You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
45 acp high primers
- Thread starter josh29j
- Start date
cryogenic419
New member
Try sticking a dime underneath the primer seating plug, put the loaded ammo back on the press and use only the primer seating station, don't put any dies into the press.. Go through all the high primers and try to seat them just a hair more. If that fixed the issue, find something small, thin, metallic and durable to super glue into place. If it didn't you may want to uniform the pockets.
I don't care what Hornady says about their primer seating system being mathematically correct, the design is lacking. The original seater plug starts to divot the press and eventually it will not seat to the correct depth. They need to put a foot on the seater plug or a steel insert in the press to stop that from happening.
I don't care what Hornady says about their primer seating system being mathematically correct, the design is lacking. The original seater plug starts to divot the press and eventually it will not seat to the correct depth. They need to put a foot on the seater plug or a steel insert in the press to stop that from happening.
polyphemus
New member
You should not load cartridges with high primers.Should I worry about .oo1 or .oo2. I am getting some high primers only on win brass..
Whatever is causing that issue needs to be resolved,you say you measured the
pockets,how did you do that?
Only on Win. brass? ok then,don't use them problem solved.
And if you want to use them anyway rework the pockets and don't buy those again.
William T. Watts
New member
Uniform the primer pocket, I use a lyman primer pocket tool in a small drill motor, fast plus it squares up the primer pocket! Every primer pocket is the same depth, no more primer problem!! William
Josh,
Primers normally require a little bit of crush. This is called setting the bridge by primer makers and "reconsolidating" the primer by the military. The idea is that the primer anvil comes a little tall and when you seat the primer it should squeeze the anvil into the primer by about two to four thousandths of an inch.
It is common on progressive presses for the the primer to seat when the press handle is at low mechanical advantage. This is to let you "feel" the firmness of the primer seating effort. The problem is that some primers have burrs and are harder to seat than others, so you can think they are seated when they are not. I have this problem on my Dillon Square Deal. Also, some cases have crimped primers, and if the crimps are not either cut or swaged out, then primers can fail to seat fully.
What you want to do is gently measure the height of a dozen of your primers to get an average reading. Then do the same with the depth of your primer pockets. Be carfull making this measurement as it is easy to get too short a number off a caliper depth probe. Usually you get a better result by measuring a small pin that fits into the primer pocket, but not too loosely, then the case length, then putting the pin in the pocket and measuring the combined length and subtracting it from the sum of the pin and case lengths. This gives you a pocket depth. If four thousandths smaller than the primer height is greater than the primer pocket depth, then pocket depth uniforming is in order. If it is, you are likely just not pushing the primer in firmly enough and need to solve that mechanical problem. Swaging or reaming the pockets, even when there is no crimp, often makes primers seat more easily.
Primers normally require a little bit of crush. This is called setting the bridge by primer makers and "reconsolidating" the primer by the military. The idea is that the primer anvil comes a little tall and when you seat the primer it should squeeze the anvil into the primer by about two to four thousandths of an inch.
It is common on progressive presses for the the primer to seat when the press handle is at low mechanical advantage. This is to let you "feel" the firmness of the primer seating effort. The problem is that some primers have burrs and are harder to seat than others, so you can think they are seated when they are not. I have this problem on my Dillon Square Deal. Also, some cases have crimped primers, and if the crimps are not either cut or swaged out, then primers can fail to seat fully.
What you want to do is gently measure the height of a dozen of your primers to get an average reading. Then do the same with the depth of your primer pockets. Be carfull making this measurement as it is easy to get too short a number off a caliper depth probe. Usually you get a better result by measuring a small pin that fits into the primer pocket, but not too loosely, then the case length, then putting the pin in the pocket and measuring the combined length and subtracting it from the sum of the pin and case lengths. This gives you a pocket depth. If four thousandths smaller than the primer height is greater than the primer pocket depth, then pocket depth uniforming is in order. If it is, you are likely just not pushing the primer in firmly enough and need to solve that mechanical problem. Swaging or reaming the pockets, even when there is no crimp, often makes primers seat more easily.
