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Old January 29, 2017, 05:00 PM   #1
Jeryray
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CCI primers

Just set up my Dillon .45 head. My primers are not fitting in the Dillon tubes.

These CCI primers are 2 years old.

I opened a new pack of new CCI primers and they feed ok.

Do primers swell?
Or were they just a bit bigger in those days?
I also noticed my vibra prime did not like them either.
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Old January 29, 2017, 05:09 PM   #2
NoSecondBest
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They're the same size they used to be and no, they don't swell. I've got CCI primers here that are twenty years old that I just found last week in the back of my cupboard. I used them to load up some shells and they loaded and worked just fine. I'm going to suggest that there is something else going on causing you a problem. Without being there, I have no idea of what it is but I doubt it's just because they're older.
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Old January 29, 2017, 05:24 PM   #3
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I know it does not make sense, but it happened.
When I get a chance I'll try another tray from the package. The pack is over 1/2 full.
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Old January 29, 2017, 05:42 PM   #4
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I'd first investigate it as a possible labeling issue... with large pistol, small pistol, large rifle, small rifle... it's not hard to misread what's on the label or to maybe even get a mismatched sleeve inadvertently.
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Old January 29, 2017, 07:07 PM   #5
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Can you mike the primers from each box and report the measurements? Are both boxes #300s (standard) rather than one being a 350 (magnum) but both should be the same diameter?
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Old January 29, 2017, 08:14 PM   #6
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Are you sure you didn't try to use a small primer pickup tube instead of a large primer pickup tube the first time? They are the same outside diameter. It's when you look at the end with the cotter's pin in it that you see the difference in wall thickness.
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Old January 29, 2017, 10:07 PM   #7
disseminator
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That is what I was about to ask.
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Old January 29, 2017, 10:17 PM   #8
Jeryray
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CCI # 300

Old (20 yrs old) measurement .2115
New ( 1 month old) Measurement .2105

Even the new ones don't fit the primer tubes (Dillon supplied) that well.
Some times I have to put the primer stick through the tube to make sure they all go down.

9MM worked just fine.
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Old January 29, 2017, 10:51 PM   #9
condor bravo
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CCI #200 (large rifle) measure .2105, same as your current 300s, so something does seem askew with the older primers. Do they seat in the primer pockets without crunching or otherwise deforming?
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Old January 29, 2017, 11:51 PM   #10
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A large pistol primer diameter of .2115 is well within the SAAMI spec of .2105-.2130. The primers shouldn’t be a problem.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeryray
9MM worked just fine.
You aren't using the same primer tube for 9mm and 45 ACP, are you?
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Old January 30, 2017, 12:47 AM   #11
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Guess you had to ask. Would never work. New to Dillion, had a Star for 30 years.
Never to old to learn.

Never heard of the primer tubes being tight for large pistol.

I have 4 tubes, really bad luck??

I will call Dillon tomorrow.
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Old January 30, 2017, 10:32 AM   #12
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I had an issue with Winchester primers, a little bit 'Oval' and BURRS!
Burrs kept jamming up primers in the tube.

CCI fed just fine, but these were small rifle...
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Old January 30, 2017, 01:02 PM   #13
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Called Dillon, they said the old CCI primers were out of round. Newer ones are better. Their specs .2100.

They suggest Remington.

Interesting.

They don't care to make the tubes any larger.
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Old January 30, 2017, 03:06 PM   #14
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Are you sure the problem isn't due to the cap on the primer pickup tube? I've got a Hornady pickup tube that came with my Iron Press and it's a pain to use. The cap isn't large enough and I'm always having to force the primers into and out of the cap.

Last edited by ed308; January 30, 2017 at 03:12 PM.
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Old January 31, 2017, 12:58 AM   #15
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I don't think it's the cap. I have 4 tubes.
Even if I get them loaded, when I sit the tube on the primer tube and pull the pin, they don't all go down.

I have to put the primer rod through the top and gently push them down.
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Old January 31, 2017, 01:24 AM   #16
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Quote:
I don't think it's the cap. I have 4 tubes.
Even if I get them loaded, when I sit the tube on the primer tube and pull the pin, they don't all go down.

I have to put the primer rod through the top and gently push them down.
Why is that a problem? I own three Dillons and they all do that. Just push them down with the rod to get them out of the tube. It's not a big deal every hundred primers to do this. The primers are tilting in the tube and that friction causes them to stick just a little bit. They need to be a tight fit so they don't turn over in the tube.
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Old January 31, 2017, 12:14 PM   #17
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kinda like some powder measures... i give the tube a few taps to make sure they all went down into primer magazine. I'll also verify by looking down at the tube that they haven't got stuck. I've got CCI's from 1986, and some from mid 90's as well as current ones. Never have had an issue with them in Tubes from RCBS or Dillon. I have had to clean my Dillon tubes over time as they recommend in their videos. Primer dust will collect over time, but you said they were new.

