Primers not seating

[ezzy6.5]

Hi all,
I have some RWS brass that I’ve already reloaded a couple of times. For some reason I’m struggling to get my primers to seat consistently. Around 50% are fine. The rest are proud of the case. Pockets are spotless, I’ve even used a primer pocket uniformer. The fact that the uniformer fits the pocket makes me think the issue is with the primers?
Primers are federal large rifle magnum
I’m using a Lee hand prime.
Both of which I’ve used for years without an issue.
Anything I’m missing?

Ezzy

 

[angusb1]

I had this happen with some new RWS brass in .270 and Murom primers. My solution was to prime on my Lee Classic Cast press. They would seat but they needed a bit more force and with the press you get more leverage but you can feel where they stop. I don't have any other primers to try but they don't do it in my Winchester or Lapua brass in .308 so it looks like it may be the brass. Maybe the primer pocket on some is not quite wide enough?

 

[8x57]

Simple answer - primer incompatibility. You are using a different make of primer to what you have used previously.
Unfortunately, there can be microscopic differences in primer dimensions and some makes will not seat easily in certain cases. The answer is to find a brand of primer that is compatible with the case. I first came across this when trying to seat CCI primers in some .270w Norma cases way back and have occasionally encountered the problem with various makes of case and primer ever since. The answer is, if possible to find the makes of primer that is compatible with your cases and stick to them.

 

[Jamesy13]

Definitely change your primers. I was always using CCI but as I couldn’t find any, I bought a box of Fiocci. Would not fit my Lapua .260 brass. Tried them in my Hornady .243 and they looked fine, when I went to fire them, the bolt wouldn’t close. Finally found more CCI, issue went away.

 

[JamesH]

I have the same issue with RWS brass and Ginex primers. It takes perfect alignment or considerable force to get them seated flush. Hard work but I couldn’t get any other primers recently.

 

[ezzy6.5]

Simple answer - primer incompatibility. You are using a different make of primer to what you have used previously.
Unfortunately, there can be microscopic differences in primer dimensions and some makes will not seat easily in certain cases. The answer is to find a brand of primer that is compatible with the case. I first came across this when trying to seat CCI primers in some .270w Norma cases way back and have occasionally encountered the problem with various makes of case and primer ever since. The answer is, if possible to find the makes of primer that is compatible with your cases and stick to them.

I’ve used Federal Magnum primers for as long as I’ve had a 270 at least 15 years. I’ve been using the same box for a few years. I’ve got 2k of them. I’ll root out some old brass and see if they seat in that. I’m convinced it’s the primers but I will continue to investigate.

 

[plumber01]

You might be able to put a chamfer on your brass, i seem to remember some are a bit of a swine and its usually just perfect alignment, or try doing them on the press rather than hand tool.

 

[ezzy6.5]

Found the issue. I can’t believe I didn’t figure it out sooner. I tried some mag tech large rifle primers. They seated a lot better but still not really below the surface. I then went over all the cases again with a Lyman pocket reamer and tried fed primers. Better but not right. Last night I prepped some Norma brass and had the same issue. Obviously something odd going on. It turned out to be the cam worn on my hand priming tool. I swapped it out for another one and all primers seat perfectly in all brass. Obvious when you have the answer.

 

[paul o']

I find the cheap Lee primer bench press works and the parts are cheap to fix out once I start getter high primers . or ram the buggers home on the Forster co ax

 

[User00044]

Found the issue. I can’t believe I didn’t figure it out sooner. I tried some mag tech large rifle primers. They seated a lot better but still not really below the surface. I then went over all the cases again with a Lyman pocket reamer and tried fed primers. Better but not right. Last night I prepped some Norma brass and had the same issue. Obviously something odd going on. It turned out to be the cam worn on my hand priming tool. I swapped it out for another one and all primers seat perfectly in all brass. Obvious when you have the answer.

Thanks for sharing that , one to keep in mind if I get the same problem.

 

[Vince1968]

Since starting with rheumatoid arthritis, I use small primers in my Lee hand primer and for large primers I bought the Lee Bench Primer, which you can literally use 2 fingers or your thumb to seat the primers.

The H & K primers from Kranks are the ones I used to really struggle with but not now with the bench primer