Win brass, once fired loose primer pocket fix

[Matt Anthony]

This last Saturday at the range a shooting friend gave me 5 boxes of Winchester once fired brass. He shot all of it at the range that day using 5 different 22-250's he's taking on a PD hunt. Seems he had a large quanity and wanted to shoot it up hunting, like 60 boxes he bought on sale at a K-Mart.
After prepping the brass, I found Remington 9 1/2 LR primers were much too easy to insert, in fact I could push them almost to the bottom of the pocket with my hand. I then tried Rem. LR Mag. primers, Win, and CCI, same problem. I called my friend and told him of the problem and he said he too had this problem and wasn't going to purchase anymore Win. brass. He was just going to shoot this stuff up.
I was getting ready to toss them into the recycle drum and remembered I just bought those two cases of Wolf LRM primers. I tried inserting one primer and found it to seat good and tight! I continued throughout the entire 100 cases and each one was a good seat. Looks like I gave up too soon on many other cases. I am going to go through my recycle drum and see if the Federal brass I tossed for loose primer pockets is fixed using the Wolf. Will let everyone know when I get to it.
All I can say is, try different primers first before tossing the brass. And in the end, if a Wolf LR Mag doesn't seat, then toss it! I also noticed that the cups are harder on the Wolf than the Remington LR Mag primer.

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[Curator]

I have had similar results using Winchester large rifle magnum primers. Not only ar ethe cups tougher/thicker but the outside diameter is a few thousandths larger. Large/lose primer pockets are not always due to high pressures. Some lots of brass seem to start out this way. I have two lots of new .32-20 Winchester brass, One lot has lose primer pockets and the other lot is nice and tight.

[Matt Anthony]

I have had similar results using Winchester large rifle magnum primers. Not only ar ethe cups tougher/thicker but the outside diameter is a few thousandths larger. Large/lose primer pockets are not always due to high pressures. Some lots of brass seem to start out this way. I have two lots of new .32-20 Winchester brass, One lot has lose primer pockets and the other lot is nice and tight.

I should clarify that the Remington were mag primers and the Win, and CCI were the standard large rifle. I did not have any Winchester LRM to check. I do know the Remington LRM primers are .001 smaller than the Wolf and seem to be a bit softer on the cup material than the Wolf.

I now look at how I have condemned Federal brass in the past, when in fact I should not have. I came down to my office this morning and pulled 10 Federal 30-06 cases that I had in the salvage drum and found the Remington LRM I could push into the case, but the Wolf seat perfectly. I have thousands of Federal cases I have saved, from 223 all the way up to 300 Mag that I canned because of this. Well, I guess we all learn something everyday.

I humble myself!


My only warning is to let reloaders know that if in fact you decide to use Mag. primers in place of standard primers, drop your charge one grain first and see if there are any pressure signs. I have read in other forums that the Wolf Magnum primers are the same as regular primers except for the cup hardness, but the only way to tell is to chronograph the same load using the mag and non-mag and see where your velocity is at.

[William T. Watts]

My lots of Federal & CCI primers are a full .001+ larger diameter (.2112" + or -) than Winchester or R-P primers. Recently I purchased a brick and a half of Winchester primers just because they were available. I have since found about 5% of the cases I prime with the Winchester primers don't have the right feel when the primer seats. Those cases I remove the Winchester primer and sit to the side and later prime with Federal primers!! I keep that lot of brass with the large primer pockets separate and prime with Federal primers only and get another firing or two before recycling!! William

[MarkB]

Matt, I have given up on Remington primers due to their loose fit. I now use Winchester primers, which seat just about as easily in new brass as do the Remingtons, but are just a smidgen tighter in used brass.

[limazulu]

My only warning is to let reloaders know that if in fact you decide to use Mag. primers in place of standard primers, drop your charge one grain first and see if there are any pressure signs. I have read in other forums that the Wolf Magnum primers are the same as regular primers except for the cup hardness, but the only way to tell is to chronograph the same load using the mag and non-mag and see where your velocity is at.

I wonder if mag primers wear out the throat of a barrel more quickly then standard primers?

[Matt Anthony]

I wonder if mag primers wear out the throat of a barrel more quickly then standard primers?

If you keep your loads at a moderate level, I think the throat would have the same life, I can't see where the primer is going to have any affect.
Today I am picking up my T-99 Arisaka that I had rebarreled in 22-250. The throat on this used Douglass XX barrel was quite long, about 2500 rounds through it. Even with the longer throat, the barrel performed perfectly. The gunsmith said that cutting off the old threads and chambering will fix that problem. I'll be trying it out on Sunday.
The load this barrel liked was 33 grains of IMR or H-4895 with a 50 gr. projectile using Rem. LRM primers. Using regular Rem LR primers the groups were not consistant all the time, as soon as I switched to the mag primers, the groups actually got smaller without any fliers.
I'll be anxious to see how the Wolf LRM perform with this load and will post the results on Monday.