Thread: loose primers

So how loose is loose and what to do about it?
Bought some s/h brass,checked size etc,started seating primers with my
hand primer and noticed they required very little pressure to seat,much less than usual.
They seem secure,don't fall out but I haven't come across this before or had any other primer issues
so I'm keen not to start.
Will gas leak past them or will they seal ok?
Norma brass,federal 215 fyi
So is the brass stretched?too much?
I read that european primers are slightly larger diameter,should I use them?
Interested in your thoughts and experience,
cheers

Seating pressure is a bit subjective especially if you ae only using memory as a guide. There are tolerance limits for pockets and primers could be you are at both ends of the scale.
Norma is good brass but you dont know its life story i guess. On firing they will expand to fill the cup. It should be fine so long as the primers don't drop out but,you could start with a few loads a bit below your current std and look at what happens if you are worried.
For your info I have found cci small rifle primers easier to seat than winchester in the same lot of cases before and not worried,

It's a bit hard to judge your loose with mine. I have a primer pocket go and no go gauge that I check my cases with. Ones that fail I cull. At that point they are very easy to prime with a hand tool. And then I only have one catridge that I run hot on purpose (in an extremely strong Barnard action with good gas venting).

I have never got to the stage of gas leakage but on the range have seen many bolt faces etched to hell. When asking the owner "when did that happen" the usual answer is "dunno".

Whether they will seal, I'd only be guessing. The pressure may cause the cup to expand on firing and seal or you may not get complete seal and then gas escapes and etches your nice bolt face. Any gas escaping is undesirable from a safety point of view.

I have heard of reloaders (Bubbas?) using loctite to hold primers in.

The other issue is if the primer pockets have expanded that much the bottom/base area of the case will have expanded. Do the cases actually fit your rifle?

I think RWS may be fractionally larger than some American brands. But that was my experience many years ago, it may not be the case now.

Yeah unfortunately buying second hand brass can be a lottery and it is always described as only once fired with a mild load.

Sorry I cannot be more definative with your brass.

Just a point about Norma brass. 284 brass made up from 6.5/284 Norma brass was only going 2 to 3 loads in some my club's F Class rifles before pockets were too llose. A change to Lapua and the brass lasted many many reloads. Keeping in mind though the F Class guys were in a lot of cases pushing things along.