I haven't ran into that yet. However I bent my universal decapping rod pulling primers out of about 300 Aguila brass cases. The flash hole on every case was so off centered you could only see half of it looking through the primer pocket. Glad you brought this up because I wouldn't have never thought about that.
hey Elvis! I have felt your pain! American made 357 sig. brass was so undersize, that I couldn't even pull the pin out of the case with vice grips! so I went around the exposed pin with a file to remove some material, and that made all the difference no more stuck or broken pins! Thanks for the video!
After bending my de-capping pin on a berdan 5.56, I purchased a pair of hardened steel pins by Squirrel Daddy. I had to chuck it in a drill to alieve the top to fit into my Lee Universal, but have never had to worry about the de-capping pin since. It will punch right through the base of berdan case if you want to put the effort...
Elvis, that happened to me, too. I jammed the decapping pin in the hole and it took me 20 minutes to get the damn thing off! I had no idea these foreign companies are using smaller flash holes! Thanks for all your very informative videos😊
Lapua brass is known to have smaller than usual flash holes. I had cases getting stuck or speared by my resizing pin that destroyed 3 pieces of brass before I realized that the flash holes were unusually small. I fixed it by sanding down my decapping pin. All is good now!
Nice video 👍 Thank's for the heads up Elvis 😊 I have some pieces of brass with that headstamp and i think one of them sneaked into my Federal brass last decap session.. They came (the ammo) in a brown cardboard pack like the one you showed us,but it was just plain brown pack stamped .223 Rem..i got it from a freind, and as the litle reloading nerd i am i saved the brass since it looked like nice cases to reload..so i saved them. Now I'm going to take a closer look at them. Keep up the good work 👍😊
I've broken more than one decaping pin on 5.56 brass because of this very thing. Cant remember the head stamp but if they have that red sealant around the primers I set them aside.
Red sealant is to stop water from entering if the ammo gets wet there is another sealant around the bullet. Generally it is on Mil Sup and Law Enforcement Ammo and a few other specialty ammo.
@elvis ammo I have about 1,500 of those 1k or lk stamp on them they all had small flash holes I just drill them out through the case mouth and then size and reload as normal.
Great information Elvis, I ran into some 9mm brass that the flash hole was so tiny even the smallest of decapping pins would not fit in them, it is Ruag brand ammo, head stamped T 9x19 SX watch out for it, thanks for all you do.
I heard that smaller flash holes concentrated the primer and made it more powerful. I was trying to find a way to reload primers and heard that the smaller flash holes helped with the reloaded weaker primers. I gave up on the whole lot of it though. Thanks for sharing!
@@jeffhuntley2921 did you actually do some ? How about shotgun 209 primers? I have 2 guys sent me there unused prime all once they decided it was too much b.s. for them. I going to go 4 it this winter project. Collecting all the raw goods I can.
@@christopherpeterson1400 supposed to do 2000 primers per kit. I never actually tried it. You’ll have to make a jig to press 209’s apart and another to flatten the primer strike face back flat so the anvil will sit in the cup correctly. If you do it, please make a video, I’d love to see how it goes for you. $20 for the primer material isn’t that hard to deal with if its a total disaster. Cheers!
@@jeffhuntley2921 yes I will be building hillbilly presses, jigs, etc. I have some background in automated machine design. It is more the personal mental therapy challenge of the process as a winter rainy seattle hobby for me. I was told material are $40 per kit and been sold out for months. Anyone with donation materials , supplies, or equipment to send me , I am interested.
That's why they make small decapping pins, The .060 flash holes are common in bench rest cartridges, as they allow you to run higher pressures (within reason) hence higher velocities and have more consistent ignition. Lapua makes them in multiple cartridges just for that purpose.
Palma match cases have small flash holes. I believe the small flash holes are used to reduce case head expansion Palma shooters use very high pressures. Also a lot of European cases have the smaller flash holes
I could see using the small flash hose for extra pressure loads. Although the accuracy of this ammo was actually subpar compared to other factory ammo but not too bad. So it didn’t have any Significant value for that purpose with these factory loads.
Bench rest shooters who shoot the 6PPC cartridge (and other calibers) look for brass with the small flash hole. My 6PPC rifle and the Lapua brass formed from .22 Russian have the small flash hole. Sinclair (now with Brownells) sold a small flash hole de burring tool for the PPC and other brass, but they no longer sell this tool.
