PRIMER POCKET UNIFORMING

[tikkat3]

could someone give me some advice on primer pocket uniforming please ,up to now i have been throwing home loads together and getting pretty decent results at 100 yards ish but im now looking to refine and improve things a bit as i am starting to increase ranges ! i have started to batch brass and was going to uniform the primer pockets and flash holes .looking at the rcbs uniforming tools they come in 6mm,7mm etc, now im probably missing something basic here but i load for 25-06 and 308 (308 is obvious but .25? ) arnt primers standard though????? i have been using lee primer pocket tool up to now !

[1967spud]

Yes primers are mostly standard but there are differeent types i.e. small magnum pistol rifle

 

 

primers work best if they are seated squarley in the primer pocket either just kissing or with a slight crush against the case head( bottom of the primer pocket)

 

when seating primers make sure that they dont protrude beyond the bottom of the case head, better stillas ive already said slightly in is far better , enough to touch the case head

 

there are many good primer seating tools out there ranging from the lee at about £15 to the K&M all singing all dancing at about £120 but to be honest for its money and feel of the primer seating the lee takes some beating

[That bald headed Geordie]

I shoot mainly long range f class and also benchrest and do most things to bullets and cases to prepare them to the n'th degree.

However, the one thing I do not bother with is to uniform the primer pocket as I think that it is a waste of time and just removes brass unecessarily.

But if you think that it will go towards making your cases more uniform then do it.

[1967spud]

I shoot mainly long range f class and also benchrest and do most things to bullets and cases to prepare them to the n'th degree.

However, the one thing I do not bother with is to uniform the primer pocket as I think that it is a waste of time and just removes brass unecessarily.

But if you think that it will go towards making your cases more uniform then do it.

 

by uniforming the pocket it helps square it up at the shoulder in the the case head leading to a more seating primer

 

 

i do it and will continue to ,its a once in the life time of the case also you need to uniform the flash hole with a deburrer

[22-250jock]

also you need to uniform the flash hole with a deburrer

 

 

spud, is it worth deburring any of the .17 cal cases, just there doesn't seem to be many 17cal deburring tools out there

 

cheers jock

[1967spud]

very good point if you can get a small deburrer you cetainly arnt going in the wrong direction with accuracy

[achosenman]

very good point if you can get a small deburrer you cetainly arnt going in the wrong direction with accuracy

 

The one I have was made by K&M. They still sell them AFAIK.

 

ATB

[That bald headed Geordie]

by uniforming the pocket it helps square it up at the shoulder in the the case head leading to a more seating primer

 

 

i do it and will continue to ,its a once in the life time of the case also you need to uniform the flash hole with a deburrer

 

Hi Spud, I understand the theory and I used to uniform the primer pockets in my 6.5x55 Ack Imp and deburr the flash hole as well. But I could not see any improvement to accuracy against another batch of cases that did not have the primer pocket uniformed/flash hole deburred, so that is why I do not do them anymore, but understand if others want to do it. I also weigh my bullets into 0.1 grain batches, point the bullets and have my prepped cases batched into less than 1 grain lots, but a mate of mine just shoots his bullets out of the box unweighed, does not bother to weigh his brass and still manages to do very well in f class comps. So no hard and fast rules, but each to their own eh!

[DaveT]

I am working on the basis that accuracy is the accumulation of many small 'attention to detail' preparatory actions rather than one 'golden-bullet' step(including primer pocket uniforming which usually only removes a tiny ring at the juncture of the pocket wall and floor but which may help consistency of seating and therefore ignition)

 

As for most of these steps I only have do them once & I think its a worthwhile investment of effort for the life of the case...... even if only to remove a potential concern that it just might have made a difference.

[achosenman]

I am working on the basis that accuracy is the accumulation of many small 'attention to detail' preparatory actions rather than one 'golden-bullet' step(including primer pocket uniforming which usually only removes a tiny ring at the juncture of the pocket wall and floor but which may help consistency of seating and therefore ignition)

 

As for most of these steps I only have do them once & I think its a worthwhile investment of effort for the life of the case...... even if only to remove a potential concern that it just might have made a difference.

 

I agree Dave.

Anything that helps uniform the case will aid accuracy…even if only by a small amount. Some things will have more of an impact on accuracy than others. But that does not negate the little improvements.

 

As an example I have a 270 rifle that will shoot factory Win 130grn Powerpoint into less than .3 The bullet run out is on average .010 ( I don’t accept anything more than .002 for a home load)

I’'ve yet to find someone seriously suggest that excessive run out is an aid to accuracy.

 

ATB

[Laurie]

Like Les, I've given up on uniforming Lapua brass primer pockets - in any calibre. Many 6PPC BR shooters on both sides of the Atlantic no longer do it with the Lapua .220 Russian cases they start out with. The stuff is so uniform, the benefits are negligible to nil. I still do it for Winchester brass, and you'll find as you cut the pocket floor, they are really concave as they come in the packet, no doubt as a result of punching the flash-hole through the pocket floor. Whether it (uniforming) gives any benefit even here is a moot point. Deburring punched-through flash-holes almost certainly gives some benefit and is more valuable.

