once fired igman 5.56 brass

gunnutmc · July 18, 2009, 08:11 PM

i bought 1000 rds. of once fired igman 5.56 brass last year form Wideners in J.C. TN and have finally gotten around to start reloading it. it was military brass with crimped in primers so after checking into getting rid of the crimp i found a place in Illinois that would deprime, remove the crimp, and check the cases for trouble areas and clean it for $9.00 p/1000.
well, i just got them back today and inside the primer pocket the flash hole seems to have brass protruding backwards into the primer pocket area. now i'm not talking about alot of material, just a little around the flash hole itself. this seems to be the case on most of the cases but not all of them.
could someone tell me if they have seen this before, and what would be the easiest method of removing this material(i used a LEE primer pocket cleaning tool with ho-hum results), or is it even necessary as the primers themselves have a recess in this area?
any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

**Unclenick** · July 19, 2009, 01:55 AM

Welcome to the forum.

Not necessary for priming, but may help shot-to-shot consistency. Especially if you use ball powder which doesn't light easily and likes the primer pockets consistent.

I've never seen what you describe and would have to see a picture to guess at it's cause. It could be the makers fault or that of the place doing the depriming. They might have used a slightly oversize pin to knock the primers out? You can get rid of the extra brass with a primer pocket depth uniforming tool.

Hommbs · July 19, 2009, 06:13 AM

What you are seeing is the flash hole burr that has been squished flat by the swager operation that was used to remove the primer pocket crimp. The swager backup rod that goes into the case and if the flash hole burr is big enough it will get crushed and sometime partially (and worse completely) block the flash hole. There are flash hole deburring tools that will remove the burr and it would have been best to have done that before the swagging operation was done. I would look through all the cases you had done and just separate out the ones where you see the burr blocking the flash hole and trash them if there aren't too many.

Manning Munitions · July 19, 2009, 11:34 AM

Try a VLD beburring tool, just dont rea the edges too much..........

jaguarxk120 · July 19, 2009, 12:07 PM

Just get a flash hole unformer from Lyman or RCBS, give each a touch, enough to remove the burr. Then give the inside the same treatment to take off any burrs inside. By the way the unformers are a number 2 center drill. Can get from any industrial supply co. Much cheaper than the tools sold by Lyman or RCBS. Will work fine if you are doing just the primer pocket and not the inside.

flashhole · July 19, 2009, 01:08 PM

I use the EJS flash hole uniformer. It works well and is adjustable for any standard cartridge length. You will be surprised how much material comes out of some of the brass when uniforming the flash hole. EJS also make a nice primer pocket uniformer. A word of caution about the primer pocket uniformer. It's easy to get too aggressive with the tool. I lose more brass to loose primer pockets than anything else.

gunnutmc · July 19, 2009, 01:27 PM

thank you guys very much for all the info! i really appreciate it.

bfoosh006 · July 22, 2009, 01:32 AM

FWIW.....The company that deprimed the brass may have done you favor, without you even knowing. Some of those may have had smaller than normal flash holes. The smaller flash holes will mess with your de-priming die, often yanking the de-priming pin right out..,..but it sounds like they "swaged" the hole larger for you! Next reloading will be much easier !

July 18, 2009, 08:11 PM	#1
gunnutmc Junior Member Join Date: July 18, 2009 Posts: 2	once fired igman 5.56 brass i bought 1000 rds. of once fired igman 5.56 brass last year form Wideners in J.C. TN and have finally gotten around to start reloading it. it was military brass with crimped in primers so after checking into getting rid of the crimp i found a place in Illinois that would deprime, remove the crimp, and check the cases for trouble areas and clean it for $9.00 p/1000. well, i just got them back today and inside the primer pocket the flash hole seems to have brass protruding backwards into the primer pocket area. now i'm not talking about alot of material, just a little around the flash hole itself. this seems to be the case on most of the cases but not all of them. could someone tell me if they have seen this before, and what would be the easiest method of removing this material(i used a LEE primer pocket cleaning tool with ho-hum results), or is it even necessary as the primers themselves have a recess in this area? any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

July 19, 2009, 01:55 AM	#2
Unclenick Staff Join Date: March 4, 2005 Location: Ohio Posts: 21,057	Welcome to the forum. Not necessary for priming, but may help shot-to-shot consistency. Especially if you use ball powder which doesn't light easily and likes the primer pockets consistent. I've never seen what you describe and would have to see a picture to guess at it's cause. It could be the makers fault or that of the place doing the depriming. They might have used a slightly oversize pin to knock the primers out? You can get rid of the extra brass with a primer pocket depth uniforming tool. __________________ Gunsite Orange Hat Family Member CMP Certified GSM Master Instructor NRA Certified Rifle Instructor NRA Benefactor Member and Golden Eagle

July 19, 2009, 01:08 PM	#6
flashhole Senior Member Join Date: February 9, 2005 Location: Owego, NY Posts: 2,000	I use the EJS flash hole uniformer. It works well and is adjustable for any standard cartridge length. You will be surprised how much material comes out of some of the brass when uniforming the flash hole. EJS also make a nice primer pocket uniformer. A word of caution about the primer pocket uniformer. It's easy to get too aggressive with the tool. I lose more brass to loose primer pockets than anything else. __________________ ,,, stupidity comes to some people very easily. 8/22/2017 my wife in a discussion about Liberals. Are you ready for civil war?

July 19, 2009, 01:27 PM	#7
gunnutmc Junior Member Join Date: July 18, 2009 Posts: 2	igman 5.56 brass thank you guys very much for all the info! i really appreciate it.

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July 19, 2009, 06:13 AM	#3
Hommbs Senior Member Join Date: June 1, 2005 Location: La Puente, California Posts: 102	What you are seeing is the flash hole burr that has been squished flat by the swager operation that was used to remove the primer pocket crimp. The swager backup rod that goes into the case and if the flash hole burr is big enough it will get crushed and sometime partially (and worse completely) block the flash hole. There are flash hole deburring tools that will remove the burr and it would have been best to have done that before the swagging operation was done. I would look through all the cases you had done and just separate out the ones where you see the burr blocking the flash hole and trash them if there aren't too many.

July 19, 2009, 11:34 AM	#4
Manning Munitions Member Join Date: February 22, 2009 Posts: 20	Try a VLD beburring tool, just dont rea the edges too much..........

July 19, 2009, 12:07 PM	#5
jaguarxk120 Senior Member Join Date: February 28, 2008 Location: Michigan Posts: 2,619	Just get a flash hole unformer from Lyman or RCBS, give each a touch, enough to remove the burr. Then give the inside the same treatment to take off any burrs inside. By the way the unformers are a number 2 center drill. Can get from any industrial supply co. Much cheaper than the tools sold by Lyman or RCBS. Will work fine if you are doing just the primer pocket and not the inside.

July 22, 2009, 01:32 AM	#8
bfoosh006 Senior Member Join Date: February 17, 2009 Posts: 1,089	FWIW.....The company that deprimed the brass may have done you favor, without you even knowing. Some of those may have had smaller than normal flash holes. The smaller flash holes will mess with your de-priming die, often yanking the de-priming pin right out..,..but it sounds like they "swaged" the hole larger for you! Next reloading will be much easier !