What The ....???!! How To Remove "Glued-In" Primers?

[RowdyYates]

Have some Federal once-fired brass (.204 and .22-250) from factory loads. They have a dab of what might be blue Loctite(?) sealing the primers. Went to run them through a sizing/decapping die and, after resetting the pin depth a couple times, realized it was just peeling the tops of the primers off and leaving the wall stuck to the pocket. Would another type of device remove these primers whole, or am I gonna have to drill them out, or ?

[Bill K]

Well I have never ran into actual glued in primers, just the one's with the sealant, but they always popped out okay, then I had to ream the crimp ( mostly on military, but some commercial one's). Then just reload as usual.. So really have not answer for the cup portion left inside, guess you would have to ream out the pocket first. Bill K

[RowdyYates]

Okay, I'll just try the reamer with a bit more pressure first. Thanks.

[hemiallen]

Posting a picture will help.

I recall someone having a similar issue a year or so ago, I am thinking trying a solvent, maybe acetone, might dissolve the sealant so you can remove ALL of the primer, if I understand it, you might as well toss the brass if the sides of the primers are still in the primer pocket.

Allen

[Bill K]

Okay, I'll just try the reamer with a bit more pressure first. Thanks.

What have you come up with, since you last posted re. this problem ? Bill K

[RowdyYates]

Actually, got kind of waylaid and haven't spent much more time on the problem, as I was able to buy some Nosler brass from wirelessguy here a few weeks ago. Did painstakingly pick a couple fairly clean with an awl, but there still were chunks of that darned sealer left. Soaking (although maybe not long enough) in both acetone and MEK surprisingly didn't loosen it like I thought it would, and I doubt if running it through my new ultrasonic cleaner would faze it. Looks like the drill press is next, but there may still be residue.

[Rick in Oregon]

Rowdy, how many cases are you talking about here? Is all this work worth the effort? From a life spent in machine shops, I'm guessing that unless you removed the stubborn glued-in primers in a lathe to eliminate any runout, any drill, reamer or awl in a drill press or by hand will have a detrimental effect on the integrity of the primer pocket in regard to I.D. If acetone and MEK did not work, the factory must have used a MIL-Spec sealer in that brass.

The last thing you'd want is leaky primers in your new loads because of out-of-round or too large primer pocket diameter. Just wondering if it's worth the work involved considering possible outcomes.

[Bill K]

Rick makes a very good point, if you are talking about 50 or less case's I would not fool with them, just replace with others and/or as you say you obtained some from Brad.. Use them and forget the others, til maybe a winter goof off project. rainy/snowy day you know Bill K

[RowdyYates]

Looks like these cases will be going to the "round file", or at least on the shelf. As stated above, it's just not worth the time, effort and risk. After spending 20 years doing precision surface plate layout and inspection/troubleshooting in machine shops and press rooms, stuff like this now seems not to be challenging but almost like going to work. I still have a couple hundred of those Federal/39 Sierra (discontinued) rounds that an area dealer surprisingly had on the shelf all through the last shortage; I found they would shoot a 5/8 inch or better in my Cooper so I got a stash for emergencies and to re-use the cases. Now that .20 cal. 39 gr. bullets are showing up regularly around here I might sell those factory rounds for new .204 brass. Am still wondering why Federal started anchoring their primers like this.
Thanks, all, for the suggestions.