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Posted: 6/25/2013 4:45:02 PM EDT
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I did a trade w/a guy and part of it was 500 .45 ACP brass. Turns out they were primed but not sized.
I re-set the primers and sized it and intend to load 230 gr. LRN bullets over 5.4 gr. W231 and a CCI LPP. Cases were dirty and I tumbled them in Lymans red (I like the stuff), now the flash holes are full of red nuggets. You all know what I'm talking about, don't say you don't! Can I use these for paper punching and be OK, or not? These are not for home defense or anything other than target shooting. Thanks a bunch. |
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A couple questions. How did the cases get primed and not sized? What do you mean when saying you "reset the primers", you punched out the live primers? Then assume they must have been tumbled after the cases were deprimed?
Walnut media can be prone to getting stuck in primer pockets like that. I always tumble clean before depriming. Then if necessary I clean the primer pockets with a Hornady pocket cleaner in a drill. Did you add liquid to the media before tumbling? You will just have to use a primer pocket cleaner or some way to get the walnut pieces out. If the pockets are not contaminated with liquid cleaner should be ok to shoot. |
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Myself I wouldn't do it. Bad juju could happen.I do not want anything that could delay the ignition of powder in a cartridge.
Never tumble live primed brass; particles will get into the flash hole. Either tumble the spent brass off the range, or tumble the brass after you've de-primed them. YMMV ,I've had good success removing live primers, with a de-prime tool.(slow and steady) never a ignition. I've been able to reuse those primers on my target loads with very few non-fires. If you don't want to do that then instead of using oil etc to make them inert, I would fire them empty brass casing in a pistol |
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There have been a few threads about this, and I think Old Painless even did a Box o' Truth article on it. The pieces of tumbling media wont make a difference. They wont hamper ignition.
Make up a small test batch and see for yourself. Youll feel much better about it after you see with your own two eyes. |
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Good question, I don't know why he primed them and didn't resize first. Maybe his way of doing it. Point is I ran the primed cases thru my RCBS hand primer and made sure all the primers were at the desired depth. Then found out cases had not been sized. Cases are find except for the gunk on the outside of the case, probibly case lube. All are bright and shinny now, but about 30% of them have the pocket plugged with media. I guesss I'll use a safety pin or a needle and clean them out.
Yes, I'd forgotten about the posibility of hang fires. Better clean them. Thanks. |
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Sound to me like the guy used a generic decapping die to get the spent primers out of the dirty cases.
It's possible he got those mixed up with ones he thought were ready to prime and primed them by mistake??? Couldn't you just remove the depriming pin and then run the primed brass through the die to re-size it? |
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Reloading and cutting corners don't go together. ^This. Also, OP, read this downside is it is in archives and the pictures are gone. O_P concluded that media in flash holes has zero effect on performance. |
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How could you tell they were not sized? Did you try them in something (case gage or chamber). Maybe there were sized but not bell mouthed.
Personally, I would not tumble cases with live primers. I use corn cob though and sometimes it really gets stick in a flash hole or 2. |
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Quoted:
How could you tell they were not sized? Did you try them in something (case gage or chamber). Maybe there were sized but not bell mouthed. Personally, I would not tumble cases with live primers. I use corn cob though and sometimes it really gets stick in a flash hole or 2. Pretty good chance they were not resized when the bullet falls in; no gage needed. |
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All seems right w/the World. When all was said and done, only a dozen out of the 400 I tumble cleaned had plugged primer holes.
I picked out the stuck media w/a neeedle and all seemed fine. I shot several this morning and they all functioned fine. I did check the cases for proper fit in my chamber along the way and am happy to have some inexpensive target loads. Thanks for the help and suggestions. However, I don't recommend buying partial reloads and certianly don't recommend getting away from standard loading proceedures that work. Safety and common sense go along way. |
| Last year, I screwed up and primed some 9mm cases with tumbling media in the flash holes. When I caught the error, I had a dozen with media in the holes. Since this was just blasting ammo, I loaded those dozen and chronoed them with a dozen without media. Both groups were the same. I wouldn't do this with my precision ammo; but, it made no difference. |
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I picked out the stuck media w/a neeedle and all seemed fine. I shot several this morning and they all functioned fine. I did check the cases Safety and common sense go along way. JMO, but this is one of the most unsafe procedures I've ever heard of. Picking at a primer with a needle = REALLY DUMB! For what? To save 12 primers. Why not load and shoot or just shoot the (empty ) primed case or,... anything other than holding it in your hand and sticking a needle down into the primer. |
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Quoted:
I picked out the stuck media w/a neeedle and all seemed fine. I shot several this morning and they all functioned fine. I did check the cases Safety and common sense go along way. JMO, but this is one of the most unsafe procedures I've ever heard of. Picking at a primer with a needle = REALLY DUMB! For what? To save 12 primers. Why not load and shoot or just shoot the (empty ) primed case or,... anything other than holding it in your hand and sticking a needle down into the primer. This. 12 primers isn't worth getting injured over. |
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Quoted:
How could you tell they were not sized? Did you try them in something (case gage or chamber). Maybe there were sized but not bell mouthed. Personally, I would not tumble cases with live primers. I use corn cob though and sometimes it really gets stick in a flash hole or 2. Pretty good chance they were not resized when the bullet falls in; no gage needed. I didn't see where the OP stated this. 
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I don't size my brass before priming.
I use a Lee Loadmaster and the sizing die has the deprimer pin taken out. So I can size after priming the brass. 1. I deprime on a single stage press with a unv. depriming die. 2. Wet tumble. 3. Prime the clean brass with a Lee Auto Primer XR. 4. Then finish the loading on the Loadmaster. I do this so I don't have to mess with the Priming function of the Loadmaster. Had to much problems with the Priming on the Loadmaster so I just made it easier for me. |
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I don't size my brass before priming. I use a Lee Loadmaster and the sizing die has the deprimer pin taken out. So I can size after priming the brass. 1. I deprime on a single stage press with a unv. depriming die. 2. Wet tumble. 3. Prime the clean brass with a Lee Auto Primer XR. 4. Then finish the loading on the Loadmaster. I do this so I don't have to mess with the Priming function of the Loadmaster. Had to much problems with the Priming on the Loadmaster so I just made it easier for me. The new primer troughs for the Loadmaster work brilliant. If you call them, tell them you have the older ones (identified by the color of the plastic), speak with a tech about them and mention you heard they had built a new design. Smooth talk them a little about all of the problems you have been having and how you were wondering if they could recommend a solution and they will usually offer to send you one of them (small or large primer) for free and the other will be sent to you at a serious discount. I think I paid somewhere about $15 for both. |
| Simply remove the de-priming rod from your resizing die and resize the cases. BTW. I never use the rouge because it's bad for barrels. Launching an abrasive at thounsands of pounds per square inch down your barrel will reduce barrel life. Try to run those cases through your tumbler with corn cob and mineral spirits to get the red out. |
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