So far, after reloading 1000's of rounds I haven't run into that situation (fortunately). When I prep my brass part of my sequence is to de-burr the flash hole with my Lyman tool. That may be specific to that foreign brass. I have also steered away from RCBS dies as the pin is NOT fixed into the rod !!! After having the pin come out TOO MANY times I switched COMPLETELY to LEE dies and have not looked back... Good video though !!
One of my favorites is definitely the Lee for sure. And as long as you are debuting in the flash hole before you size and decap, that is a sure way to find a problem before it exist!
Thanks for the info, Elvis! I've heard of smaller flash holes, but never experienced them in person. I just stuck a case the other day, so no judgment on that🤣
Ran into a similar problem many years ago with some military so called NATO spec 7.62 made overseas somewhere. Went through several RCBS decaping pins until I did like you and cut one apart. Didn't even know anyone made ammo with smaller flash holes back then or why. I had started reloading with a Lee die set that used a hammer to decap, size, seat and crimp. I forget what they call that setup, but they still make them. Anyway I put the decapper punch in my drill press and sanded the pin down to fit. Knocked out the primers, no problem. I then drilled and deburred the flash holes to the standard size, removed the crimp and all was good. Still have that Lee die set.
Come to think of it, I remember seeing you use a Lee setup like I mentioned in one of your videos. However, I just thought of a substitute for that type of Lee die. A socket that the brass can sit down into and a long skinny punch of the correct pin size should work the same.
Some Norma and Lapua rifle brass also have the smaller flash hole. Some die sets will come with the small pin as well as the large. Have ran into this a few times.
In my 4 decades of reloading I came to the conclusion that small flash holes make sense in lower capacity cases especially in the smaller calibers. In the 22 Hornet for example the force of the primer starts the bullet before proper powder ignition is achieved and therefore it is difficult to get good accuracy. I solved the inaccuracy problem by replacing the stronger small rifle primers with the weaker large pistol primers and got that cartridge to group sub 1/2 MOA. It's a matter of powder to bullet diameter ratio and also how much spark is required to properly ignite any specific powder most efficiently. A good example is the 22-250 with its large rifle primer as compared to the 223 with its small one! The flash hole is just another way to control that spark result!
Found a bunch of these smaller flash hole casings and broke a few decapping stems. However, I did figure out a way to use them. Made dummy rounds and sealed them in an epoxy project for a table top.
Lapua "Palma Pocket" have these smaller flash holes. I have only dealt with them in 6.5 CM and 308 Brass so far. A Redding decapping die does the trick (with the correct pin of course), though I think my standard forester sizing die includes a decapping pin that worker just fine (confirmed that my 6.5CM sizing does includes a pin that measures .0531"). I have not used them but have heard good things about mighty armory decapping dies being used as well. (need to make sure you have the correct pin again) Pretty sure JRB did a accuracy comparison on 308 on this on his channel too. As with most things reloading there is often more than 1 way to deal with some of these things. One more fun thing to look for in 223 brass. Thanks for the Video!
I heard that smaller flash holes concentrated the primer and made it more powerful. I was trying to find a way to reload primers and heard that the smaller flash holes helped with the reloaded weaker primers. I gave up on the whole lot of it though. Thanks for sharing!
Ran into this issue with older 50 browning big ammo cases, broke my lee giant size die pin, bought a new lee die and a 1/8” reamer from a tool store and about $150 later I was back In business
I always decap my brass before cleaning, so I would find them on the first part of the process, however I haven’t had any that I know of. If they don’t deprime, I just chuck em.
Yup I just had the same problem with the same brass ! I broke two decapping rods and bent my resizer . After inspecting the brass I found what you did . I’m trying to find out if I can drill out the hole to a standard size . Thats how I came across your video
There are great suggestions throughout the comment section. Drilling, swaging, or using a primer pocket deburring tool. Some companies even sell a .60 decapper pin made for that. 👍👍👍
Thanks that explains why I broke 2 pins lately. I normally only reload my own shot brass but obviously picked up some rogue brass that had the smaller flash holes. I thought it was me just rushing to decap but I see it now was the brass. Boy those rods broke like they were made of glass.
I would have to read more than one opinion about smaller flash holes concentrating the fire and the benefits from it. Like you, I've reloaded tens of thousands over the years and haven't seen any with the smaller diameter. I get sub minute groups at 200yds with my .223's. Some wheels don't need reinventing. I'll enlarge the flash holes if I do get some of that stuff rather than sort it out and buy new equipment for something that is speculative. A great "head-up" warning.
