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Forum Index > Rifles general discussion > RELOADING 308 HORNADY AMERICAN WHITETAIL BRASS. PRIMER POCKET TOO SMALL???

RELOADING 308 HORNADY AMERICAN WHITETAIL BRASS. PRIMER POCKET TOO SMALL???

05 Sep 2020
@ 05:40 pm (GMT)

Jon Short

Have been prepping some once fired Hornady White Tail 308 brass for a mate & noticed the primer pocket is smaller than normal. I went to primer pocket uniform the brass & the tool would not fit as it is slightly too wide. Never seen that before. Spoke to Nathan a while back & tight pockets is something Hornady seem to be doing with some brass I believe.

Well fk me gently, this is tighter than tight, I went to press a new federal match long rifle primer in & it is way too tight & will not seat till its flush. The edge of the primer is being pushed back by the brass pocket. Tried two cases same thing. Had to very gently press the primers back out. A bit dangerous really. Grrrr.

I looked at the old primer & it looks like its quite soft as the firing pin mark was pushed out by the pin in the die on sizing.

Measured an old primer from these cases & it was 5.28mm diameter. Measured the new federal primer & it is 5.34mm ø (which is close enough to correct). Measured the pocket as best I could & is appears to be 5.26mm ø.

That would mean that the federal primer would have about 0.08mm (3.2 thou) interference versus about 0.02mm (0.8 thou) interference for the old used primer.

Not sure what to do about this. I'm not sure its feasible to open up the old flashhole with the uniformer as it may be difficult to keep it true/concentric.

I feel a bit stupid posting this, perhaps I am missing something here?? Has anyone had same problem & can anyone help? Should I hiff this brass & get some new brass? Seems a waste.

Seems really odd Hornady would do this unless they are intentionally trying to stop reloaders. I can't for the life of me think why they would?

Perhaps I am stupid??

Cheers,

Jon



Replies

1
08 Sep 2020
@ 06:25 pm (GMT)

Jon Short

Re: RELOADING 308 HORNADY AMERICAN WHITETAIL BRASS. PRIMER POCKET TOO SMALL???
Reply to my own post.

Hornady apparently make a primer pocket uniformer that is slightly tapered. (Thanks Thomas K) Will try one on a case at the local Broncos shop & see if it will do the job.. or not, & re post the result.

Surprised no one else has notice same problem...
08 Sep 2020
@ 06:38 pm (GMT)

Mike Davis

Re: RELOADING 308 HORNADY AMERICAN WHITETAIL BRASS. PRIMER POCKET TOO SMALL???
I believe they have crimped them...can only think they started doing it for the superpreformance loadings ,them being so hot an all.... and it seems they kept doing it...the whitetail 270 cases I was given were all the same..the .308 superpreformance cases were the same..all I did was quick twirl with deburring tool,it champhered the edges nicely and primer slips in like a well greased "thing" into a slack "other thing".....
I learnt to do this when using milserp brass in .223 works for me.
08 Sep 2020
@ 07:50 pm (GMT)

Chris Murphy

Re: RELOADING 308 HORNADY AMERICAN WHITETAIL BRASS. PRIMER POCKET TOO SMALL???
Yup I’ve had the same with American white tail 308 the crimp the primer pockets just debur chamfer and way you go
09 Sep 2020
@ 12:01 am (GMT)

Paul Leverman

Re: RELOADING 308 HORNADY AMERICAN WHITETAIL BRASS. PRIMER POCKET TOO SMALL???
After reading this, I got curious as to what the tools looked like. So, I went through various suppliers of tools, and found that what they were offering was essentially what I had been using all along. And that was my standard, every-day neck chamfering tool. Most of the pocket reamers featured a flatter point, and I thought that possibly, my chamfering tool may hit the bottom of the pocket before it finished chamfering the edge. I took an old case and gave it a good cut. Nowhere near the flash hole, or it fit inside it. It put a good cut on the pocket, too good, went way too far, but that was the point of the exercise.

Is this an acceptable practice? Or is there something so simply obvious that I am missing it?
09 Sep 2020
@ 08:30 am (GMT)

Mike Davis

Re: RELOADING 308 HORNADY AMERICAN WHITETAIL BRASS. PRIMER POCKET TOO SMALL???
Paul...a quick whirl=a quick whirl...
you only need to remove the crimp.....think 1/2 -1mm AT MOST.....you dont want to remove much material,just enough to get rid of bit thats causing issue. couple of seconds BY HAND.....
09 Sep 2020
@ 02:43 pm (GMT)

Paul Leverman

Re: RELOADING 308 HORNADY AMERICAN WHITETAIL BRASS. PRIMER POCKET TOO SMALL???
Thanks, Mike. That's what I have been doing, and so far, so good. Just making sure.
17 Sep 2020
@ 08:38 am (GMT)

Jon Short

Re: RELOADING 308 HORNADY AMERICAN WHITETAIL BRASS. PRIMER POCKET TOO SMALL???
Update. Thanks for comments guys.

I bought & have used the Hornady tool which simply took the top edge off (chamfered) the pocket. Primers still fairly tight & press in with a two stage clunk, clunk. Very weird. Tried another packet of federal primers, same thing.

Yes I think they must have been crimped in but its almost like the pocket side walls are not straight...perhaps deformed slightly from crimping?... either that or I am not taking a big enough chamfer to remove the crimp.

So then I rang my mate who I was doing the reloading for to let him know I had found a solution & he then tells me he flipped his quad the other day & sent me a pxt of his rifle with timber stock snapped in half!!!! Fk me...

Thanks fellas.
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