I used my Lyman pocket reamer by hand and did not remove much material, also had issues with a half a dozen primers not fitting in the pocket. Yesterday I stuck the reamer in a drill and was shocked at how much material it removed, is a reamer designed to run all the way in and the resulting bevele in the pocket is ok? Seems like it removed quite a bit of material.

Attached Images

Reamed Primer Pocket.jpg (32.8 KB, 155 views)

I've tried several tools and methods. If I'm going to do it, this is the best tool I've used for the job.

RCBS Bench Mounted Primer Pocket Swager

__________________
GOA
USA Shooting Supporter

I don't have experience with 5.56 brass but discovered Federal .223 brass has staked primers that require preparation before inserting new primers.

An RCBS swager did the majority of the primer pocket prep without cutting away excessive material . . . but I also found it helpful to use a reamer to finish the job.

Russ

I use a RCBS press mounted swager. It's tedious, but cheap, and you're only doing it once anyway.

I'd throw the Lyman reamer in the trash. You no longer have a primer pocket. What you now have is a brass funnel. I can't imagine that anything good will happen if you continue using it. I'd be concerned that the primers would rivet and blow out damaging the bolt face.

I use a 1/2" 45 degree countersink bit. Just mount it in a drill and kiss the primer pocket to remove the crimp.

I have used a Lyman reamer forever........You statement is unfounded and untrue.

__________________
S&W Accumulator

I use a Dillon Super Swager (bench mount) for military brass. In fact, most commercial brass crimp the primers in place, just to less extremes.

A swager is fast, and doesn't remove material. If the pocket doesn't need swaging, or has already been swaged, the tool operates without resistance and does no harm. Each time you use a reamer, some material is removed whether it needs it or not.

Military brass usually needs trimming too. Once that's done, you can reload several times before it's out of spec again.

The Dillon Swager has been one of the most efficient tools ever for the job. Best money I ever spent!
I've done thousands upon thousands of crimped casings in both small and large primer.
Randy

Most of the shall primer pocket reamers are intended for uniforming the pockets, not crimp or stake removal. People did that because it was a tool they had and it works... sometimes.

I have the RCBS pocket swaging tool because Dillon hadn't invented theirs yet when I needed one in the late 70's.

Ivan

For me the least effective method is the RCBS die type press mounted system. A total waste of effort.

Many years back I'd quit fooling with anything with crimped pockets. If not for bench tools like the RCBS and Dillon products, I still wouldn't fool with it.

__________________
GOA
USA Shooting Supporter

Yes, but do you stop when the crimp is removed or do you continue to cut away half the head on a 5.56 case like the OP apparently has done?

I also agree, never had an issue with the Lyman. I just knock off the crimp and the primers fit like a glove. I could see where if you had it on a drill and pressed too hard you WILL get a loose primer pocket. FWIW I use it on my drill on HIGH speed and never had an issue yet. just needs a touch.

I've used the RCBS Military Crimp Remover and it works well. Yes, it is a reamer but the way it's made I don't see how anyone could screw it up no matter how stupid they are. Fact is it will only go so deep no matter how hard you try to jam it in there. So far mine has removed the crimp from over 2k 5.56 cases without a single issue and it's quick too. I use it on my cordless drill.

Apparently MC has never used one.....Finese(sp?) is required with all tools.

__________________
S&W Accumulator

I use the Lyman by hand mostly. I have used it with a drill when I did a big run of cases. True that the drill method will remove more material. I just take it easy. No problem. Never had any problems with primers being too loose.

To me it looks like you took off way too much material when you used the drill. I would not do it that way.

__________________
Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

I've been using the Lyman hand tool to remove the military crimp for decades....I just finished doing 500 military 7.62 and in the past hundreds of 30-06. There is no way the primer crimp removing tool did that.
What it looks like is you chucked a case deburring tool in the drill and used the inside neck deburring part to ream out the pocket. Wrong tool , too much brass has been removed...don't shoot those.
You can use that tool to remove just the crimped/diplaced metal from around the pocket edge , not nearly as much as in photo , and then finish up with a primer pocket reamer and then a primer pocket uniformer. Safest way is by hand....the power drill just went way too far .
Make the pockets look like a factory case pocket....no factory case will look like that , compare them .
Gary

I reamed 3000 9mm military brass recently. I tried using the Lyman pocket reamer but still had trouble seating primers. So, I got out the Dillon swager which worked well on about 90% of the brass. I used the Lyman reamer on the brass that still needed work. After all that a few pieces I just recycled.

The pic the OP posted indicates he used the wrong tool and destroyed the brass.

__________________
Bob.
SWCA 1821

I have to use the sharp small blade of my pocket knife to remove most of the crimp, next a CH4D pocket reamer and finish with a Lyman pocket uniformer. I never could get 100% satisfaction with my old RCBS pocket swage die that installed in my press. The pen knife , reamer and uniformer will do the job.

Gary

The RCBS until works very well. The adjustment must be exact or results will probably be less than satisfactory. It does take a few minutes to do things properly, but this only needs to be done once.

I'm with the RCBS swager crowd. Been using my press-mounted unit for decades, rifle and pistol, large and small, with completely satisfactory results. Had a Lyman reamer first, removed too much brass, IMHO. Bought the RCBS unit, never looked back.

Larry

This is the tool I used. Chucked up the reamer bit. I've done more since but was much more carful not to go that deep. I only did a half dozen or so that deeply.

Would have thought that the reamers would have been designed to bottom at the correct depth and bevel?? Guess not. Thanks for all the suggestions.

Are you saying you used the large tools at each end of the holder? Those are for chamfering the mouth of a brass case inside and outside. The correct tool for decrimping is the black small ones. No wonder.

__________________
Bob.
SWCA 1821

I did use the small black reaming tool for small primers, not one of the de-burring or chamfer bits.

I just give em a twist with my chamfering tool.

I use a Hornady primer pocket reamer. Put it in, give it a couple of twists and the beveled part of the cutting head removes just enough of the crimp to let a new primer be inserted.

It also works pretty well on staked primers.

I agree 100 percent...

I have the hand twisty reamers. I haven't used them since my friend bought the Dillon stand alone pocket swager. If I was doing any quantities and my buddy didn't own one I would buy one for myself. Reamers are a PITA.

Hornady is the one for removing military crimps, I just did 1000 Lake City brass cases, and every one seated a primer with ease.

Ivan the Butcher wrote:
RCBS and Hornady both sell primer pocket reamers that will remove the crimp from a primer pocket. They both also sell primer pocket uniformers that are meant - as their name implies - to make the primer pocket of uniform dimension.

The two types of devices should not be confused.

The primer pocket reamers sold by both RCBS and Hornady (and possibly others, but I have no experience with them) will effectively and safely remove the crimp from military brass.

Moe Mentum wrote:
I just did 194 mixed headstamp cases with the Hornady one and 193 seated a primer; one did not.

No system is foolproof.

i used a 1050 to deprime, swage, trim 5.56 cases

Good advice, I use one as well. Works better than any crimp remover I have tried, and I have tried many.