Wolf primers are good if you can find them. I think I used 11,000 of the small pistol primers, and a few thousand small rifle. I don't know about bullseye pistol or bench rest, but for standard loads, good to go. Haven't seen any for sale in more than 5 years probably.
You could put the decapping pin in a drill ...spin it...and hold sandpaper on the end to polish it to a narrower diameter... Also a smaller flash hold SHOULD allow you to run hotter loads without bulging the primers.
I purchased a new box of MAXX 9MM a few years ago and it was in the cylinder shaped box and the brass had at least 5 different head stamps, so obviously range brass being passed off as new rounds.
I don't bother reloading those IK head stamped 223 brass. I have noticed that most 357 sig brass has very tight flash holes, but I use a Lee universal decapping die with a hardened and tapered decapping pin I bought on ebay so they don't get stuck even though I can tell it's a tight fit popping out those primers. Afterwards I use a flash hole uniformer.
Wow time to break out a drill and 1/8" drill bit and ream em out a bit. I take a 3/16" drill bit to 45 acp flash holes for making wax bullets but you can't use the wax bullet casings for actual bullets though after.
🤯 Always inspect for non American brass... Cheap over the counter cartridge cases can cost the reloader in equipment costs, or processing procedures. Thanks for the warning for all of us reloaded! 👍
Lapua uses the smaller .060 flash holes in some of their brass including 6BR. This is really a non issue...simply get a die that uses the smaller decapping pin (Redding, Mighty Armory, etc.), or get one of the available reaming tools that will open the flash hole up from Sinclair/Brownells. At least in the 6BR and 6PPC, the small flash hole actually contributes to overall accuracy as two of the most accurate cartridges ever developed.
I bent 2 universal pens and thought the pens were to soft. Some of the cramped primers are hard to deprime! I check my range brass for berdan primers. Now I will look for hole size! Thanks for the info. ps. If I get brass (like sp 45 acp) I save them for walks in the woods and let them fly!
As you said, there are types of brass that purposely have a very small flash hole. I have used undersize and normal size flash holes and under my shooting conditions I could not see any difference in performance. For my purposes I have no need for the undersize flash holes. The first time I processed a batch of 5.56 range brass I broke two decapping pins before I realized what was causing them to break. I can say I was not too happy. I thought I must have gotten hold of a bad run as I was not aware that any NATO 5.56 brass had the very small flash holes. Now I use a small decapping pin every time I run an unsorted batch of range brass.
I found some brass at the range ane when I went to deprime I broke the pin. The vrass had been waterproofed with pink paint. I believe it had SAR stamped on it. It went into my recycle bucket.
I have run into small flash holes with some 9x19 brass. I didn't fire it, it was mixed with a bunch of range brass. My decapping pin was sticking substantially but recklessly I decapped them all. Then, not sure if I wanted to use the brass, set them aside.
Where was this video a week or two ago....LOL... I just place an order for Forster knob end type decapping pins... GRRRRRR.. those stupid pins are not cheap.. Always leaves me questioning, how those guys that reload mass range brass for resale pull this off with their automated units. Yes, I understand that they run decap cops, that puts a halt on production. But that doesn't change the fact that they just bent or snapped a decapping pin off. What a pain in the booty and I am just one stroking things.. these guys likely spend all day changing pins out, or have already assembled units to hot-swap out when the machine alarms out... Kinda reminds me of an old job I once had as a CNC / tool setter, and on one contract that required a 2-56 tapped hole be plumbing in, of course, requiring the hole to be center/pilot pointed, then drilled, then the tapping action with that dinky 2-56 tap in T-6 aluminum that was already seasoned... all day, every other part, swapping out the tool. Now way around it.. Thinking maybe, I got my coolants wrong, feeds and speeds wrong, etc... I even called the tooling manufacture, for any assistance, as a second pair of eyes, as maybe I am missing something.. They laughed at me, LOL.. then made jokes like, "Wow, now is a good time to raise the prices on our 2-56 sized tapes" knowing that it is just part of that nature with that material being that sticky and seasoned or hardness.aged. I thought I was clever when I said, well, at least it isn't steal I am trying to tap. He mentioned that the tap wouldn't brake/break as often in the steals. (with in reason of most hot rolled alloys) as the aluminum is gummy on those dinky taps and loads up and bind up ,hence the snapped taps. Pardon the novel.. but was a rough moment worth of flash backs. Needing to make 2000 parts, but when 1200 of those that had allot of machining work already done up to that point, had broken off taps in them, that resulted in almost 6400 parts needing to be made, to complete the order.. traumatized, LOL... and snapping a few decapping pins, caused allot of flash backs from that job.