I have a FA Primer filler and the Dillon RF100 Primer filler. To me CCI is much more consistent with both of them than Winchester primers are.
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Old January 31, 2017, 12:30 PM   #18
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My Hornady tubes are also a little tight. I've had primers spill all over my bench more than once when using their pickup tubes with my Iron Press. I think it was with CCI small rifle primers for my 270AR. I've never spilled primers on my Dillon 650. The fitting at the top of the Dillon primer feed has a recess screw on cap that hold the pickup tube in place when the primers. When I tap the side of the primer pickup tube it stays in place. Not so with the cap on my Iron Press. The plastic snap on cap is easily dislodged.
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Old January 31, 2017, 09:33 PM   #19
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OK, been experimenting, The old primers are definitely out just enough I am not going to use them. One headache less.

The newer primers will go down with the "stick"

Funny thing, CCI and Remington small primers were never a problem.
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Old February 2, 2017, 11:03 AM   #20
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SAAMI spec for large rifle primers is 0.2105"-0.2130". (To see all SAAMI primer size and primer pocket size information, since some handgun cartridges use rifle primers now, you can just download the SAAMI Pistol and Revolver standard and in the Acrobat Reader page counter at the top, put in page 35 and hit Enter. This takes you to the document page number 26 (the document doesn't give its index page numbers, but the PDF format does), which is where the primer and pocket sizes are.)

I grabbed a fist full of my large primer pickup tubes and found all the newer ones would all pass a 0.2190" pin gauge, and one old one would pass the 0.2180" pin gauge. I also had one large primer feed tube off my 550 and it just barely passes a 0.2150" pin gauge. My pin gauge set is a -0.0002" set, so that tube is between 0.2148-02150" ID. Likewise, you can subtract two tenths of a thousandth from the 0.2180 and 0.2190 numbers I gave to be closer to the limits of precision of the measurement. The point is, even a maximum size 0.2130" diameter primer would fit into all these tubes without an issue, as long as it isn't oval to the tune of 0.005" or more on one axis. That's an awful lot of out-of-round for those little guys, though.

Old CCI primers had quite a reputation for being hard to seat. I still have some from the 1980's that my Square Deal and 550 presses won't seat fully, but I never had an issue with them failing to fit the tubes. Instead, they tended to have burrs from the height trimming process. In the early 1990's ('92?) CCI revamped their primer making process and got rid of the burrs, so the modern ones are OK in the Dillon. If your old ones are actually more than 25 years old (date of manufacture, not date of purchase; they could have sat in stock at the store for some years if you purchased them a little after '92. In that case they would be hard to seat even if they weren't oval, and I would relegate them to seating with a hand tool, instead, which will still work.

The failure to fit the tubes, though, that's funny. I don't know how much mileage you have on your Dillon yet, but the tubes need occasional cleaning to get primer dust out to prevent in-tube ignition. You just get some adequately large cotton swabs and wet them with denatured alcohol and push a couple or three of them through the tube with the plastic primer follower rod, then let the tubes dry. Since you want to do that every now and again anyway, and since you are having feed trouble, something you can try is mixing maybe a teaspoon of powdered graphite in an ounce of the alcohol and stirring it up well with the last swab you run through the tube, so it leaves a thin layer of graphite behind. See if that helps with the primers dropping in easily.

Another thing you can do is buy a cheap post level at one of the big box home repair stores and tuck its inside corner against the pickup tube so you can make sure that tube is vertical when you pull the pin to drop the primers. That should mitigate primer cocking at least some.
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Last edited by Unclenick; February 3, 2017 at 12:31 PM. Reason: typo fix
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Old February 3, 2017, 01:23 AM   #21
Jeryray
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Thanks for all that, I just started using the large primers (.45) ACP head.

So the 4 tubes are new. I'll be checking them soon and see if one is worse than the others.

Dillion was not helpful when I called. They said their spec was .2100
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Old February 3, 2017, 01:44 PM   #22
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That's smaller than minimum SAAMI spec, so it's obviously wrong.

How far out of round are the oval ones?
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Old February 3, 2017, 08:45 PM   #23
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Quote:
Called Dillon, they said the old CCI primers were out of round
Yep..same thing happend to me about 10 yrs ago when I got my first 550B. Winchester's feed just fine, never had one stick and they have a reputation for being a tad hotter than other brands so all my loads are based on their use. Rod
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Old February 6, 2017, 07:49 AM   #24
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I was told the same thing 21 years ago from Dillon, Went with Winchester and have never had an issue since. I do have some CCi left and use them individually to replace a screwed up primmer i.e. sideways / upside down that does happen occasionally, but not often.
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Old February 7, 2017, 12:57 AM   #25
Jeryray
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OK, My dealer rotates his primers. Winchester, Remington, CCI.
I'll have to keep an eye out.

Mail order is too expensive, they have some hazard fee added on.
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