What do you need to remove military crimped primers

[Michael Wilson]

I'm new to reloading. Looking at reloading 223. I seem to be able to find a lot of military brass. What is a good set up to remove the military primers and crimp. I am told my old lee press and dies will not push out the military primer. Thanks

 

[randmplumbingllc]

I'm new to reloading. Looking at reloading 223. I seem to be able to find a lot of military brass. What is a good set up to remove the military primers and crimp. I am told my old lee press and dies will not push out the military primer. Thanks

They will push out the primers, but not the crimp. Dillon has a pretty good unit. It is the Super Swag 600. It goes for about $97.00 It works pretty well. It has a small and large primer rod for both kind of cases.

 

[PopsXD9sc]

Like randmplumbingllc said the Lee will deprime. To get started de-crimping I bought a hand held reaming tool. I took the bit out of the wooden handle and chucked it up to the drill. It's pretty much in and out with little pressure and doesn't remove but a tiny sliver of brass. So far using this method I have not had a primer pocket that was too large. I have 1000 LC brass so guess the next step is the Dillon Super Swage 600.

 

[dtalley]

What Pops said, reamer in a cordless drill. I have reamed several thousand sitting in front of the t.v. with a cold beer. Kind of relaxing for me.

 

[Texasjack]

Actually, you're better off with a swage than with reaming. I've got an old swage set from RCBS. I must admit that reaming is faster.

 

[Dawico]

Go with the Dillon swager if you can afford it right now. The reamers will wear out and you won't know it until you are priming. The Dillon will last forever.

 

[rl69]

i bought the rcbs pocket swagger off of ebay for around 20 bucks works great

 

[Ranger60]

I have had good lock using a chamfer tool mounted in a holder I got from Midway in a drill press at low speed, just a touch and it is gone.

 

[medalguy]

You need to be very careful with a reamer that you don't remove too much brass. The swager simply pushes the crimp out of the way and rounds off the edge of the primer pocket so you never have to worry about loose primers. The Dillon is very fast and accurate once set up, and if you only do one caliber you never have to reset it. I have also used the RCBS swager and it takes a lot more effort to swage the pockets and sometimes it's difficult to remove the case. I much prefer the Dillon.

 

[tommyh]

i bought the RCBS decrimping tool for about 20 as well. has both small and large decrimpers and works on a single stage press.

 

[txstringbender]

RCBS...Inexpensive and works great. Reloaded probably over 1000 rds. with mine so far. All military brass with crimped primers.

Here ya go...RCBS AmmoMaster Single Stage Press Primer Pocket Swager Combo - MidwayUSA

 

[pretzel]

the RCBS swagger is the best way I have found.

 

[Don]

Actually, you're better off with a swage than with reaming. I've got an old swage set from RCBS. I must admit that reaming is faster.

I find that swaging is better, but it is slower with the RCBS PP Swaging tool.
Wish I could figure out how to install it upside down in a press so I could just drop the brass in..!!!
Or just buy the Dillon 600.....The price is not bad if you are going to do 1000's @ a time..!!

Don

 

[jeepinbanditrider]

Go to lowes and pick up an 84 degree counter sink bit for 5ish dollars. Chuck it up in a drill or drill press (press makes the process 5 times faster) and just TOUCH the crimp to the bit. Dont' hold it on there it only needs one or two turns and she's good to go.

 

[medalguy]

Dillon swager:

Dillon Super Swage 600 Operation 1 of 2 - YouTube

Remember he's doing it as slow as possible to demonstrate how the tool works. In practice you can swage over 1,500 an hour with ease, no sore fingers.

 

[hink]

I've used the RCBS primer swage tool for many thousands of cases with no issues. It costs more than the reamer, but does a better job than the reamer. It costs less than the Dillon tool, but does the same job.

A point of note -- if you do decide to go with the RCBS swage tool, run the ram all the way into the die, then adjust the die up and down until your pockets swage 'just right'. You want as much of the thread showing above the die as you can, or you'll end up bending the ram. The swage is 'just right' when you can only barely see the chamfer of the swage die (the shellholder looking piece) under the case head. There is a cup with a hole included in the kit; that's a case stripper. After you choose your primer size (large or small) and lock the corresponding piece into the press ram, drop the case stripper over the ram. Once you swage out the primer pocket, you'll have a case that's stuck on the swage, and the case stripper gives you something to press against to get the brass to pop off.

Another point -- the basic swage kit will work with nearly any single stage press except the big Ammomaster series, due to the Ammomaster having a larger ram. RCBS has a case stripper that will work with the Ammomaster series press. RCBS sells a kit specifically for the big ram presses, but if you have the kit for the smaller ram and call up RCBS, they may just send you the correct case stripper to work with the big press. They're good like that.

 

[Charley]

This one comes up again and again. The fact is, it doesn't matter much which method you use, whether swaging the crimp away, or cutting it. I was challanged about this on another website, told the standard stories...it will weaken the brass, brass life won't be as long, etc, etc.

I took a sample of 10 LC 66 .30/06 brass, swaged 5, and trimmed away the crimp on 5. Weight difference between the two groups was .1 grains... not significant enough, IMO and IME, to worry about. I've also loaded and fired a whole bunch of trimmer vs swaged brass, and there is NO difference between the two groups as regarding case life or accuracy. If swaging makes you feel better, by all means do it. If loading yourself and your brass on an airplane and flying to the Vatican and having your brass blessed makes you feel better, by all means, do that as well. The result will likely be the same.
Handloaders trimmed away crimps for years and years, with no problems at all.
IMO, swagers and the related stories about how much better the process is than trimming are saleman's BS stories.

 

[hink]

I use the swager because that's what I've got. To each his own...either remove the crimp or move it out of the way before you try to press in new primers.

 

[Deavis]

+1 on the Dillon 600. The price seems steep but it is extremely fast once you get the hang of it and will outlast you. Clamp it to your bench, bucket of brass on your right, empty bucket on your left. You can knock out a thousand in no time feeding right to left, in hand, on rod, down, swage, up, pull left, feed right.

 

[shootmre steel]

RCBS swager, a cheap little champion single stage press, and a pair of 10 year olds. Better than a trained monkey. They chatter and punch primers all afternoon. work for food and the chance to shoot.