@@elvisammo LOL.. I actually rather enjoyed going back in time... Life seems pretty good these day now.. But back then, felt like I was drowning over stupid $9 taps, ending up costing me dang near $12K and in the RED zone.. I lost big time on that job...
I've also run into some of these buying large lots of mixed .223/5.56/9mm brass, I lost one universal decapper rod getting it really stuck a few times and encountered quite a few off centered holes as well. After that I invested in a hardened decapper and it hasn't happened again thankfully, that thing is a tank. [edit: it was also a squirrel daddy pin like 12port mentioned above, I actually punctured through a berdan on some German milsurp 7.62 once by accident]
9x19 S&B nontox has tiny tiny flashhole and the same problem with stucked dec. pin :/ the brass is soft and deform in the primer seat. I use a punch and a hammer and then I ream it with a 2mm drill.
I found about 100pcs of Sarsilmaz "made in turkey" brass cased 9mm at my range about a month ago When I picked them up they felt lighter and softer compared to American made brands they just felt cheap I was inspecting them and noticed the primers were cratered from a Glock,they were bulged more than normal, and some of the primer cups were bulged also I thru them in the trash because I thought they were dangerous and didn't want to try in my guns
You are right, It is a BR thing. It was made popular by Palmasano and Pindell. They theorized (correctly IMHO) that it is beneficial to stabilize the flash and minimize the explosive force of the primer ignition. This leads to more consistency and that leads to better ES and SD stats. I have been using small flash hole brass in my 6br for many years and I think that unless you are after sub 0.2 MOA then you are probably not doing the type of intensive load workup to benefit from it much. It's much more suited for the guy that snatches every advantage he possibly can. And yes, keep extra pins 😁.
Warning ! Weapon cartridges and components made outside of the US and other Western countries aren't necessarily made to SAAMI standards . In the past I have shot sketchy ammunition from made in Second World nations ( Soviet Union Bloc ) without issues . But reloading them was too much trouble to make it worth my effort , time , and money . The first thing I noticed in this video was that the primers were held in by red lacquer and probably staked in . This leads me to believe that the primer pockets were created with loose tolerances . I wouldn't bother with reloading trash brass like this .
I am curious about the size of the powder in the Factory cartridge. I am thinking that the flash hole diameter is "tuned" to optimize powder burn. It is just a guess.
I ran into this already. I went with a Lee sizing die and installed a squirrel daddy decapping pin. It just swages the flash hole to .080". I have shot them several times and they appear to be fine.
I'd imagine a fella could reem the flash holes out a bit. But I'm curious if that would help to maintain the integrity of the case over it's lengthened reloading life 🤔😲
I ran into this problem with lapua 6.5 creedmoor brass and lee dies. Im not sure if it was because it was small rifle primer brass or if the tolerances were just tight, but I just put the decapping pin in a drill and hit it with some sandpaper to thin the decapping pin. Worked well and nothing broke.
I recently broke the decapping pin on my Lee Universal decapping die on some range found 308 brass. I ended up throwing the 4 pieces of brass out in the end it was easier haha. I would be great to have a list of all the headstamps to avoid
Love watching your videos as I find them very informative for first time cast lead users, my hats off to you sir. My question is do you have any info on different hard cast loads for 30-06
I came up with an old I believe Lee 270 sizer with the solid one piece type decaper, very strong 💪 I used it to overcome this same issue on a supply of Speer .357 sig brass, they are very small flash hole and the rcbs .357 sig sizer pins get stuck and pull out, not with the old 270 win sizer, the next reload is fine with the standard die
OMG, "IK 21" and "IK 22" headstamp is Igman 2A warehouse ammo and it is just a huge pain in the neck. I gave up on it and then I found this video. Where do I get a .060 decapping pin?
have you noticed that your gun is way over-gassed---- notice that all of the case heads have the rims all most ripped off---- this may cause a case head failure or it not it will likely cause the cases not to chamber because they are now too long----
I haven’t run into a “too small” flash hole. I have a flash hole deburring tool I use for the precision rounds for the 300winny, but found that when I use good brass like Peterson or Nosler it is not needed. Off topic what’s with those heavy primer strikes?
I've reloaded berdan with boxer. Got bored, ground the decapping pin flat and it punches the post out of the center. Worked fine for me and my setup. IN NO WAY AM I SAYING YOU SHOULD TRY THIS! Just that I was able to make a work around. Suspect it could work for the small flash hole as well. Being that the flash hole is usually punched anyway during manufacturing.
