Problem with primers

badhabithobby

I am loading .38 wadcutters and have been having problems with the primers. For several hundred rounds everything was fine and then I started to get little pits and scratch marks in the primers. I am using a Dillon 550B press. I am also getting metal shavings off the primers and am not sure why. I am using once fired Sellor & Bellot brass and CCI primers. I have been cleaning any debris left behind and still get the problem. I have been using the following method of preparing the brass -

Tumbled 2-3 hours
De-primed
Cleaned primer pocket
Cleaned inside of case with brush
Tumbled again for 1 hour

The brass looks great and I have checked several hundred cases and they are all to the same specs. I am not sure if this is a brass issue, primer issue, press issue or operator issue. Reloading is a fairly new thing for me so rather than getting to frustrated I decided to walk away for a while and make this post. I am looking for some serious suggestions on things to try to resolve this issue. As I am not an expert in this field I may not have used the correct terms and what not in describing things but this is the best I can give. Thanks.

jonk

I would guess thus:

S&B brass has some of the tightest primer pockets I've seen.

CCI is one of the harder primers on the market.

Try some other primers or other brass and see if you are still experiencing it.

dcs shooters

Clean the top of the primer punch every so often. You might try a primer pocket reamer also.

BHAVIN

I think DCS is on the money. When you size on the 550 any junk still inside the primer pocket as well as brass shavings from this station and others falls out and onto the shell plate. Some of that will fall into the primer cup. Push the handle forward after you rotate the primed shell to the next location and clean of the primer seating rod. If you do this once in awhile it will help. I run into it more when loading 223. I also use a paint brush to clean off the shell plate after every 100 rounds before I dump in the next pickup tube of primers. I would bet you will have better luck with the shaving of the primers if you use Winchester.
On pistol I don't clean primer pockets. I tumble the cases clean and run them through the 550 and have never had problems other than just needing to clean the shellplate and primer cup to keep those dents out of the primers. You could always use new brass and that would mostly solve it but I am to cheap.[;)]

gunnut505

I've experienced this same "problem" many times, and it always goes back to blowing out the primer punch on the press. As long as you don't have big gnarly dents in the middle of the primers; no problem. They will shoot as well as any other rounds.

macabest

I had the same problem with S&B brass. After the first couple of uses it goes away. Some of them were harder to prime, and left little brass shavings on the primer plunger. I did get some indententations on the primers. I just check the plunger every few shells. Like I said after a couple times through they work as good as Remington and Winchester.
Marc