Herters .357 Magnum Brass Primer Pockets

[jfruser]

Howdy:

Having the devil of a time priming once-fired Herters .357mag brass. RCBS hand primer and on-press, no matter. The small pistol primers, which fit other brass without drama, are hanging up and seem a smidge too large for the primer pockets. After pushing it as far as I dared with the hand priming tool, I put them on the press and pushed it after putting on appropriate PPE in case the primer went off. Result is a bent up and destroyed primer.

FTR, these primers fit all my other brass with no drama. I have several brands: Win, Rem, Fed, S&B, CBC, and others I forget.

Has anyone else had this problem with Herters brass?

I suppose I will pick up one of those primer pocker de-swager or former hand tools to get the pockets sized properly. The brass sure does look pretty, so I am loathe to toss it.

[Unclenick]

It is either crimped brass or brass made overseas with metric equipment. Those often have primer pockets about 4 tenths of a thousandth narrower than our new brass has. The solution is to get a primer pocket profile reamer or use a primer pocket swager, the same as you would do with crimped military brass.

[jfruser]

Unclenick:

The brass is not crimped. I suspect your metric gremlins are to blame.

I ordered the RCBS primer pocket swager tool, the on-press unit. Wanted the CH4D tool, but no one had it in stock. Sure, I am spending $40 to save 50 pieces of .357mag brass. Maybe I will use it in the future.

[Unclenick]

It turns out to be made by Sellier & Bellot in the Czech Republic.

[dahermit]

Having the devil of a time priming once-fired Herters .357mag brass.

A pertinent question may be: What was the source of those once-fired brass?

A few years ago, I had a problem such as you describe with a 500-count lot of mixed headstamp once-fired .38 special brass that I had bought via internet. In my instance , inasmuch as the headstamps were mixed, the blame for the tight fitting primers could not be blamed on the manufacturer.

When I posted about it, someone suggested that the priming issue may have been caused by the brass processor rolling the brass to resize instead of using a conventional sizing die. Frankly, I had never heard of a system wherein the brass cases were rolled to resize. In short, I had to treat them like they were .556 with crimped primer pockets...reamed them with a primer pocket reamer. Thankfully I have shot so much .38 Spl. that almost all of those cases have developed split necks and have gone into the scrap pail.

My current supply of .38 Spl. mixed head stamp brass does not exhibit the problem with too tight of primer pockets. I am sure they were not from the same "once fired brass" vender.

My point is that your "once fired" brass may have come from the same source as my problematic brass came from and may have been caused by the same means.

[44 AMP]

"Herters" ammo today has nothing in common with the Herter's mail order company of the past, other than the name.

I believe "Herters" ammo is made overseas.

If you aren't willing to swage/ream the primer pockets, TOSS THE CRAP into the scrap brass bucket and get something back out of it from the recycle dealer.

[Unclenick]

The Czech Republic is overseas?

Dahermit,

The hydraulic roll sizing explanation is certainly a possibility. The really shouldn't set the plates that close, but things happen.

[44 AMP]

The Czech Republic is overseas?

Been there, sort of, had to fly over an ocean to get there, so its overseas, to me.

[jfruser]

Originally Posted by Unclenick

It turns out to be made by Sellier & Bellot in the Czech Republic.

Well, ill be dipped in apple butter. S&B brass has not given me fits like herters.

I bought it as new ammo and shot it in my sw686, so no roller issues. Maybe quality control is sacrificed relative to S&B ammo.

I dont think it was as hot as S&B ammo.

Have the swager on the way and will give that a go.

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[dahermit]

I bought it as new ammo and shot it in my sw686, so no roller issues.

So then, you bought it as brass that was already primed?

[Unclenick]

Could have been ordered with slightly differet dimensional specs for some reason. S&B will customize about anything on a large enough special order.

[jfruser]

Originally Posted by dahermit

So then, you bought it as brass that was already primed?

Along with powder and projectile, preassembled into a fully functional cartridge. And then i discharged in my sw686.

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[dahermit]

Originally Posted by jfruser

Along with powder and projectile, preassembled into a fully functional cartridge. And then i discharged in my sw686.

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I am a little confused when you posted that they were "once fired"...I assumed used brass from a used brass vender.

[jfruser]

dahermit:

No whoop, should have included that bit in the original post.