Very tight primer pocket 308 win Hornady brass Fed 210M primers

[TimberHunter]

Was reloading some once fired Hornady whitetail 308 ammo and noticed the primers were extremely hard to install using my Lee single stage press.

Found some info about Hornady crimping 308 ammo so I used my deburr tool to open the pockets up a bit. Primers went in but took about all the force I could put on my lee single stage press to seat them just below flush. Primers don’t look to be damaged (see pictures)

I plan on getting a reamer but I have 20 rounds loaded with very tight 210M primers. This is the first time I’ve loaded for this gun(recently got it a few months ago). I’ve never hade primers require so much force to seat them.


Is there any concern of shooting them?

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[TimberHunter]

Bump, any thoughts?


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[Randonee]

I’ve found Federal primers to be a bit larger than other’s I’ve tried like Remington and Winchester. This is based on pressure needed to seat the primer. I have not used Hornady brass though. If I were you I’d try a different primer to see if they seat more easily. I’ve never had to push anything close to that hard.

Did the primers go in deep enough, below the brass?

 

[Rich M]

Have you tried wiggling the shells or cleaning the shell holder?

I was priming the other day and had a few issues. I muscled a couple in and then started to question why somecwent in easy and others not so. Started to rotate and wiggle the casings and life got better.

 

[Bsnyder]

I had the same issue with Bertram brass went to cci and it was fine federal are a bit larger try cci and see how that goes

 

[TimberHunter]

I’ve found Federal primers to be a bit larger than other’s I’ve tried like Remington and Winchester. This is based on pressure needed to seat the primer. I have not used Hornady brass though. If I were you I’d try a different primer to see if they seat more easily. I’ve never had to push anything close to that hard.

Did the primers go in deep enough, below the brass?

Yes, I was able to muscle the the primers in with the lee single stage press but it took a lot of effort. They are either flush or slightly below flush


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[TimberHunter]

Have you tried wiggling the shells or cleaning the shell holder?

I was priming the other day and had a few issues. I muscled a couple in and then started to question why somecwent in easy and others not so. Started to rotate and wiggle the casings and life got better.

Thanks for the info but yes I tried that but did not reduce the force it took to seat the primers


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[JDixon]

I have had inconsistent pressure in seating primers, started using a primer pocket uniformer. Solved the problem. I am using RCBS Hand Priming tool.

 

[TimberHunter]

To follow back up... I tried Hornady new brass, nosler brass from factory ammo and federal brass from factory ammo and all of them took about normal pressure to seat the primer using a Hornady single stage press.

it seems that the primer pockets on Hornady whitetial ammo are very tight and require me to use a dealer tool to open the primers. Going to try some CCI or federal primers to see if they seat easier but seems as though I figured it out for the moment.

One additional questio, for bolt guns do you try for flush primers or slightly countersink?

 

[Tod osier]

I’ve had that with several boxes of hornady 308 win (custom lite). Mine were crimped, I bought a crimp removal tool to fix them.

 

[robtattoo]

I just went through this with some range brass. Every one that was silly tight had a hornady headstamp. They're was a bunch of lake city mixed in, so after tumbling I swaged ever primer pocket.
Using federal primers, I had 3 of the hornady cases so damn tight, the primer cup ended up creating a ledge around the pocket, making it impossible to seat them. I've NEVER experienced this with any other brass before

 

[Ohearchai]

Swage the primer pockets

 

[Newtosavage]

I think you have the tightest combination available there. I've always found Hornady brass to have tight primer pockets. I don't use Hornady brass anymore for that reason.

I am not sure I've ever seen an intentionally countersunk primer. Flush is what you're after.

 

[General RE LEE]

Super old thread but I just had this exact same problem. Decided to load up some Hornady stamp range brass and couldn’t even get the primers started in the pocket with my hand priming tool. Ended up damaging a couple primers. CCI BR-2

 

[Lawnboi]

Super old thread but I just had this exact same problem. Decided to load up some Hornady stamp range brass and couldn’t even get the primers started in the pocket with my hand priming tool. Ended up damaging a couple primers. CCI BR-2

Likely crimped primers. Fairly common on factory ammo that may get AR use.

If there’s a ring around the primer like in the OP it will need to be cut or swaged.

 

[Castle Rock]

Hornady and Norma are tight, Fed primers are big, Win and CCI small