Priming 38 spl cases

No. They both take the same amount of pressure unless you are trying to prime old military brass. They have a crimped primer and the crimp must be removed before repriming.

What are you using to prime your brass? I do it on my Dillon Press although I have used a Lee Primer in the past.
 
Priming 38's is easy, I use the Lee hand primer that I have had for many years. Works like a charm. I sit in the rocker and prime away. I prime large primers on the RCBS bench primer because it takes more effort. If you encounter resistance when seating small primers, STOP, locate and fix the problem.

Have a blessed day,

Leon
 
Primer pockets are a common problem. Save your self the head ache and order a set of primer pocket uniformers form Redding or Sinclair. The tool will easily cut your primer pockets to proper depth and circumference. You only need to use the uniformer one time and your problem will be solved for good.
 
I was priming mixed 38 spl cases, most primed fine but some were hard to sear and 3 of them would not seat beyond half way. I am sizing them on my Hornady lnl ap progressive press.
 
Before we make this far more complicated and costly than it truly needs to be...

Try this:

Empty or remove the reservior that holds fresh primers.
Get an old, thick, bath-sized towel. Fold it in half and completely cover the press so that you can work the handle but the entire blast zone is otherwise shielded.

Now, with just one primer, slowly but surely with increasing strength and pressure -- seat the primer. Don't stop until it either seats properly below flush or it EXPLODES in your attempt to seat it.

Can primers in .38 seat with more difficulty than .45?
ABSOLUTELY, for sure, no doubt.

If you change brass or primer brand, things can also change.

One thing that we can always count on is that newer handloaders always have a (very rational, expected, and helpful) -FEAR- of primers and priming.

Using a towel and safety glasses should help you to learn, hands-on, just how much force it would take to detonate one.

NOTE: this only works when your primer is lined up properly! If it's half way of centered or sideways, YEAH, you'll make it go bang. But if it is lined up as it should be, don't be afraid to be the boss.

Nice even movements, never a sharp stab.
 
They can vary greatly between different types of cases, and between brass and nickel. Once in a blue moon I've even run across a crimped primer pocket in a .38. One more example why sorting by headstamp can save you headaches, especially with revolver cases.

What method are you using to seat them? For years I seated them with the press, and kick myself after getting a handprimer that makes life so much easier.
 
What method are you using to seat them?
Click to expand...

I was priming mixed 38 spl cases, most primed fine but some were hard to sear and 3 of them would not seat beyond half way. I am sizing them on my Hornady lnl ap progressive press.
 
Rebs: If I only had 2 or 3 that was a problem, I would just put them in the recycle can and go on to something else. Everybody that reloads runs into that problem at some point. Just chunk them and move on.

Have a blessed day,

Leon
 
It's not a .38 thing per se, but it is common for some BRANDS of brass to have tighter pockets. In particular, S&B (same as Herter's) is know for very tight pockets with sharp rims that make priming difficult. I find that lightly chamfering the edge of the primer pocket solves the problem with that brand.
 
Some brass has tighter primer pockets and some primers have a harder cup and thus are harder to seat. Brass shot a multitude of times will prime easier than new/virgin brass. Add two or three of those factors together and there can be a noticeable difference in ease of seating. Those who prime on a progressive press will not feel the change in resistance as readily as those that prime with a hand primer.
 
FWIW, some manufacturers don't chamfer the primer pocket mouths very much. If I run across any S&B brass I'll set it aside and treat them the same as I do mil. spec. brass, I use a countersink to chamfer the case mouth. This usually eases primer seating (BTW, in 30 years of reloading I have used primer pocket reforming tools mebbe twice. I haven't found it necessary.)...
 
I run into one particular head stamp (A-MERC), that is pretty horrible to seat. Usually just chunk them.

I usually do my priming on the same pass that I do my case mouth expanding. Using the RCBS press mounted auto-primer feed, I expand the case mouth on the down stroke, and seat primer on the up stroke. (single stage press) jd
 
Mauser after reading your post about brands I checked the 3 that would not seat over half way and they were Herter's. The other ones all seated just some harder than others.
 
Most likely a bit of crud in the pocket. Sometimes a progressive can be a tick off center. Quickest fix is a primer pocket swager.
Herter's stuff is S&B.
 
Yes, Herters brass and S&B brass are the same. I have hundreds of the Herters... I have literally many hundreds of the S&B. They can cause problems not only on priming -- they can be obnoxious simply to de-prime, but only when de-priming them the first time, when removing the factory original primer. What happens is that the primer cup refuses to come out of the pocket and the decap pin will pierce the cup from the inside. How often does this happen, you ask? Well, I'm using a Lee sizing die and I would estimate this happening about 5% of the time, or a bit more. Less than 10%. But once this has happened... getting that primer out is an endeavor that I haven't (and won't) wasted further effort on.

The brass is also amongst the cheapest on the market. You will see splits very early in their life compared to nearly any proper brass on the market.

Even so, I still use them. They are perfect for "lost brass" shooting. Obviously, "lost brass" is not a typical issue for 98% of the people who shoot .38 Special with revolvers, but I have two semi-automatic pistols that chuck .38 Special, so my S&B/Herter's brass serves a very particular role for me.
 
.223

I'm having the same problem with .223 REM. I use a Lee hand primer & never had a problem priming .38spl, ,357, or .45acp. I bought a #17 drill & set up my drill press & depth gauge to drill out the pocket in 2 cases. I barely felt it removing anything but the cases that wouldn't take a primer before, went in with what I feel like is a lot more pressure than normal. I fired them yesterday at the range. No problems. I wanted to inspect the shells but couldn't find them in the 1 ft of snow. I even asked 2 guys to spot for me to see where they landed. They must have blinked because they didn't see a thing. I made up 7 more but there's more snow coming tomorrow. I'll rig up a brass catcher. I want to be sure the primers are still fully seated & not popping out. Next trial batch I'll try the counter sink option.
 
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