Thread: .45 acp winchester brass, primer seating

Has anyone had issues with primers not seating deep enough?uv I have been running some through an RCBS piggyback and they seem to be more difficult to consistently seat. Have ran all sorts of brass through and this is the only brand that seems to be difficult.

MT

There has been a few posts lately that state some brands are using small primers instead of large for their 45ACP

I also have used a RCBS piggyback but, to date, have suffered no problems with Winchester brass. Perhaps your particular load of brass is not up to par.

As far as small primer pockets in Winchester brass goes; if they are marked Winchester NT or W-W NT then they have small primer pockets. The NT stands for non-toxic.

You may have some military brass with the crimp ring. This ring has to be removed b4 use! WCC (Western Cartridge Company) stamped with two digit date example, 04,06 with circular impression.

Another possibility is that there is enough crud remaining in the primer pocket to keep the cup from fully seating. When a primer fires it leaves small ridges of carbon, some very pronounced, where the gaps of the anvil are located.

It's a good idea at minimum to run a simple primer pocket cleaning tool like the Lee "scraper type" or the RCBS wire brush in the primer pockets to keep this from happening.

If you are fussy about all primers being at the same depth, use a primer pocket uniforming tool which is essentially a spot facer with a stop. It cuts the primer pocket square and can deepen the shallow ones. Since primer pockets are for the most part just formed with a punch, depth's can vary depending on brass forming machines.

I too have used the piggy back but really didn't like the results during the primer seating with the piggy back. Just wasn't accurate enough for me. I seat the primers as a separate operation either by hand with RCBS hand priming tool or the bench mounted tool.. It takes a little longer but I cannot really afford to buy a new Dillon press and have the consistent accuracy I look for. I load too many calibers to switch now!!

The brass is definately std. large primer. For my setup it seems it is more sensitive with Winchester brass. I agree with the post on the piggyback primer seating not being the best. I haven't had the issues with the primers feeding as some have reported, just not crazy about how it seat the primers. I have been tempted to build a new seater with as tighter tolerance lower shaft as I believe that may be part of the issue as there is certain amount of side play when moving up and down.

Thanks all for the replies,

Matt