Home Forums Reloading Handgun Reloading primers not coming out completely

Hi all,
I'm a newbie reloader and I have some Winchester nickel plated .357 magnum cases that I can't remove the entire primer from the primer pocket. The dimpled part of the primer came out, but the sides of the primer separated from the top and stayed in the pocket. How do I get the sides of the primers out? Drill bit? What size? Better ideas? Thanks for any help.
kstockfo

p.s. I tried a primer pocket cleaning tool from K&M but that didn't budge the part of the primer that stayed in the pocket.

Usually this happens with crimped in primers and a primer pocket swager is used to correct the condition. I have no experience doing so and frankly, I’d just order some new Starline brass for reloading.

Let me guess? Wet tumbled brass? Don't do that!

This happens when brass is wet tumbled before being deprimed. Deprime what you can and sell the rest for scrap. Don't buy used wet tumbled brass that isn't deprimed.

OP, you might be able to remove those parts with the proper sized EZ Out broken screw extractor. You might soak them in penetrating oil for a couple of days first.

Never had this problem in 50 years of handholding so this just a guess.

Why does wet tumbling stick the primers. The concept seems strange to me.

Yep sounds weird. Don’t know why this wouldn’t work. Small crimped primer tool

I have never tried wet tumbling. Didn’t know this happens, good to know if I decide to try it someday.

It is caused by moisture rusting/seizing the primer in the primer pocket. That's why I deprime before I wet tumble. I also dry my brass in a food dehydrator. Don't let this give wet tumbling a black eye, I will never go back to dry tumbling, specially for the amount of brass I process.

never heard of that. Brass doesn't rust.

I’ve had that happen at times when the two or three pronged anvil of the primer grabs the decapping pin and holds it instead of popping it clear of the primer pocket. When you then retract the ram, the primer that clamped down on the decapping pin is pulled back into the primer pocket.

You might try screwing the decapping stem down some to help clear the primer from the decapping pin. Be careful to not to screw the decapping stem so far down that it makes contact with the inside of the case which can bend it.

You might want to get a dedicated decapping die. Mine is from RCBS and its decapping pin is longer so it pushes the primer farther out and it seems to help the problem.

Rusty brass????

CORROSION or CORRODED.

Besides the uninitiated newbie, if someone is wet tumbling with primers not removed, they're not taking advantage of the system cleaning those primer pockets. Therefore, in my opinion, they're an idiot.

And exactly what benefit is derived from cleaning the primer pocket?

Well, for starters, simply NOT HAVING the issue at hand, no?

Well geeze bud I haven’t cleaned a primer pocket on pistol brass in 30 years and only clean rifle primer pockets when I am extremely bored. No problems encountered so I guess I am an idiot as I don’t understand the benefit. Please explain it.

What's the benefits of tumbling pistol brass at all?

Other than making them look pretty?

Why even bother?

You "tumble" to reinstate a degree of "newness" yet leave primer pockets filthy because it's just too much trouble to deprime before tumbling. Explain THAT.

And just how many pistol rounds do you shoot in a year? Are you shooting competitively or just plinking in the back yard? My reason for wet tumbling is that I do shoot pistol competitions and shoot several thousand rounds a month between practice and competitions. These are timed events with penalties for misses or a round that doesn't go off. I shoot with revolvers where a high primer caused by a dirty primer pocket can lock the cylinder. A dirty primer pocket can also cause a squib if the flash hole is blocked and the powder doesn't ignite. I see a lot of people I compete with, who don't pay enough attention to detail with their reloading, have frequent ammunition problems and failures. These problems and failures greatly effect their time and score and they wonder why they can't score better. I try to remove any failure point from my shooting that I can prior to stepping up to the line where it is all on me. I know there will be instances of a gun breaking or getting a bad factory primer that are just beyond my control, but why no eliminate everything I possibly can?
Every serious shooter that I compete with deprimes and wet tumbles their brass. Back before I competed and only shot a few hundred pistol rounds a year I didn't clean brass at all, just reloaded and shot it. And yes, I had an occasional ammo failure.

Exactly. Everyone's needs differ and no one blanket covers it.

I don't shoot handgun competitively other than a dismal few two gun matches here and there, but I've shot a LOT of PRS. Clean brass is just in the DNA. Take out as many variables as possible.