[dad23honu]

Hi All:

I've been loading pistol cartridges (40S&W, 10mm, 9mm) for about a year. Two months ago, I started loading .308. So far, everything has gone perfectly.

Now, I'm loading .223 for my AR and Mini-14.

When I look into the primer pockets of LC headstamped and FC headstamped brass, there looks to be a little band or ring. It almost looks as if some stuck a very very small wedding band in the primer pocket. Sometimes, this band looks to be real thick, sometimes it looks thinner. My RP headstamped brass doesn't have this band.

Again, I've loaded up about 200 pieces of .308 & thousands and thousands of pistol rounds....and I've yet to have problems seating primers in those.

I'm finding it almost impossible to seat primers in 99% of the LC and FC headstamped casings. The RP headstamped casings are no problem. I've picked out a handful (10 out of 50) of the "wedding ringed" casings that look like they have thinner bands, and I've seated primers in those with reasonable success.

A few questions:

1) What are those bands and what are they for?
2) Why don't the RP headstamped casings have them?
3) Why do the bands vary in size? Some look reallly thick. Others look visibly thinner.
4) In many casings, the band thickness is inconsistent; that is, the band thinner on one side than the other.
5) What do I do?

Looking forward to all of your advice. I'm going to sit tight until I hear from you all.

Thanks in advance!!