Repriming Federal American Eagle Cases

[dovehunter]

Anyone else experienced any problems trying to reprime Federal American Eagle brand cases? My son bought 2 boxes of 100 .223 cartridges to test out the AR he just built. We thought they would be cheap to shoot and would serve as a good source of brass. Well, they shot great and full-length resized okay too. However, when I went to reprime them the new CCI primers I always use did not seem to want to seat properly and I initially crushed a few primers. These cases did not have crimped in primers. I found that if I rotated the cases slightly in the shell holder (I use the LEE AUTOPRIME II) that they would usually seat okay. Other, more stuborn cases I used a Phillips screwdriver to create more of a chamfer. I don't recall ever experiencing this problem before either with other Federal cases or with my AUTOPRIME II.

[jmarriott]

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If and when you start getting into the Lake city and other military or quasi military ammo you need a good case prep tool. The lake city stuff I got for near nothing at a garage sale was giving me fits on priming. It seems there is a little ridge in the primer hole and using the case prep tool at my reloading buddies they all loaded up fine and dandy. I soon got one for myself but I paid less than 100 for mine. All of that lake city stuff was 5.56 and the federal 5.56 M855 ball ammo has the same issues I think you are expreancing with the fed american eagle.

[Bill]

My understanding is that the Federal American Eagle was a crimped in primer. Hard to really see it as the crimp is small. What I did was buy a set of primer pocket swedge's from RCBS for large and small primers and run them through and they worked perfectly without any problem. Don't remember what it cost for the set, Somewhere around $27 maybe. Worth every dime it cost me as I have saved a bunch of money as the guys that shoot the military brass usually give it to me and I swedge it and give them back half for doing it. Right now I probably have enough brass to last the rest of my life. I soon will have the Hornaday lock and load progressive press up and running and then I can keep a heck of a lot of it loaded. Once it has been resized and fired again the stuff shoots like a dream.

[dovehunter]

The American Eagle stuff was not actually crimped. The spent primers came out with no more effort than usual. I did notice, however, that the outside edge of the primer pockets appeared to have the "edge" jmarriott described as opposed to the usual (what I would call a) bevel. I also have a Lyman hand reamer for removing the military style crimps. However, when I tried it on these cases there was no resistance at all. I finally found, on the most stubborn cases, that I could use my RCBS deburring tool (carefully applied) and that seemed to take care of the problem.

I also had some .223 Federal Premium cases that I processed at the same time and had no problems with them whatsoever. I guess that goes to show you that sometimes saving money up front can cause you headaches later on.

[Jack]

The only time I've had trouble priming a case was when it was a crimped primer. I can't say for sure that's what you're running into, Dovehunter, but it sounds like it.
You can use a deburring tool if you only have a few, but, the RCBS swaging set does a good job, more precisely, and faster. If you're doing more than a few cases, I'd recommend the RCBS rig.

[jmarriott]

Normally the little ridge is for semi auto designed ammo like the american eagle, sellier and bellot, and fioochi ect. It will still say boxer primed brass but it might be what one would call semi crimped primers. The lake city and federal m855 stuff has a much more pronounced bevel and I believe it is required to US contract so it can go Full Auto.

My reloading mentor picked me up a great magnification light that attaches to the desk. make inspection of those primer pockets easier and case necks also. I did turn 47 so my eyes started to go bad quick. Can't use the computer or put in my card pin at the gas station without my glasses now. The case prep center also helped me get that tumbler media out of the cases. I use to use them tarnished and they still shot well now they shine like a rich mans shoes. I just have to check them out for media in the cases on that range brass when it come out of the timbler tumbler.

[dovehunter]

Jun 27, 2012 17:23:45 GMT -5 jmarriott said:

Normally the little ridge is for semi auto designed ammo like the american eagle, sellier and bellot, and fioochi ect. It will still say boxer primed brass but it might be what one would call semi crimped primers. The lake city and federal m855 stuff has a much more pronounced bevel and I believe it is required to US contract so it can go Full Auto.

I think you are right about this. I noticed the empty ammo cartons were labled "AR223". At any rate this morning I reprimed 120 .223 cases: 20 were conventional FEDERAL PREMIUM cases and the remainder were those AMERICAN EAGLE cases. As I anticipated, the PREMIUM cases all remprimed without a hitch. I did experience the same problem with these AE cases that I did with the first batch. However I noticed if I was very careful and slightly rotated a stuborn case in the shell holder that they would reprime okay. The extra stubborn cases I used my RCBS deburring tool to ream more of a chamfer at the mouth of the primer pocket and they too reprimed okay.

[jmarriott]

I got a ton of the federal 5.56 m855 at the ingo NFA dAY as range pickups. Since I was in the rain and cleaning up the range I got a 5 gallon bucket full. Bad thing is my only 223/5.56 is a rem contender with match chamber and the pressure will spike quick if I was to use any of them. I don't think they would hurt dads abolt on reloads but I think I might just turn the cases into ammo and loan it to a AR shooting friend for components I can use.

A couple of pics of NFA days. The ar full autos and the dealer class III maker full auto glock 17.

My favorite on the above table was the full auto SBR silenced UZI. I did not shoot the glock myself. We had 100 round drums with the m855 and the gas system loked like a welding rod it was so hot.


The one that most surprised me in the way it shot and the speed and controlableaty at full spray was the ppsh-41. It or the UZI were about a tie for me as my favorites, The uzi cause it was fast and quite. The ppsh-41 for pure speed. I had all shots off before the first piece of brass hit the ground. Pic below