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I have been priming my brass prior to loading, sometimes it's 2-3 weeks. They are stored in an air tight container. Will this have any ill effects on the primer? Also, I was only able to get CCI-BR4 primers and am loading h-335, some of the manuels call for a srm primer. Will the BR primers be acceptable?
I have been priming my brass prior to loading, sometimes it's 2-3 weeks. They are stored in an air tight container. Will this have any ill effects on the primer? Also, I was only able to get CCI-BR4 primers and am loading h-335, some of the manuels call for a srm primer. Will the BR primers be acceptable?
Should not have any effect on the primer. Primers in the boxes they come in from the factory are not in an airtight container. And you can buy primed brass which comes in a box or even ziplock bag.
BR primers should be fine I would think. Do the boxes contain any warnings about using them with high pressure loads? Load a small number and see where you stand and whether you have any pierced primers.
Ive been loading H335 using regular CCI-400 SR primers and have had zero issues so I would say you should be good to go with the BR primers.
Pumpkinheaver
06-27-10, 22:17
I prime sometimes months before I actually load that case, don't worry about it. I always use magnum primers with ball powder, standard primers will work fine and the onlt time you might have a problem is in extreme cold weather and then still not much to worry about.
You'll be fine. Primed GI cases are shipped in air-tight GI 20mm ammo cans (just like standard cans only way bigger).
BR-4s are exceptional primers for uniform velocities and pressure (BR for "Bench Rest").
I have six big freezer bags of primed .223 brass on my bench. I only load rifle from primed brass on my progressive anymore.
This way I can really watch the powder charge and no worry about clearing mashed primer and all of the primer system heartaches and distractions.
I have six big freezer bags of primed .223 brass on my bench. I only load rifle from primed brass on my progressive anymore.
This way I can really watch the powder charge and no worry about clearing mashed primer and all of the primer system heartaches and distractions.
Same here....I am a big user of 1 gallon "zip-lock" bags full of primed brass, post-it notes in all of them also (date/primer etc).
My philosophy is the same, concentrate on powder and bullets...no primer problems to worry about and stopping the works.
Guys,
Aside from primers getting the mechanism stuck, what are the other reasons you guys prefer to prime off the progressive presses? I definitely agree that its a weak point of (most) progressive presses.
Pat
I personally prime on the press. Whether it is the 1050, 650, or 550. Once adjusted, I have a very low failure rate on priming. Very low. So for me it is not worth the hassle to prime separately. On many calibers I have started to do two passes -- decap and any other processing except priming in the first pass and priming, powder, bullet in the second. I find the "jarring" of the press due to the depriming -- especially of crimped primers -- is my worst problem to consistency. YMMV
Guys,
Aside from primers getting the mechanism stuck, what are the other reasons you guys prefer to prime off the progressive presses?
I haven't mashed a single primer since I went to a Sinclair priming tool. I've done a thousand or so thus far. I'd have mashed a bunch on the auto priming system in that same time frame.
Perfect crimp removal is less critical on my hand primer.
I reload on a Dillon RL550. Never a problem with priming (tens of thousands loaded, always keep the priming parts clean), very consistant, effortless and fast. I actually much prefer to prime with the press compared to using a hand held unit.
The only ones I have mashed in the last million rounds were in adjusting the 1050 -- once adjusted no issues, and on 9mm rounds (on the 650) that had had crimped primers -- I was not swaging and every once in a awhile I had a mashed primer as a result. The cost of losing a couple primers in 2000 rounds is worth the time saved in doing it on the press...
Guys,
Aside from primers getting the mechanism stuck, what are the other reasons you guys prefer to prime off the progressive presses? I definitely agree that its a weak point of (most) progressive presses.
Pat
I guess everyone does things different.:D
Usually when I find myself swaging a ton of milsurp brass, I will also hand prime. It is handy and only another quick step in the process. I basically have bags upon bags of resized, swaged and primed 7.62x51, 5.56 and .30-06 ready to go.
I will also take my time, and even use a single stage for hunting and carry/defense ammo. I have bags of that stuff ready for powder and bullets also.
For my "normal" runs of blasting or plinking ammo that has been processed already, I run the whole process on the press.
That is pretty much my method.
I reload on a Dillon RL550. Never a problem with priming (tens of thousands loaded, always keep the priming parts clean), very consistant, effortless and fast. I actually much prefer to prime with the press compared to using a hand held unit.
Yeah... my Dillon has a lot more miles on it than that.... I still use the press priming system for 9mm. Obviously hand priming is less efficient... but it's much less heartache for me. I can prime in front of the TV and fly through loading when I'm on the press.
Thanks for the replies guys-
Pat
I do the same, watch a movie or something with my Peltors on and use a hand priming tool. Much easier than messing around with priming on the press.
The cost of losing a couple primers in 2000 rounds is worth the time saved in doing it on the press... - absolutely! - I feel the same way about my Dillon 1050 for 9mm and 5.56.
I still have a Lee Pro 1000 setup for .45 and that one where the priming isnt what I want it to be, I pre prime every time!
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