Wolf Primer oddity

[Brick]

Since diving in and buying a case each of Wolf Small Pistol and Large Pistol Primers, I've been developing more experience with them. So far though I've only used the Large Pistol Primers.

After the initial trial with half a dozen misfires (including a couple absolutely-no-fires) that problem seems to have disappeared, not a single misfire out of the last 600 rounds.

But, today a new wrinkle since I'm just getting to reload the first batch of Wolf primed brass. I found a case that would not accept a new primer, I thought nothing of it because it was one of my old military cases and thought that the crimp had not been removed completely so I just put the case aside and continued. Then it happened again, only this time I discovered that the decapping pin did not punch out the primer. Instead it had punched the bottom out of the primer leaving the side of the primer cup stuck fast in the pocket. During the batch of 300 that I reloaded today this occured 10 times with cases of different manufacture including S&B, Winchester, Federal, Israeli Military Industries, and military cases WCC 77, 79 & 81, TZZ 92 Match & TZZ 89.

Now the loss of 10 pieces of brass is no big deal, but I'm incredulous that the bottom of these primers would separate that way. Some punched the bottom out clean, others only partially like a partly opened tin can.

So aside from "Don't use Wolf Primers" does anyone have any suggestions or useful comments?

[unclesam099]

It seems that the military crimp might still be there. What is your method of removing it? Some pockets are tighter than others, too.

[max384]

Since diving in and buying a case each of Wolf Small Pistol and Large Pistol Primers, I've been developing more experience with them. So far though I've only used the Large Pistol Primers.

After the initial trial with half a dozen misfires (including a couple absolutely-no-fires) that problem seems to have disappeared, not a single misfire out of the last 600 rounds.

But, today a new wrinkle since I'm just getting to reload the first batch of Wolf primed brass. I found a case that would not accept a new primer, I thought nothing of it because it was one of my old military cases and thought that the crimp had not been removed completely so I just put the case aside and continued. Then it happened again, only this time I discovered that the decapping pin did not punch out the primer. Instead it had punched the bottom out of the primer leaving the side of the primer cup stuck fast in the pocket. During the batch of 300 that I reloaded today this occured 10 times with cases of different manufacture including S&B, Winchester, Federal, Israeli Military Industries, and military cases WCC 77, 79 & 81, TZZ 92 Match & TZZ 89.

Now the loss of 10 pieces of brass is no big deal, but I'm incredulous that the bottom of these primers would separate that way. Some punched the bottom out clean, others only partially like a partly opened tin can.

So aside from "Don't use Wolf Primers" does anyone have any suggestions or useful comments?

A few months ago I bought 5k Wolf small rifle and 5k Wolf large pistol primers. The small rifle primers have functioned flawlessly reloaded in .223... though they were a pain to seat sometimes. The large pistol, on the other hand, when loaded in 45 ACP, gave me a lot of misfires. They all went off on either the second or third strike, though. I never had the problems with depriming mine.

In the end, I'll buy Wolf small rifle primers again (the heavy firing pin strike on an AR is very forgiving in this regard), but never large pistol.

You might want to see about finding a wider diameter decapping pin. The larger surface area of the pin would spread the pressure over a wider area, which would result in a lower chance of puncturing.... that being said, I don't know where you would find one of these. Maybe you could make one yourself though.

[Brick]

Good thought Max, but the decapping pin didn't just punch through the primer cup. It punched out the whole circle of the bottom of the primer cup. Besides increasing the diameter of the decapping too much would make it to large to fit through the flash hole.

[max384]

Good thought Max, but the decapping pin didn't just punch through the primer cup. It punched out the whole circle of the bottom of the primer cup. Besides increasing the diameter of the decapping too much would make it to large to fit through the flash hole.

Yeah, you couldn't make it much wider, but every little bit would help... but that aside, I misunderstood your problem when reading it the first time, so my proposed solution was to a problem you are not having.

I've definitely not run into these problems with the Wolf primers I got. You're definitely sure any crimp was fully removed? I've only run into these sorts of problems with heavily crimped primers, but never punching out the whole circle of the bottom of the primer cup. Do you clean out the primer pocket before seating new primers? I don't.... but maybe that's what it'll take in your case. Maybe the additional friction of the debris in the pocket is causing the sides to stick and you've found the weak point of the primers. I have found that the Wolf primers were difficult to seat, which I equated to a very tight fit.

[Brick]

The military brass that I'm using was issued to me as practice ammo during the late 70's early 80's it has been reloaded many times, so much so that headstamps are hard to read. Part of the mystery is that 1/2 of the brass this happened to was not military brass.

I'm now using a progressive press so I no longer clean primer pockets but typically the residue from spent primers is around the flash-hole not on the primer pocket side wall.

For now I'm just going to write this off. Unless I start losing 10% or more of my brass with each reloading I won't worry about it.

But we'll just add it to the list of caveats that handloaders tempted to use Wolf primers should be aware of.