Unusual primer problem.

Grayfox · October 24, 1999, 08:17 PM

Today I was sizing some .38 Spl brass and something strange happened. The brass was once fired Federal factory stuff that I recently bought. This is the first time its been reloaded, so the primers had to be what the Federal factory uses.
Any way, the decapping pin hit the primers to push them out and on about 30 out of 250 cases the top broke off the primer leaving a small ring of what was the cup in the primer pocket. I was able to insert a punch in the pocket and twist what was left of the cup out without too much trouble, but still, I've been reloading for over twenty years and I've never had this happen before.
Any body else ever had this happen? Is it a problem with Federal primers? Any ideas as to what happened?

M16 · October 24, 1999, 08:53 PM

Grayfox, Are you sure these are not crimped in primers. The ring you describe sounds like the crimp part. It is not unusual for any ammo originally loaded for the military to have crimped in primers. Were these full metal jacket bullets by any chance.

NJW · October 25, 1999, 02:33 AM

Grayfox,

What you experienced is called a "ringer." I worked for a commercial reloader when I was in college and this was a common occurance. It usually happens when the brass has gotten wet. One time we got a whole can of 20,000 pieces of 38 special brass that had been out in the rain and just about everyone was a ringer. We ended up selling it as scrap. If you try to relaod one of these the new primer will go off. Played havoc on the $35,000 loading machines we used.
It has nothing to do with the brand, once you decap them and trash the ringers, you won't see the problem again.

NJW

Grayfox · October 27, 1999, 11:20 AM

Thanks for the info.

Quantrill · October 30, 1999, 07:23 AM

Exactly as NJW has explained is what happened to me. The .38 Spec brass got wet and sat for a while and "Bingo"----Ringers. I just threw them out. Not worth the trouble of constantly replacing decapper pins.
Quantrill

rangerco · October 30, 1999, 11:17 AM

I bought one of the aggressive bladed primer pocket reamers for taking the crimp out of the military pockets. It also removed the rings just fine with only one or two exceptions. It is a pain, but I am cheap and wanted to save the case... good luck.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

October 24, 1999, 08:17 PM	#1
Grayfox Senior Member Join Date: December 17, 1998 Posts: 1,885	Today I was sizing some .38 Spl brass and something strange happened. The brass was once fired Federal factory stuff that I recently bought. This is the first time its been reloaded, so the primers had to be what the Federal factory uses. Any way, the decapping pin hit the primers to push them out and on about 30 out of 250 cases the top broke off the primer leaving a small ring of what was the cup in the primer pocket. I was able to insert a punch in the pocket and twist what was left of the cup out without too much trouble, but still, I've been reloading for over twenty years and I've never had this happen before. Any body else ever had this happen? Is it a problem with Federal primers? Any ideas as to what happened?

October 24, 1999, 08:53 PM	#2
M16 Senior Member Join Date: September 16, 1999 Posts: 490	Grayfox, Are you sure these are not crimped in primers. The ring you describe sounds like the crimp part. It is not unusual for any ammo originally loaded for the military to have crimped in primers. Were these full metal jacket bullets by any chance.

October 25, 1999, 02:33 AM	#3
NJW Senior Member Join Date: November 5, 1998 Location: SouthWest Posts: 204	Grayfox, What you experienced is called a "ringer." I worked for a commercial reloader when I was in college and this was a common occurance. It usually happens when the brass has gotten wet. One time we got a whole can of 20,000 pieces of 38 special brass that had been out in the rain and just about everyone was a ringer. We ended up selling it as scrap. If you try to relaod one of these the new primer will go off. Played havoc on the $35,000 loading machines we used. It has nothing to do with the brand, once you decap them and trash the ringers, you won't see the problem again. NJW

October 27, 1999, 11:20 AM	#4
Grayfox Senior Member Join Date: December 17, 1998 Posts: 1,885	Thanks for the info.

October 30, 1999, 07:23 AM	#5
Quantrill Senior Member Join Date: February 28, 1999 Location: Arizona, USA Posts: 725	Exactly as NJW has explained is what happened to me. The .38 Spec brass got wet and sat for a while and "Bingo"----Ringers. I just threw them out. Not worth the trouble of constantly replacing decapper pins. Quantrill

October 30, 1999, 11:17 AM	#6
rangerco Member Join Date: June 18, 1999 Posts: 56	I bought one of the aggressive bladed primer pocket reamers for taking the crimp out of the military pockets. It also removed the rings just fine with only one or two exceptions. It is a pain, but I am cheap and wanted to save the case... good luck.