Piece of media stuck in primer hole

[Pahonix]

I'm charging, setting, and crimping some 9mm today and have done about 200 so far. Going through a set, I noticed a piece of tumbler media in a primer hole with the primer already in.

I glanced through the others, and found a couple more.

This means there is a chance there is a piece of media (I think it's corn cob) stuck in at least a few of the already done rounds.

Should I be concerned? Worst scenario the round is a dud? Thoughts? Should I redo the 200 rounds?

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[DizzyJ]

Could cause a misfire or a squib I suppose.

Tough call. If you get a squib or two that get stuck in the barrel, you'll wind up pulling the rest down I'd venture to guess.

 

[Certaindeaf]

I'm charging, setting, and crimping some 9mm today and have done about 200 so far. Going through a set, I noticed a piece of tumbler media in a primer hole with the primer already in.

I glanced through the others, and found a couple more.

This means there is a chance there is a piece of media (I think it's corn cob) stuck in at least a few of the already done rounds.

Should I be concerned? Worst scenario the round is a dud? Thoughts? Should I redo the 200 rounds?

View attachment 974713

Yes, you should be concerned.
Personally, I'd shoot them slow fire and consider it a lesson learned and in the future visually inspect the cases carefully before priming.
I think a lot of people use larger grit walnut Lizard Litter to minimize clogging too.

 

[Pahonix]

Thanks for the advice. I'll likely not take them apart and will mark those for use in my highpoint carbine.

I'll order the walnut lizard litter stuff tonight. I shouldn't have to worry about small stuff in the primer hole.

 

[DizzyJ]

I size and deprime after I tumble, so this is rarely an issue for me.

 

[BillM]

Curious how it got there. The decap pin should clear it out when you run it through the sizing die.

 

[Mark W.]

I size with a decapping pin in place Even though I hand deprime with a punch and a hammer

 

[Pahonix]

I've been tumbling after decapping with the thought that it would help clean the primer pocket so I wouldn't have to.

I'll likely change that process

 

[Certaindeaf]

I size with a decapping pin in place Even though I hand deprime with a punch and a hammer

I clean my brass with hot soapy water.

 

[Tikka308]

I've been tumbling after decapping with the thought that it would help clean the primer pocket so I wouldn't have to.

I'll likely change that process

I've never seen a difference cleaning the primer pocket on 9mm.
I always do on rifle.

 

[eb in oregon]

I've been tumbling after decapping with the thought that it would help clean the primer pocket so I wouldn't have to.

I'll likely change that process

I decap with a Lee decapping die. I've an RCBS primer pocket brush mounted to a small electric motor and brush the primer pockets, then tumble (whether wet or dry depends how nasty the brass is), and then size with the pin installed. It pushes out all the media when doing so. Though sometimes I'll tumble something again after sizing in which case I inspect every case when putting the cases in the loading block and push out the media with a straightened paper clip, a pointed scribe, or a small punch.

 

[BillM]

Clean 9mm in walnut shell with a splash of mineral spirits and some Nu-Finish. Little spritz of Hornady One Shot and
then through the Dillon 550. For match ammo I'll do 10 minutes in Lizard Litter (it doesn't stick in the hollowpoints like
corncob) just to make it pretty. No primer pocket cleaning, no sorting by headstamp. I toss out the stepped brass crap
and the occasional berdan primed case as I load. Around 250,000 so far, most of it Major power factor for USPSA Open.
No problem.

 

[CLT65]

I would definitely change the process so that it doesn't happen in the future, as anything in the case that doesn't belong is very bad practice, but from a practical perspective I would be very surprised if you had any trouble at all with the ones that you have loaded. Shooting slow and watching for trouble would still be advisable.

Many years ago I was given some old primed 30-06 brass. It was grungy and sticky from ancient case lube, so I tumbled it for a while. When I took them from the tumbler, most of them had media stuck in the flash holes. For curiosity, I loaded them up with light loads and carefully fired them. Every one of them fired perfectly fine. Accuracy was on par too. That was with rifle primers and powder, though, so not exactly the same.

