. I found that "IK" headstamped brass has exceptionally tight pockets and I spent a little extra time reaming them out.

Not gonna lie--I wallowed that bit around to make them usable. I should have trashed them but I grew up poor and learned how to make stuff work even when it won't.

Below is where I tried to seat some primers in the IK brass with mixed results. I ended up putting the IK brass to the side and going back and wallowing those tight pockets to make it work and they all seat well now.



Overall I feel like you need to give a little more attention to the problematic brass when you find it or just scrap it. As I said I'm like a bulldog when I have a goal and will make things work. Call me Bubba if you will.

My method was not perfect by any means but I dealt with 1000pcs of brass and got a good feel for the different tightnesses of crimped brass. Some go easy and others don't and now all of that brass has been loaded and all primers seat well and are tight. Hope this helps.

[docbrown]

The RCBS primer swager tool is good, the Dillon is just better. Either gets the job done. I would not waste time on anything else.