Depriming live primers

[MNbogboy]

That is exactly my plan at this point.

If you shoot them (and that is safest) you may not be able to conclude what really caused the issue. If they were mine I would extend the decapper like JE mentioned, wear safety glasses and carefully break down the worst offenders. Carefully examine and measure the primer for over "crush". Compare the primer to new and measure the pockets.
It will give you piece of mind as to what happened.

 

[Charliehunts365]

Hey!
A little squirt of wd40 or your favorite penetrating oil, leave over night, drain, clean case of oil with brake cleaner, and allow to dry completely. Works everytime.
I've been a gunsmith for 30+ years, and instead of buying big bucks cycle-test dummies, I use a NEW factory rounds bc will makes dummies to SAAMI spec (always present around the shop for test fire after reassembly of anything I've worked on.) I then drill a 3/32" hole (SLOWLY! so you don't produce enough heat to ignite the propellant, it's a LIVE round after all), in the side of the case up where the web starts to thin a bit, and dump out all the powder. Stick the shnozzle of your wd can in and give it a couple of quick shots and sit upright until I'm absolutely sure (overnight's my modus operandi). I don't make a big deal about cleaning the oil out other than to prevent a mess later, but you'll want to so your cases aren't contaminated when you reload them.
You MUST kill the primers in dummies or you risk squib loading a bullet up into the throat. Do that and forget to pop it out, and then test fire it the next day and you'll have trouble playing the clarinet ever again.
I do make dummies out of fired brass bc I neck-size reloads for my ar's, mini14's, and my trusty old 7400 Remington '06. Sometimes bullet style and seat depth just aren't compatible in autos neck-sized. The common wisdom is full-length size ONLY for these type rifles, but with the problematic accuracy of some (most) of them, milking every bit out of them is advantageous. I weigh every charge, every case, every bullet etc, too. So call me fanatical, don't care. If you shoot off the bench, act like you mean it.
I went on about making dummies bc everyone should have several for use in your own firearms, especially for auto pistolas and rifles. It's nice to know that you have a firearm that will actually cycle w/o hanging up on the ramp or chamber mouth and that mag springs are lively enough to feed the last round. Don't baby them, let the slide/bolt snap shut from a position of full open (never a good idea with live rounds in the house. Yer huny will stomp you if you shoot a hole in the wall by accident). This best mimics the vigorous cycling process when you actually fire the critter.
I use them in bolt guns too, so I know where to polish the feed lips and ways that tend to be gritty feeling as rounds rise up out of the mag well and into the chamber in many rifles. There are many things of interest to be learned from cycle test dummies. -cb

 

[HOT TUNA]

This was brand new brass. I primed about 10 cases before I realized there was a problem.

The rim looks really uneven. Maybe from manufacturing then?

 

[misterc01]

For this reason, I bought a set of Ballistics Tools Primer Pocket Gauges. Has both a large and small primer pocket gauge and a pocket depth gauge. NO more guess work.

 

[MNbogboy]

Hey!
A little squirt of wd40 or your favorite penetrating oil, leave over night, drain, clean case of oil with brake cleaner, and allow to dry completely. Works everytime.
I've been a gunsmith for 30+ years, and instead of buying big bucks cycle-test dummies, I use a NEW factory rounds bc will makes dummies to SAAMI spec (always present around the shop for test fire after reassembly of anything I've worked on.) I then drill a 3/32" hole (SLOWLY! so you don't produce enough heat to ignite the propellant, it's a LIVE round after all), in the side of the case up where the web starts to thin a bit, and dump out all the powder. Stick the shnozzle of your wd can in and give it a couple of quick shots and sit upright until I'm absolutely sure (overnight's my modus operandi). I don't make a big deal about cleaning the oil out other than to prevent a mess later, but you'll want to so your cases aren't contaminated when you reload them.
You MUST kill the primers in dummies or you risk squib loading a bullet up into the throat. Do that and forget to pop it out, and then test fire it the next day and you'll have trouble playing the clarinet ever again.
I do make dummies out of fired brass bc I neck-size reloads for my ar's, mini14's, and my trusty old 7400 Remington '06. Sometimes bullet style and seat depth just aren't compatible in autos neck-sized. The common wisdom is full-length size ONLY for these type rifles, but with the problematic accuracy of some (most) of them, milking every bit out of them is advantageous. I weigh every charge, every case, every bullet etc, too. So call me fanatical, don't care. If you shoot off the bench, act like you mean it.
I went on about making dummies bc everyone should have several for use in your own firearms, especially for auto pistolas and rifles. It's nice to know that you have a firearm that will actually cycle w/o hanging up on the ramp or chamber mouth and that mag springs are lively enough to feed the last round. Don't baby them, let the slide/bolt snap shut from a position of full open (never a good idea with live rounds in the house. Yer huny will stomp you if you shoot a hole in the wall by accident). This best mimics the vigorous cycling process when you actually fire the critter.
I use them in bolt guns too, so I know where to polish the feed lips and ways that tend to be gritty feeling as rounds rise up out of the mag well and into the chamber in many rifles. There are many things of interest to be learned from cycle test dummies. -cb

Problem is most factory ammo is on the small tolerance of SAAMI and often less than Saami tolerance. The factory dummies might be nice to check feeding various ammo. Dummies from sized to spec cases might be more useful especially identifying small diameter chambers where gauges won't.
Also would'nt it be way easier to pull the bullet, dump the powder, decap & reseat?

 

[crkckr]

Yes, it does look too deep, but have you tried putting one in your rifle and pulling the trigger? You might be surprised. If the FP dent is lite or it doesn't fire, clearly there's a problem. I have been reloading since my late teens (knocking on the door of 70 now) and I have been using the decapping rods from the Lee "basher" kits to remove live primers for years without incident. I use a rubber hammer and gently tap them out (in the Lee fixture) & have never once set one off. I do wear safety glasses (duh!) and the only thing in any kind of danger is the light over my bench. It's possible the brass just has a too deeply formed pocket, in which case send 'em back to be replaced. If it's a factory defect, they shouldn't all be that way, their QC is *usually* fairly good.
Cheers,
crkckr

 

[redleg1013]

Measure a primer pocket or ten, spec is .117-.123". It would behoove you to get a pocket uniformer, and measure it before you use it. My K+M came at .122 and I left it there.

I'm cheap (read as frugal) and would rather just do it myself.

 

[J E Custom]

We can discuss what we think, and look at a lot of pictures but until you measure the primer seating depth you won't know whether it is "TO" low or not.

All that is needed is a depth mic and then a proper evaluation can be made. There are many different opinions and likes but you have to know what you are looking at to make a decision on which way to proceed.

Pictures can alter the appearance but a good measurement doesn't lie. I fix rifles all the time that have a perceived problem only to find out that something else was the problem after doing a thorough dimensional check.

J E CUSTOM

 

[yorke-1]

I wonder if you got some large pistol primers mismarked as large rifle?

That was my first though.

Any chance you can get a measurement off the primers you used?

 

[pburton]

The primers I used measure .122. I don't have the tools to measure the primer pockets.

 

[pburton]

I tried using a unitiming tool and marking it. But not very accurate

 

[pburton]

That was supposed to say uniformimg tool.

 

[yorke-1]

The primers I used measure .122. I don't have the tools to measure the primer pockets.

There's your problem, those are large pistol primers. Large rifle primers are the same diameter but should be closer to .136" tall.

 

[pburton]

That's crazy! They are marked small rifle primers. That would be why I'm having this problem. Ok, well that is easy to fix. Thanks for the help!