I do not worry, I respect. If you load ammo for a slide type gun I suggest you never chamber a round with a high primer. There are shell holders that protect the reloader from himself. Some shell holders do not have a primer cut in the deck of the shell holder. The absence of the primer cut prevents the reloader from removing a case from the shell holder with a high primer.Should I worry about?
Then there are inertia hammers for pulling bullets. Never pull a bullet from a case with a high primer. Because; there is a chance of the trickle down effect; If the hammer seats the primer and powder has trickled down between the bottom of the primer pocket and primer there is no room for the primer to move forward when seating. Same thing when the slide chambers the round on a case with a primer that is not seated and or one that protrudes.
F. Guffey
I should have thought to address that, too. I'll simply reiterate that high primers in a self-loader are a bad thing. They make feeding less reliable, raise the possibility of a slamfire, or cause failures to fire because the firing pin energy is used up completing seating the primer. In addition, ignition from improperly seated primers that do fire is erratic and you will get more velocity variation and more variation in the time it takes to get the bullet out of the barrel due to that slow ignition. This has the same effect as variable lock time.
Yeah I agree, "high" primers ain't a good thing. As Uncle Nick mentions, you'll prolly get a lot of misfires due to the firing pin's first impact will seat the primer completely. While I'm not afraid of many (any?) reloading practices, I doubt I'd try seating loaded round's primers deeper...
Reforming primer pockets is just a part of reloading a mass produced case (where there may be some over/under tolerance) and if you find it necessary, just do it or put the offending brass away somewhere and fix it later. In my reloading experience I've not found any shallow primer pockets in any of the 12 cartridges I reload, both foreign and domestic.
Using large rifle primers in .45 ACP will result in "high" primers because they are taller than large pistol primers. Are you sure you're stuffing large pistol primers in a large pistol primed cartridge?
Reforming primer pockets is just a part of reloading a mass produced case (where there may be some over/under tolerance) and if you find it necessary, just do it or put the offending brass away somewhere and fix it later. In my reloading experience I've not found any shallow primer pockets in any of the 12 cartridges I reload, both foreign and domestic.
Using large rifle primers in .45 ACP will result in "high" primers because they are taller than large pistol primers. Are you sure you're stuffing large pistol primers in a large pistol primed cartridge?
buck460XVR
New member
I should have thought to address that, too. I'll simply reiterate that high primers in a self-loader are a bad thing. They make feeding less reliable, raise the possibility of a slamfire, or cause failures to fire because the firing pin energy is used up completing seating the primer. In addition, ignition from improperly seated primers that do fire is erratic and you will get more velocity variation and more variation in the time it takes to get the bullet out of the barrel due to that slow ignition. This has the same effect as variable lock time.
You can get the same negative effect from high primers in revolvers too. They can lockup the cylinder and cause failure to fire also.
Should I worry about .oo1 or .oo2. I am getting some high primers only on win brass.. I measured the pocket depth and the are shallow compared to the data I found online. I am on a lnl ap press would hate to uniformer all that brass thanks
Ream the shallow pockets to depth. If the pockets are shallow enough that the anvils are firmly seated, and the primer cup shoved down so the gap between anvil and primer is properly set, and the primer is above the case head, you have created the perfect conditions for a slamfire. The primer must be below the case head.
chris in va
New member
There's something wrong with Winchester brass lately. Every few dozen mixed cases I find a Win with a case head so out of spec it won't fit in my shellholder.
That is the reason I always have a gasket cutting ball peen hammer close. I was asked by a reloader to help him form 450 Wildcat cases for him. It was more about showing him it could be done but etc.. Anyhow; he asked me to bring the 'other' #4 shell holder. I showed up with the gasket cutting ball peen hammer, the gasket cutting ball peen hammer is more case friendly than my 8lb. ball peen shop hammers.
He had 40 belted magnum cases that would not fit the #4 RCBS shell holder because the cases had been hammered with a heavy loads. I showed him the cases could be sized, I did suggest he not use the cases but if he was desperate .
F. Guffey
He had 40 belted magnum cases that would not fit the #4 RCBS shell holder because the cases had been hammered with a heavy loads. I showed him the cases could be sized, I did suggest he not use the cases but if he was desperate .
F. Guffey