DoneNOut
Well-Known Member
Thoughts?
So, We Figured Out Annealing. How about Primer Pocket Restoration?
- Thread starter DoneNOut
- Start date
Help Support Long Range Hunting Forum
Thoughts?
QuietTexan
Well-Known Member
Personally, I'm not losing primer pockets fast enough to worry about it, but if you are and it his works, rock on.
If it works well enough then eventually Lee will make a $15 tool that works in a press for this. Hornady will make the same thing but it costs $40 and is a 50 thousanths smaller than spec. AMP will release a $2,500 hydraulic press with a force gauge that produces a graph so we can see the exact point at which at which the brass yields to reform the cup. Novels will be written on the internet about how as long as you use a 16oz hammer and let gravity control the force via a 6" drop (calibrated for variations in your local gravitational field of course) that you'll size the pocket perfectly. People who shoot Weatherby's will insist it has to be a ball peen hammer because of the roundness of the peen. The Europeans will tell us stupid Yanks that they've been doing since the 1647 but it only works if you use the metric system. The Aussies are asleep right now, and besides they're probably too busy fighting off all the poisonous snakes to worry about primer pockets.
If it works well enough then eventually Lee will make a $15 tool that works in a press for this. Hornady will make the same thing but it costs $40 and is a 50 thousanths smaller than spec. AMP will release a $2,500 hydraulic press with a force gauge that produces a graph so we can see the exact point at which at which the brass yields to reform the cup. Novels will be written on the internet about how as long as you use a 16oz hammer and let gravity control the force via a 6" drop (calibrated for variations in your local gravitational field of course) that you'll size the pocket perfectly. People who shoot Weatherby's will insist it has to be a ball peen hammer because of the roundness of the peen. The Europeans will tell us stupid Yanks that they've been doing since the 1647 but it only works if you use the metric system. The Aussies are asleep right now, and besides they're probably too busy fighting off all the poisonous snakes to worry about primer pockets.
Tagging in cause I'm still learning 
You'll learn more from this Thread, than from that video:
www.longrangehunting.com
I use a bigger hammer than the powder puff hammer shown in that video. Like Tim the Tool Man... In this case, bigger hammer is better. It still requires several hammer strikes.
I've used the method on many expanded primer pockets now. Both small PPs and large. Requires different size grade 8 bolts for different caliber cartridge casings and primer pocket sizes.
Calipers work fine for judging inside primer pocket diameters, while swaging down the primer pocket ID. I did buy a couple pin gauges, but they aren't mandatory.
I weld the ball bearing to a thick piece of steel plate to keep the ball bearing from scattering around on my garage floor after each hammer strike. I use two different size ball bearings. One for large PPs. Another for small PPs.
I use a coarse carborundum stone to flatten the edge of the primer pockets, occasionally. But based on my headspace measurements of restored casings, the ridge around the perimeter of the primer pocket generally doesn't stick out proud of the case head face. And when it does, not really enough to bother with... When the case is fired, any proud edge is flattened again, and if anything, helps tighten the primer pocket, ever so slightly.
TIGHTEN PRIMER POCKETS, here's how.
First of all, this won't work on extremely over pressured brass! If your primer pockets are getting loose from multiple firings (general wear and tear) this will work. I have a 4H ( HARDENED ) hex head bolt of the appropriate length wrapped with tape at the cartrige neck area length, and...
I use a bigger hammer than the powder puff hammer shown in that video. Like Tim the Tool Man... In this case, bigger hammer is better. It still requires several hammer strikes.
I've used the method on many expanded primer pockets now. Both small PPs and large. Requires different size grade 8 bolts for different caliber cartridge casings and primer pocket sizes.
Calipers work fine for judging inside primer pocket diameters, while swaging down the primer pocket ID. I did buy a couple pin gauges, but they aren't mandatory.
I weld the ball bearing to a thick piece of steel plate to keep the ball bearing from scattering around on my garage floor after each hammer strike. I use two different size ball bearings. One for large PPs. Another for small PPs.
I use a coarse carborundum stone to flatten the edge of the primer pockets, occasionally. But based on my headspace measurements of restored casings, the ridge around the perimeter of the primer pocket generally doesn't stick out proud of the case head face. And when it does, not really enough to bother with... When the case is fired, any proud edge is flattened again, and if anything, helps tighten the primer pocket, ever so slightly.
Last edited:
I've been doing this since tbrice23 put it out in 2015. There have been commercial tools for this for years prior to his posting but this is just too simple.You'll learn more from this Thread, than from that video:
TIGHTEN PRIMER POCKETS, here's how.
