[Matt Stockwell]

I recently bought a PW 800 plus. It came set up for 12 gauge shells and poduced great looking shells very fast. I switched tooling heads to the 20 gauge and every thing works great except for the primer seating. I am loading winchester primers in remington sts hulls. No matter how far I raise the primer seating post, I am still getting shells with the primer partially seated in the hull. I spoke to the folks at PW and they told me to re-adjust the shell seating post and then try adjusting the primer seating. I tried that a few times without luck. The only thing that I can imagine is happening is that the Winchester primers are not fitting correctly in the STS hulls. Any thoughts would be helpfull.

Thanks,
Matt Stockwell

 

[Taminator]

You nailed it. The Winchester primers will not easily fit in Remington casings. Problem is the shell head flexes because of the added resistance of the wrong primers being forced into those Remington hulls. Re-adjusting the primer assembly will probably screw up the primer seating for your 12 GA shells. Switch to Remington primers!!

 

[whiz white]

I have never, ever had a primer seating problem using Win209, Fed209, and Rem209 primers.

You should NEVER have to adjust a thing using these in STS, NITRO, old AA's, AS LONG AS THESE ARE ONCE-FIRED hulls. Reason is that if they are seconds, thirds, etc, you never know whose primer was in there.

DO THIS: Raise the crosshead and take a sharp pointed tool and try to scrape the top of the Primer Seating Shaft. I'd bet that you have one or more pieces of shot smashed there and it is hard to tell that from the shaft's metal itself.

When I reload (only once-fired hulls), without looking, I grab primers from my left. They could be Win, Fed, or Rem... I don't care which brand they are and I could even have a mix had I spilled some. I, again, never adjust anything.

I had a helluva problem using Nobel Sport primers. I bought a stick (5M), reloaded about 25 hulls, then quit. Every single primer failed to insert fully. I miced them and they were way too big. I sold the primers to a customer, who later brought them back. I tossed out about 4,800 of them and never looked back.

I chronograph my reloads occasionally, and especially when playing with a new recipe. Using different primers in the same load chronographs no differently than factory shell variations.

Whiz

 

[WNCRob]

I agree with Matt. I find that Winchester primers are a bit longer than Rem's and have a more square "shoulder". On once-fired STS's it is difficult to consistently get fully-seated Winchester primers...about 15% are high. In STS hulls that have been shot more than once, no problem. My 800 was set up at the factory for STS's and is about 6 months old. Tried changing the seating depth (1/2 turn) and same results.

WNCRob

 

[JACK]

These are Wins in twice, and 3X reloaded STS hulls. If anything they may be a thousandth or so deeper than the base. I hav enot shot these yet. Friday for that.

 

[Matt Stockwell]

Thanks for the input guys. I checked out the primer seating post and could not find any debris at all. I am going to try some remington primers this afternoon. The strange thing is that I had no problem with the winchester primers in the 12 ga hulls, but can not seat a winchester primer in a sts 20 ga hull regardless of how high I raise the primer seating post. I'll let you know if it works.

Thanks,
Matt Stockwell

 

[whiz white]

Primer height should not be an issue, because, mechanically speaking, the machine seats the primers based upon the base of the primer, not it's height.

Unless Winchester or Remington has changed their new primer dimension, I still am unaware of any seating problems on these machines and I work on them for my customers.

If there is something I need to be aware of, please feel free to contact me.

QUESTION: Since you changed to 20 gauge, can you tell me if the aluminum turret raises as all when to attempt to seat a primer? The could be a rare chance that the two 180º opposing long 2/232" Allen set screws in the turret could have worked loose and has let the turret raise some. I really doubt this, as I'm stabbing in the dark trying to figure out what's happening.

Again, keep me posted.

Whiz White<BR>
P/W Distributor

 

[Matt Stockwell]

Remington primers did the trick. I just loaded up two hundered shells without one primer seating incorrectly. I even lowered the primer seating post considerably and they still seated perfectly. In looking at the win vs rem primers, the remington primer appears to be a little shorter and much more rounded/tapered than the winchester. Not only do the primers seat perfectly, but the physical preasure need to pull the handle is 50% of what it was when I was trying to seat the winchester primers. I have not had an single problem with 12 ga nitro hulls and winchester primers, so I believe that this is an issue specific to the sub gauges. In fact, I talked to a friend today that told me he can not get a winchester primer to fully seat in a 410 sts hull(he is using a Mec reloader). Looks like I will be paying a little more for my primers from now on. Oh well, that the way it goes. Thanks again for everyones help.

Matt Stockwell

 

[jagrdawger]

My 800B and 800+ both will not seat non-rem primers properly into rem hulls on the first reload. PW acknowledged this when I called them a year ago and said to fire them anyway. The W209 primer will finish seating when fired, reform the plastic to the shape of the W209 and they will seat properly from then on when reloaded.

I have seen no signs of gas blow by on W209 or ALCAN 220 Maxi-Fires.

To me this is a Rem gimmick to get people to by their primers. Funny how they are the only ones with a different shape.