 

Although Norma cases have machined pockets and drilled flash-holes like Lapua, some batches have very shallow pockets and you have to cut them deeper otherwise primer faces are flush with the case-head or even stand proud. I have a load of Norma 6XC brass like this.

 

For .17 flash-hole deburring, Sinclair International also lists a suitable deburr / reamer tool. Alternatively and cheaper, for deburr alone (and not just 17s) get a pin vice and suitable small-dia twist drill. Just make sure the drill bit is long enough to reach the case-head - it only works on short cases usually.

[achosenman]

I've given up on uniforming Lapua brass primer pockets - in any calibre. Many 6PPC BR shooters on both sides of the Atlantic no longer do it with the Lapua .220 Russian cases they start out with. The stuff is so uniform, the benefits are negligible to nil.

 

I use Lapua for the 223. I have to cut the primer pocket deeper since they are .118 deep and the primers are .120.

 

Lapua seems to be struggling sometimes to maintain the consistency they had when they earned their reputation.

 

ATB.

[17 squirrel]

Hi Jock

K&M make a 17 deburrer they call it a pee wee you will get one from reloading solutions

[1967spud]

Like Les, I've given up on uniforming Lapua brass primer pockets - in any calibre. Many 6PPC BR shooters on both sides of the Atlantic no longer do it with the Lapua .220 Russian cases they start out with. The stuff is so uniform, the benefits are negligible to nil. I still do it for Winchester brass, and you'll find as you cut the pocket floor, they are really concave as they come in the packet, no doubt as a result of punching the flash-hole through the pocket floor. Whether it (uniforming) gives any benefit even here is a moot point. Deburring punched-through flash-holes almost certainly gives some benefit and is more valuable.

 

Although Norma cases have machined pockets and drilled flash-holes like Lapua, some batches have very shallow pockets and you have to cut them deeper otherwise primer faces are flush with the case-head or even stand proud. I have a load of Norma 6XC brass like this.

 

For .17 flash-hole deburring, Sinclair International also lists a suitable deburr / reamer tool. Alternatively and cheaper, for deburr alone (and not just 17s) get a pin vice and suitable small-dia twist drill. Just make sure the drill bit is long enough to reach the case-head - it only works on short cases usually.

 

Interesting thoughts Laurie . Do you have any exsperience with the Nosler Custom brass yet? I just wondered if it was as good as they claim!

[Danpd]

Interesting thoughts Laurie . Do you have any exsperience with the Nosler Custom brass yet? I just wondered if it was as good as they claim!

 

It's not, it is just weight sorted federal brass with the flash hole deburred and neck chamfered, it just saves you time on sorting bulk brass.

[1967spud]

It's not, it is just weight sorted federal brass with the flash hole deburred and neck chamfered, it just saves you time on sorting bulk brass.

 

Thats interesting to hear, have you actually got a hands on it, and played with it?

[DaveT]

Thats interesting to hear, have you actually got a hands on it, and played with it?

 

I had some 260 Rem Nosler Custom brass before Lapua got theirs into production and it was brill.

 

I thought that Norma made it?

[Danpd]

Nosler isn't a huge company, as such it's better for them to get Federal to produce X hundred thousand pieces of brass with the Nosler head stamp. They spent a lot if money on a high tech weight sorting machine which batches the brass by weight increments. They then perform the additional steps on the brass to make it "custom" .

 

It's not bad brass, and in certain Calibers it's your best/only option, but it is nowhere near the quality of Norma/lapua and the price they ask for it is a bit OTT. Great marketing however.

[Laurie]

Re Nosler Custom Brass.

 

There seems to be a fair bit of speculation across the pond as to who makes this stuff. The general view is that most lots are Federal, but some calibres / lots seem to originate with Norma. When I was playing around with .204 Ruger, I had both Nosler and Norma varieties, and I'm pretty sure they were identical, that is good.

 

I've got some Nosler Custom in .260 Rem for an upcoming project (R-P v Federal v Lapua v Nosler and untouched rubbish v fully batched / prepped to see how they stack up in terms of results and life, also to see how much grouping / MV spread benefit you get from la creme de la creme v la crap de la crap). I've not examined the Nosler stuff yet, need a few good accurate loads as starting points first. (123gn Scenar + N150 looks very promising as the mid bullet weight contender, but will get some 108 and 139/140 combinations in too.)

 

achoseman - interesting re Lapua .223R cases. The recent lots I've bought are very good. The only complaint I had was one particular box of older 'Match' (cardboard carton, no lot number printed on it and from before whenever the word 'Match' was added to the headstamp). 3 or 4 of the 100 had undersize flash-holes. I've checked every case since in the batching / prepping phase, but haven't seen a recurrence. I've not seen shallow pockets with any Lapua case to date. Neck thickness consistency varies noticeably between production lots though, both in terms of the average between lots and in how little / how much variation there is around each individual case-neck within a box.