Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Primer Pockets-How Loose is Too Loose?

Title says it all.

At what point in the reloading process is the primer pocket considered to be too loose to keep using the brass and how do you determine this point?

No kidding. loose is way too loose. If they press in easy or/and you been using max or near max loads or/and you are over 5 loads on the case.

Loose primer pockets are caused by excessive pressure, that otta turn on a light bulb someplace.

For me, if I think it's on the loose side, I rap the primed case hard, on a wooden surface, several times to see if it backs out. Then, when fired, I check for any gas leakage signs on the case.
On top of that, if they feel loose at all, they don't go hunting, and I make it a point to shoot them in very warm weather (95 plus) when availiable.
If the brass fails any of these tests in five loadings or less, the entire lot of brass gets thrown out.
I might add that since testing on a warm day ( 85+) at least 5% over my desired load, I've never had any primer pocket problems. But, they can occur if a lot of brass is too soft, or out of spec. So I do watch for this problem. E

the entire lot of brass gets thrown out.........

Check the prices for scrap brass in your area before tossing it out. You may be able to get decent $$ for it.

I use them as long as they will stay in the case and have some resistance to seating them. When they start to lose the "feel" when seating them, I mark the shell with a "L" for loose and scrap that case after that firing.

Loose primers isn't always a sign of hot loads. Federal 308 cases are noted for getting loose after only 2-3 mild loads. My LC 308 cases get loose after 15-20 loadings, but they may loosen sooner depending on how neatly I cut the crimp off.

I had a couple boxes of Federal Match .308 ammo, fired them, reloaded the first time with Hodgdon's starting load of Varget, and about 20% of the primers were falling out. I was not amused, and won't buy any more Federal .308 cases or ammo

Ditto. The same thing with neck splits or any other defect in that batch of cases. The entire lot goes into the scrap pile and a new box of brass comes out.

tex n cal, Did the primers fall out or just back out a bit? I occasionally have primers back out a bit with starting loads. I, too, tend to avoid Federal brass.

If you can seat the primer with you finger tip ....its way too loose.

Seriously it is very difficult to convey a subjective feel about seating the primer. One man's Ok is another's too loose. Practice getting the "feel" of seating primers. If it seems too different there is a problem. There is some good advice above.

I had factory loaded once fired brass loose enough I could finger press the primer in. I believe they were CCI 200s. Thought that odd.

A good way to get a few extra reloadings with a given case is to take your calipers with you when you buy primers . The hole in the case is supposed to be .210 inches and I have had primers come in at ..2095. I tried it in new brass from the same manufacturer and the new primers went into the unfired brass as if an overload had been fired. I tried some older primers from the same manufacturer, (measured .211) and they went in nice and snug. I tried two other brands and they were also snug. So often you can get undersized primers and you will think its the brass.

What rbell sez.

Measure the primers and the brass! I have had brand name primers measure 0.211" + and they are a hard seat in good brass with a 0.210 hole. 'Till I measured I thought my new primer seater was not too good.

I have found brass at 0.209" + also.

It is a good idea always to make a quick measurement of both the primer hole and primers that you intend to use.

I'm just wondering, how do you guy's measure the diameter of the primer pockets?

What is your method to measure so accuratly?

Yeah, good question. My ID micrometers won't fit........



Casey

Cerrosafe casting

I know it's not practical for most,but I used deltronic gage pin's.......

Help me figure this out. Since brass is ductile what's wrong with using brass with loose primer pockets with less than max pressure loads where the brass is otherwise serviceable? I mean so long as the primer doesn't fall out.

I sometimes use a Lee Loader decapper to check 'loose' primers. If they readily push back out, the case goes in the trash. If a whole batch of brass seems loose with one brand of primers, I may try another assuming the brass hasn't been abused. (Winchester primers seem to be loose when Federal or CCI won't be in many cases with large rifle anyway.)

An expanded primer pocket is possibly evidence of pressure issues. The theory being that if the primer pocket expanded then there is case head expansion. At least that's my understanding of it.

Incidentally, the case heads are treated and are a bit stronger, and not as ductile as the case necks should be. Making the necks more ductile is where the annealing process comes into play, sometimes by the user. And in the annealing process, care needs to be taken to prevent annealing the case head.

I bought a 50 ct bag of Winchester 7-08 brass last fall. After full length sizing them I started in priming the cases and found that about 1/2 dozen of them showed almost no resistance when seating the primers. I was not amused with my Winchester brass either.

Edit to add- I was using CCI primers.