Today’s fun and tribulations at the bench

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xandi

New member
Hello all,
I wanted to ask why would my ram prime be ripping the rims off of my brass?
Lee equipment cci srp and MKE 14 headstamp brass

(For what ever reason I can’t seem to get the photos to show up, I blame apple and my iPhone, probably should do this on the computer.......)
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It appears to me that the brass and shell holder are not a good fit.

Some brass has smaller rims for some reason.

Example: I have some Winchester brass (9mm) that has larger rims than RP brass.

If I set my shell holder up with Win. brass, the RP brass will pull out and sometimes tear the rim like in your pics.
 
I checked the shell holder, it’s a number 4, the one that came with the dies
The brass fit decently, the cases with the rim ripped off still slid in and fit as well
At the end of the day I only lost 3 of 103
 
The shell holders sounds logical. Damaged rims could end up giving problems in the rifle. Take a good look at them.

I wouldn't assume that you are being a little skimpy with the case lube.

Could be horsing the press also. Take it easy if the shell holder doesn't fit the case well. Use a tighter fitting shell holder.
 
Shell holder slightly too large for the brass.
Click to expand...

Or

Brass too small for the shellholder. ;)

Your shell holder might be the "right" one, the one that came with it, and works just fine, usually.

But brass DOES vary dimensionally, (tolerances) and sometimes things are just enough out of wack to give problems. It looks like those cases were too loosely held by the shellholder, and tipped when primed, tearing the rims as a result.

While not true 100% of the time, most of the time, you get the quality you pay for. Tools and components. And, especially with used brass.
 
I would think it's a sloppy fit shell holder combined with either a crimp in the primer pocket, or as the case with some S&B brass, tight primer pockets with little to no chamfer at the case mouth. I would first use my chamfer tool on the primer pockets to give the primer a smoother "entry way". There are reasons to chamfer the pocket mouths other than removing a crimp...

(I have a Lee Loader in 44 Mag. where primer "pops" were more common than I wanted. I found if I chamfered the primer pocket mouth the "pops" stopped. Doesn't take much)
 
2 happen while priming in the hand press the last when I resized it to replace the former
Primes crimps were removed, chamfered(#2 Phillips head bit) and deburred
 
I'm using the RCBS Ram Primer, they come with a large & Small post & cup . Make sure your using the right ones , as for your primer pockets get a pocket uniformer , they cut the pockets all to the same size & depth . When priming it doesn't or shouldn't take that mush force seating the primer to rip the case like that .
 
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