Questionable primer pocket 9mm

[Toy4Rick]

Hey gang,

While reloading our 9mm with mixed brass, we are having some issues with 3 brands of brass which is causing the primers to go in poorly, tipped, smashed... WCC, PMC and some WIN. They don't seem to have any rounded edge as it enters the primer pocket so if the primer is not 100% aligned, they catch and won't seat properly. Most of our brass has a rounded over edge so there appears to be a bit more forgiveness.

We are using the Lee Pro 1000 press with Tulammo primers. Is this press just not very forgiving or do the Tulammo primers add to the issue here or is it all brass related?

Luckily these three brands only make up about 5% of our total brass so we think it's best to toss them and not chance ruining the primers.

Thanks in advance
Toy4Rick

P.S. I would post a pic but so far I haven't been able to figure out how to get them to show up. I use the insert image link and paste in the URL of where the image resides but nothing shows up.

[Dubious_Beans]

Yes, I've run into WCC brass that has a crimped pocket and they wreck primers if they go undetected. I don't bother to ream them. I just chuck 'em.

Haven't had any trouble with PMC or WIN brass.

[Toy4Rick]

Hey Steve,

You mentioned crimped pocket, can you elaborate a bit for me? These don't seem to have any crimp but just no taper from the primer pocket out onto the brass bottom, making the primer pocket wall perfectly vertical.

Thanks again
Toy4Rick

[XDRoX]

Some brass is crimped, which means it has extra brass (making the opening smaller) to better hold the primer in.

The case on the right still contains the crimp. The one on the left has had the crimp removed. You can buy a de-crimping die or a swager to remove crimps.

As already mentioned, it's a waste of time to swage 9mm because it is so readily available and inexpensive. I toss it as well. I do swage 223.

But it sounds like you do not have crimped brass. If this is the case there are a few things to check.

What are you using to prime these?
If you're using a progressive press, a little slop or misalignment can cause your problem.

What type of primers are you using?
If using Wolf or Tula they may be slightly larger than spec or not perfectly round which could be causing your problem.

If you are using a quality primer like CCI, and priming with a hand primer, then IMO your brass is out of spec and you should toss it. You could swage it which would fix the problem, but it's probably not worth your time.

[XDRoX]

I just re-read your post and see that you are loading on a progressive and using Tula primers.

If your press is set up correctly, then I'd blame the Tula primers. I have around 7k Wolf primers that I only use in 357 and 38spl because of the same problem that you are having. For some reason, some of my 9mm brass doesn't like Wolf primers.

AFAIK, Wolf and Tula are the same.

[bumpo628]

I would just chamfer the edges of the problem brass instead of tossing them. It's more work, but once you do it the problem is gone.

[zfields]

I've had a similar issue on my lee occasionaly with certain worn brass. A quick pocket ream solved it for me.

[bumpo628]

I just found two crimped WCC 9mm cases as I was hand priming. A couple of quick turns of the chamfer tool and they were back in business.

I don't see what the big deal is here...