Swaging primer pockets.....

[centershot]

I have two 1 gallon jugs full of military .223 cases that have been languishing under my bench for......well, a long time. As it is winter, and cold, and lake-effect snow blowing in (again!), I thought that it would be a good time to prep this brass. Especially since I have run out of brass to prep in all of the calibers that I actually have rifles for (no, I don't own a 223, yet)! No, I am not experiencing a shortage of brass, I'm well stocked, just that everything else is all prepped and/or loaded!

So, I sized and deprimed them and then set up my RCBS primer pocket swaging tool and went to town. I had my priming tool loaded and standing by so hat I could try the cases as I went along to insure I had swaged the crimps out enough to allow seating a fresh primer. I couldn't get the new primers in without some effort, much more than I would need for commecial cases, even though I had the swaging die screwed down so far at one point that I couldn't complete the stroke! I backed off the die, after some experimentation, and ran about 400 cases through, then primed them while watching the Ravens trample the 49'ers (Go Ravens!).

I went back this morning to finish the job but curiosity drove me to try something different. I used my RCBS deburring tool and with 5 twists had removed the crimp and could seat a new primer with "normal" effort. Hmmmm....... the swaging tool was not completely removing the crimp! Anyone else ever experience this?

[sore shoulder]

Try the Dillon swager, way better than the RCBS.

[Griff]

No, but only because I don't own a swaging tool... but I suspected the same. I've just been using the deburring tool, and primers pop in as easily as if there'd never been a crimp. But, you do have a nice chamfer on the primer pocket.

[JB]

I use an old reamer that I've had for probably 30 years. I "thought" it was RCBS, but it does a good job on military cases.

[damienph]

I have one of those RCBS swagers; works well. It is waayyy too tedious. I use my deburring tool as well.

[Rusty]

I just use a pocket knife and run it around the inside of the pocket.

[Sixgun]

In my experience the RCBS primer pocket swager works much better with the large primer pockets. Like you, I had the same issue with small pockets in the .223. As I have 5 thousand or so commercial cases, I just put the military cases to the side and by the way, not all .223 military cases are crimped.

Forster makes a cutting tool that fits in their case trimmer that really works great. I will swage them first, then cut out the crimp with the Forster cutter. Its still lots of aggravation and even then, I still get some that are hard for the primers to go in and the new primer is left with marks on it. -------------------Sixgun

[Hobie]

I have "deburred" and swaged about 2000 cases (or more) with each method. Swaging is far more preferable. That's my view. No, you're not going to get a perfect case first try every time with either method. I also prefer that there not be a chamfer on the primer pocket so that the primer is fully supported. Not that I've had problems with those "deburred" primer pockets just that I LIKE the swaged primer pockets better.

[ollogger]

I use a cordles drill & a bit just a hair bigger than the pocket, then a light touch on the trigger
and presto the crimp is gone


ollogger

[Shasta]

Just last week I was attempting to deal with some military .223 brass for my nephew. My RCBS Primer Pocket Swager worked for most cases, but not all. Some did not want to accept a new primer, so I used a drill-mounted de-burring tool to slightly chamfer the pockets. A very few cases still refused to accept a new primer easily, acting as if the primer pocket itself was too small. Maybe I didn't get them swaged enough or chamfered enough, but I had wasted enough effort on them, and so these went into the scrap brass bucket.

SHASTA

[shooter]

I use a small primer pocket reamer made by Lyman. I don't have the swaging tool, so I can't speak as to how that works, but the reamer works fine for me.

[sore shoulder]

Sigh...one more time. NOTHING works better or faster for removing the crimp from 5.56, especially in large volume.

[olyinaz]

Sigh...one more time. NOTHING works better or faster for removing the crimp from 5.56, especially in large volume.

Well why didn't you say so?

Oly

[guido4198]

To actually answer your question: Yes, I have experienced the same thing. I also did some with the de-burring tool, but was concerned about the potential to remove too much metal so I stopped. The RCBS tool is a bit tedious...but I've used it for over 35 yrs.. and don't see a reason to scrap it.

[OldWin]

I too use the Dillon swager and it works great. That said I have only used it on large primer pockets, mostly 45ACP. I don't own a 223 anymore but when i did i used the drill bit method with pretty good results.

[mikld]

No, but only because I don't own a swaging tool... but I suspected the same. I've just been using the deburring tool, and primers pop in as easily as if there'd never been a crimp. But, you do have a nice chamfer on the primer pocket.

Me too! I can't offer an opinion on primer pocket swagers as I've never used one. But I have successfully and easily (and cheaply too ) by just using a sixty degree counter sink. It works so well I've never even considered any $$ dedicated "primer pocket reforming/reaming/swaging" tool...

[sore shoulder]

When the primers start backing out from true 5.56 pressure loads, you will understand why chamfering is bad, and why they had a crimp in the first place.