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Old July 12, 2011, 10:44 PM   #1
Miata Mike
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.45acp with huge flash holes

Today I primed close to 700 .45acp cases with mixed head stamps. I understand that some of the "cleaner" loads have larger flash holes. I found a Winchester case with a huge flash hole and figured someone must have messed with it during reloading.

I started watching head stamps before depriming and noticed that 3 more were brass colored primers that I believe were factory loads. I tossed the 4 huge flash holed cases in the scrap bucket.

Anyone come across any thing like this before, and should I have really cared about how big they were? I am using CCI 300 large pistol primers if it makes much difference. Thanks!

Last edited by Miata Mike; July 13, 2011 at 12:21 PM. Reason: typo
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Old July 12, 2011, 11:54 PM   #2
Sevens
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You are correct in that some of the "clean" ammo comes with enlarged flash holes. From what I've seen, this is only so in .45 Auto, and the 9mm, .40 and .357 brass I've seen has typically sized flash holes.

If the ammo is advertised as having non-toxic "clean" priming, there's a good bet that the flash hole is enlarged. (in .45)
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Old July 13, 2011, 06:53 AM   #3
jmorris
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I did a very small test (5 rounds of each) of NT small primer, standard flash hole LP and LP large flash hole brass, using the same load. The larger flash hole lowered the SD a bit.
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Old July 14, 2011, 10:44 AM   #4
Dillonhelp
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Currently, Winchester says it is not safe to reload the cases with the giant flash holes.
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Old July 14, 2011, 11:01 AM   #5
Don P
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Quote:
Currently, Winchester says it is not safe to reload the cases with the giant flash holes.
Maybe they would like you to buy "new factory ammo". What say you?
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Old July 14, 2011, 11:11 AM   #6
zippy13
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Back in the day there were (there may still be) primer only powered plastic practice bullets. You could shoot paper targets in your garage and use an old carpet to stop and recycle the bullets. To make these things work, you needed to enlarge the flash holes in standard cases. Once enlarged, the cases weren't meant to be reloaded with "real" bullets again.
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Old July 14, 2011, 05:03 PM   #7
SQUAREKNOT
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There are two large flash hole sizes

The really LARGE hole-like just short of the internal lip to stop the primer from passing clear through when priming I have not tried at all.
Like someone mentioned above they were used for plastic/rubber/wax bullets for practice. I would/have not loaded those kind.
Then you have the larger than normal primer hole-about 50% larger. These I tested with Winchester 230gr JHP bullets and Longshot powder at 6.7grs and OAL of 1.20" all had full radius on the primers edge-no flattening at all. I used Winchester, CCI-300 and Remington #2 1/2.
CCI=852fps
REM=882
Winchester 881fps
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Old July 14, 2011, 09:57 PM   #8
zplinker
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Large flash holes

One of the most fun things we did, a few years back, was drill .44 mag brass flash holes to 1/8", prime with CCI 350, and load with parafin wax. Shooting through a T/C Contender, no powder...it would shoot groups the size of a quarter at 50', and penetrate 5 layers of cardboard. It sounded like a cap gun, and was deadly on sparrows, rats, etc. To load, you size the brass, warm the parafin slightly, so its not brittle, then press the case through the parafin. Prime them, and you're ready to go.

English sparrows like to roost on sliding track doors. With this rig, we'd aim a hair low, and the wax bullet would shatter, wiping out the sparrow, and lubricating the door track. A win/win.

With the Contender, when done, pop off the barrel and a quick scrub took care of everything. Now...why did I ever trade that thing off?
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Old July 15, 2011, 12:25 AM   #9
Para Cassatt
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All of the ATK brands seem to have pretty large flash holes that I've ran across.
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Old July 15, 2011, 11:28 AM   #10
maillemaker
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I have encountered some of these large-hole .45 ACP cases picking up brass at the range. I don't use them for reloading.

Steve
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Old July 24, 2011, 12:43 AM   #11
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I came across a few myself a while back. They are apparently early Win Clean brass. I think the newer stuff is small primer. I came across a few rounds of this also.
From what I was told on a different Forum, apparently no problem reloading the large flash hole brass. I myself would use it for standard pressure practice ammo, if I were going to use it. With that said, I still pitched the cases I came across.

I guess I may need to start sorting out small primer 45 brass also.

Bob
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