Tight primer pockets

[pete evans]

Just doing a bit of reloading with some once fired 308 hornady brass. The primer pockets are super tight and on occasion distort the primer.
I’ve reloaded lapua norma federal and ppu in 308 (both new brass and once fired factory) and never had this issue. I’ve also reloaded 222 243 and 270 without this issue. I’ve cleaned the pockets as normal and tried both hand priming tool and the arm thing on the press but same outcome.
Does hornady use some form of crimp that needs to be removed? How is it removed if so?

 

[C h r i s]

Was it factory ammo, if so its likely to be crimped primers. Use a primer pocket swager, plenty of choice out there.

 

[NP435]

I have never seen a crimped in primer in non-military ammunition. For that matter all my brass other than virgin fresh from the box has never had a tight pocket. You could of course contact Hornady and see what they say.

 

[C h r i s]

All.my hornady factory ammo is crimped.

 

[ashray]

all my ggg brass has a crimp and this new batch of hornady black match ammo seems to have been crimped .i had to gentle ream the primer pocket to get primers to enter and seat correctly

 

[nocturnaldave]

Above is correct…..

 

[paul o']

Just cut them to size .

 

[Donkey Basher]

Hornady crimp primers in, that’s why you’re struggling to seat new primers - you need to remove the crimp either using a swaging die or a chamfer tool.

 

[Sinistral]

GGG cases are ALWAYS crimped. but not all Hornady cases are.
Lake City Arsenal now loads many of the cheaper ammunition lines for Hornady for match & sporting use..

The Hornady ad promises 'optimized performance from various platforms - direct impingement, gas piston, suppressed, unsuppressed, inertia, bolt, pump, supersonic, subsonic, rifle, mid‑length, carbine or pistol – Hornady BLACK ammunition delivers superior performance for a variety of applications'.

If you use nothing else but BLACK then all cases for these calibres have crimped primer-pockets. It's an easy enough feature to spot so sellers are aware of it. As they're designed for single use I wouldn't bother salvaging them, as there are plenty of other makes around.

5.45 x 39mm 60gr
223 Remington 62gr FMJ
223 Remington 75gr BTHP Match™
5.56mm NATO 62gr FMJ
5.56mm NATO 75gr InterLock
22 ARC 75gr ELD Match
.224 Valkyrie 75gr BTHP
6mm ARC 105gr BTHP
6mm Creedmoor 105gr BTHP
6.5 Grendel 123gr ELD Match
6.8 Remington SPC 110gr V‑MAX
300 Blackout 110gr V‑MAX
300 Blackout 110gr NTX
300 Blackout 208gr A‑MAX
308 Winchester 155gr A‑MAX
308 Winchester 168gr A‑MAX
7.62 X 39mm 111gr Monoflex
7.62 X 39mm 123gr SST
338 ARC 170gr MonoFlex
338 ARC 175gr HP Match™
338 ARC 215gr FTX
350 Legend 150gr InterLock
450 Bushmaster 250gr FTX