Federal 38 Special Brass Primer Problem

[Allaces]

I have a Star Progressive and I'm loading .38 wadcutters for my S&W M52.  I purchased some once fired brass that includes a batch of Federal brass. I'm having trouble with some of the spent primers punching through and not fully removing from the brass.  Looks like the center gets punched out leaving a ring in the primer pocket.  This doesn't happen with every piece of Federal brass, just one in about every 50 or so.

Anyone have a similar problem?  Other than discarding all of the Federal brass, is there anyway to tell which brass might have this problem when removing the primers?

The problem looks similar to some TZZ .45 ball brass I was given by the US Marine Corps Pistol Team.

[Rolling Stone]

I know you think its the Federal brass but it is something that has happened to this particular brass like the TZZ brass you also have. I have had this happen to PMC 45 Colt and some military 30-06. I'll bet this isn't what you want to hear but I have started running my brass through a universal depriming die on a single stage press. This extra step also lets me cull berdan primers and I can look at my 45acp to determine if there are any small primer brass in the mix. It also gives you the opportunity to clean the primer pocket. I guess this is one of the drawbacks to a progressive reloader. Don't you love getting to empty the shell plate of brass. Having uniform brass to to process surely makes it easier.

[FOR_Star]

Reloading once-fired brass with sealed primers will get you "ringers" every now and then.  The fact that you are getting them with regularity is a bit unusual.  It could possibly be a combination of factors that allowed the sealant to migrate completely around the circumference of the primer down to the bottom of the pocket.  This effectively glues the primer in place.  When you attempt to de-prime, the force of the de-priming pin is great enough to push the anvil through the top of the primer while the sides remained glued in place.

I've had a few ringers, but never enough to try to figure out a fix.  My experience was more like:  clear the jam, disfigure the case and throw it away, continue reloading.

[fc60]

Greetings,

Used to have the same problem using CCI primers.

Look at the end of the decapping pin and see if it is too pointed. Try putting a blunter radius on the end with a stone.

The existing pin "may" be piercing the primer like an arrow. Federal primers seem to have softer/thinner metal.

Cheers,

Dave

[Allaces]

Dudes, thanks for the quick replies.  I've examined the offending Federal brass and it all is part of a lot of once fired brass I purchased about a year ago.  The seller had polished and sorted the brass by head stamp and this was the final lot to get reloaded, about 200 pieces of Federal brass, about half of which the seller had removed the primers.  I a 30X magnifier and carefully checked a couple pieces that punched through.  It appears there is some corrosion around the primer pocket so I'm thinking this is the cause.  In any case, I've discarded the offending brass and earlier today I ran 500 rounds through my Star with no malfunctions.