[jasong717]

So I picked up a box of Winchester White Box and it was all headstamped WCC 12 with the NATO cross. I assumed these would all have crimped primer pockets. They don't appear to be crimped to me. I've attached a picture with the WCC NATO on the right and a PMC 9mm on the left. They look identical to me. Does the WCC look crimped to you? Ever seen a non-crimped WCC NATO round?

 

[312shooter]

I recently found new Lake City without primer crimps, so this tells me NATO brass is making it straight to the civilian market lately.

 

[steve4102]

Yes, they both look crimped to me, but with the glare off the flash, maybe not.

 

[howlnmad]

Like steve said, it's hard to tell with the flash glare. Looking at them, there appears to be a dark ring with a light ring inside of it that appears to be a crimp. I may be wrong too but a bent paper clip will tell if it's there or not or just trying to seat a primer.

 

[stev32k]

I just looked at a box of my reloads and found 7 cases with that headstamp. They were primed with no problem and I didn't do anything special. If they were crimped would they have primed like an un-crimped case?

 

[LDBennett]

I use a plug gage (small ground cylinder about 2 inches long in a set where each is 0.001 inches bigger than the next one) on a case known not to be crimped. I then use that plug gage on the case in question and it should easily insert into the primer pocket with no more than sliding friction. If not I use a chamfering tool to remove the crimp. I don't stop with the chamfering tool until the plug gage fits.

Failure to get rid of the crimp totally will result in some primers collapsing while you try to force them into the crimped primer pocket. With the shortages of primers right now and I suspect in the future, due to the hoarding going on from the Obama election and the Connecticut shooting and the impeding gun control measures that are sure to come out of the feds, the last thing you want to do is ruin primers!

As an aside I have found all the tools sold to remove the primer pocket crimps to be less than adequate. When I gage the results all the crimp is not removed and the primers go in hard. I also have the swage tool sold by Dillion. It requires that the thickness of the cartridge heads be constant. I have found that on Mil Surp once fired brass, even with the same head stamp, that not to be the case and all of the crimp is not removed (Dillion instruction warn of this problem!).

LDBennett

 

[JLA]

Just hit them with a quick twist from you inside casemouth chamfer tool. Crimped or not it isnt going to hurt the case and youd know for sure.

By the pics they do not look crimped to me.

 

[LDBennett]

JLA:

Looks can be deceiving. The plug gage doesn't lie. I really hate to screw up primers. They are the key to any ammunition as you can make almost everything else if you have to or at least re-use what you have. Primers not so much.

LDBennett