Problem with Win. brass

[Bravo 51...Over]

     I started reloading .40 S&W four years ago when my department cut back on the practice ammo they would provide each officer.   A bunch of us pooled our funds and the range officers at the PD range where we shoot let me have all the brass I needed.  At the time, they were using Rem. UMC for their practice ammo but I would find all sorts of headstamps.  I sorted the brass by headstamp and shot a lot of the Win. brass with no problems what so ever.   Last year they switched to Win. white box practice ammo so now I'm getting mostly Win. brass.   What I've found is the primer is harder to punch out with the resizing/decapper die and there is what looks like a crimp ring around the pocket.  I have to check each piece of brass and ream most of the primer pockets so the fresh primer will seat easliy and fully.   Did Win. start crimping their .40 brass or could it be just a tooling abnormality?  Not a major deal but it just slows down the reloading process.  Is anyone else finding this or could this be an isolated problem with a particular lot?

[the jigger]

From time to time I get a 5gal. bucket of brass from a LE range. I have found your problem with Win and Fed. brass.
It appears to have the Military type crimp.
GOOD LUCK and GOOD SHOOTING!!!

[Bravo 51...Over]

     After my OP, I started thinking about it.  This Win. ammo is packed in the same box as what you would find at Wally World "Target/Range".  There is no indication that this was loaded to be sold to LE agencies.  But it would make sense to crimp primers for LE agencies since alot are now using the MP-5 in .40 cal.   It seems that I remember a few years ago some of the military units were considering going to the .40 as a replacement for the 9mm. It would be plausible that this brass would have the primer crimped if Win. was trying to open marketing doors by having real world experiences from LE agencies.  I'll probably set this aside for those boring days off when I can't do anything else.

[LanceR]

I retired 6 years ago and so my info is not current but when I retired some of the Secret Squirrel types were using .40 S&W hand and sub guns.  Both Federal and Winchester load pistol caliber ammo for the DOD.  It is all NATO spec with crimped primers.  In fact, for some years before my retirement the DOD was not producing it's own ball pistol ammo.  I was all coming from the civilian makers and I haven't heard of any change.

They have also loaded very high pressure "submachinegun only" and subsonic stuff for military and police applications, too.

I'd try a primer pocket swaging tool and see how that works.  The RCBS one is inexpensive, uses your existing press and works well.  The Dillon one is a bench mounted tool and is the hands down winner as a high production tool.  Pick your price point....

Hope this helps.

Lance

[anachronism]

The cases were likely overruns from a specialized contract that were left over at the end of production, so they were used up in regular production, rather than being discarded and taking tan unnecessary loss. I've always preferred reaming to swaging myself.

[Bravo 51...Over]

     I've been using a swaging tool to open the pocket.  Like I mentioned, I'll probably size a few hundred at a time then swage the primer pocket and put them in a marked container. Most of the time I'll do a run of 500 rounds or so unless I'm doing a larger amount it won't be a major problem.  Besides I have 1000's of other cases to use anyway.  I have found a few pieces of brass that looks like it was fired from an MP-5 as there are fluted soot tracks as I have seen from brass I know was fired from one.  Thanks for the replies, I just wanted to know if anyone else had run across this brass. 
 
Dave...
 

[Siskiyou]

Most likely you have Winchester white box cases, that ammo is normally hard ball and the cases have crimped primers.  The brass normally has a WCC headstamp.  There are tools, made by Hornady, Lyman and others that are design to remove the crimp.  The tools come in large and small primer size.  I have had my Lyman Large rifle crimp removing tool for over 45 years and the wife still refuses to use it.

The brass is good.