Ever fire a primed case without powder or a bullet? It makes quite a pop. Hold it up to paper or styrofoam, and that hot flash will blast through quite a bit, even at the other end of the barrel. A tiny piece of corn cob isn't going to slow it down much at all. I suspect that you'd never even know the difference.

That's just my assumption though, based on my limited experience with the subject (and a little logic). I'm curious to hear back if you have any hiccups with them when you shoot them.

 

[DirectDrive]

I've been tumbling after decapping with the thought that it would help clean the primer pocket so I wouldn't have to.

I'll likely change that process

I've done it that way, but I've also checked every pocket when doing so.

 

[howardm4]

I'm new to reloading but everyone I've spoken to who has experience doesn't bother to de-cap 9mm before tumbling. I'm using either Amz lizard litter or HarborFreight fine walnut media.

 

[eb in oregon]

I'm new to reloading but everyone I've spoken to who has experience doesn't bother to de-cap 9mm before tumbling. I'm using either Amz lizard litter or HarborFreight fine walnut media.

There is no essential difference in de-capping 9mm or any other case. Some people clean the primer pockets on everything, some clean the primer pockets on some things, others don't bother at all. It's a matter of personal choice based on personal experience.

 

[Mikej]

I've been tumbling after decapping with the thought that it would help clean the primer pocket so I wouldn't have to.

I'll likely change that process

I don't think corn cobb or walnut is going to do much cleaning of primer pockets. I've always tumbled handgun brass with primers in. I don't think I want 1000s of dirty, dirty little 9mm brass through my dies. I have taken to sizing/de-priming my Garand and bolt fired rifle ammo before tumbling because it's not so dirty. I tumble that after to remove lube residue, but check for media in the flash holes. Those still have dirty primer pockets. I just started doing .223, that's some dirty stuff that's getting tumbled TWICE.

 

[orygun]

Ever fire a primed case without powder or a bullet? It makes quite a pop. Hold it up to paper or styrofoam, and that hot flash will blast through quite a bit, even at the other end of the barrel. A tiny piece of corn cob isn't going to slow it down much at all. I suspect that you'd never even know the difference.

I have some of the Speer plastic cases and bullets for 38 Special that are powered by primer only. They fly pretty good when propelled by a small pistol primer. I've also "popped a cap" in an empty rifle case. There's a lot of force from the primer that should blow that little grain of media right out of the hole.
"Should."
I'd not take the suspect rounds apart, but I'd segregate them and pay close attention when shooting them. Then change the loading process to include a check if tumbled without primer.
As a side note, I've never had much luck cleaning primer pockets with tumbling. I used to tumble rifle cases without primers to remove the sizing lube, but changed to water soluble lube and just wash them.
Pistol cases I like to tumble before sizing to keep my carbide dies clean.

 

[oremike]

I like to de-prime before tumble/cleaning, that way I only run clean brass thru my dies. On a slightly different tangent one thing I noticed was if I left the primers in while wet tumbling and the brass didn't get de-primed right a way I got a whole lot more ringers and soup cans.

edited to add: When I used to dry tumble my brass I'd stand them up primer hole up in a loading block and poke the media out with a finishing nail.

 

[CLT65]

There is no essential difference in de-capping 9mm or any other case. Some people clean the primer pockets on everything, some clean the primer pockets on some things, others don't bother at all. It's a matter of personal choice based on personal experience.

I agree. I've done it virtually every way in the last 30+ years, and never had a problem that I could attribute to a dirty primer pocket.

That said, my process nowadays, for pistol brass, is to run them through the Lee APP press, then the wet tumbler. It's pretty quick and easy, and they come out clean and shiny inside and out. I doubt they shoot any better than they used to when I first started reloading, but I do it that way because I like it.