First of all, this won't work on extremely over pressured brass! If your primer pockets are getting loose from multiple firings (general wear and tear) this will work. I have a 4H ( HARDENED ) hex head bolt of the appropriate length wrapped with tape at the cartrige neck area length, and...
I use a bigger hammer than the powder puff hammer shown in that video. Like Tim the Tool Man... In this case, bigger hammer is better. It still requires several hammer strikes.
The difference is that I use it for subsonic loads in a .510 caliber cartridge I have made from 300 RUM cases. These cases were used in my .338 Edge and after 3-4 firings the primer pockets would be a little looser than I liked (this was Remington brass that even with somewhat mid level loads did this) so I cut them down and used them for .510 subsonic loads.
Muddyboots
Well-Known Member
Its 8AM but I think this one will be Irish coffee!
My brain just exploded
. More power to those who are constantly trying to find a way to extend brass life. If I was a machinist and/or scientist there is no telling what I would try just to prove or disprove a theory. I'll just keep chunking the bad brass in the trash can.
. More power to those who are constantly trying to find a way to extend brass life. If I was a machinist and/or scientist there is no telling what I would try just to prove or disprove a theory. I'll just keep chunking the bad brass in the trash can.But the boogeyman is always under the bed
Muddyboots
Well-Known Member
$64,000 question:
Load comparison?
ES SD Velocity?
Accuracy comparison, consistency?
Primer pocket seating pressure measurement?
Data to support and validate a hammer smashing base of brass with bolt onto a ball bearing? Hammer dimensions? Hammer type?Weight? Fall speed? Force? Replication of strike?
I am all in on Redneck Engineering and carry duct tape, roll of wire and electrical ties in truck but I also need to see actual data to validate the result.
Its hard enough to shoot 1/2MOA with unadulterated brass so its real easy to have skepticism to maintain same performance with a hammer and ball bearing.
So Let's see some validation data.
Load comparison?
ES SD Velocity?
Accuracy comparison, consistency?
Primer pocket seating pressure measurement?
Data to support and validate a hammer smashing base of brass with bolt onto a ball bearing? Hammer dimensions? Hammer type?Weight? Fall speed? Force? Replication of strike?
I am all in on Redneck Engineering and carry duct tape, roll of wire and electrical ties in truck but I also need to see actual data to validate the result.
Its hard enough to shoot 1/2MOA with unadulterated brass so its real easy to have skepticism to maintain same performance with a hammer and ball bearing.
So Let's see some validation data.
You'ld have to pay me to satisfy that list of criteria. $64,000 expensive. I charge engineering rates when I work for others. So from a cost-benefit perspective, be money ahead buying new brass.
I don't demand that level of prior-proven comfort. I think I understand the potential consequences well enough and proceed with satisfactory comfort.
After I've prepped my wildcat brass: the case weighing, primer pocket uniforming, flash hole deburring, outside neck turning, fire forming, annealing... The cost and time involved restoring a primer pocket using my methods is pretty insignificant. And the finished product is superior to that achieved using tools manufactured specifically for this purpose. Tools I've purchased and used in the past, and since discarded.
If you're shooting standard factory cartridges that are cheaply replaced with new, AND available, cases... well it's always an individual choice.
But as far as the boogeyman goes, and all imaginable disastrous consequences he could unleash? He ain't bit me yet. Not even a hint of gas blowby.
Gotta use some common sense, of course. Try to restore a primer pocket that's oblong due to gross overpressuring, which had to be pried from the face of a bolt with a pair of vice-grip pliers? Well there's always a means and method to produce mechanical disaster.
I don't demand that level of prior-proven comfort. I think I understand the potential consequences well enough and proceed with satisfactory comfort.
After I've prepped my wildcat brass: the case weighing, primer pocket uniforming, flash hole deburring, outside neck turning, fire forming, annealing... The cost and time involved restoring a primer pocket using my methods is pretty insignificant. And the finished product is superior to that achieved using tools manufactured specifically for this purpose. Tools I've purchased and used in the past, and since discarded.
If you're shooting standard factory cartridges that are cheaply replaced with new, AND available, cases... well it's always an individual choice.
But as far as the boogeyman goes, and all imaginable disastrous consequences he could unleash? He ain't bit me yet. Not even a hint of gas blowby.
Gotta use some common sense, of course. Try to restore a primer pocket that's oblong due to gross overpressuring, which had to be pried from the face of a bolt with a pair of vice-grip pliers? Well there's always a means and method to produce mechanical disaster.
Last edited:
eshorebwhntr
Well-Known Member
My favorite post on this forum in a long time. Thank you for that.
