Military 5.56

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Igiveup

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What do you guys use to deprime military 5.56? I hsve a lot of the brass to reload but getting the primers out can be problamatic.
 
Just like any other ammunition. The secret is raise the case gently until the decapping pin contacts the primer, them push firmly. Trying to decap crimped primers in a rush breaks the decap pins. Buy extras! Better, dump the surplus brass and buy commercial, there is plenty out there as once-fired for cheap. That way you don't have to ream or swage the primer pockets to get rid of the crimp. You cannot re-prime the mil. brass until the crimp is removed in some way, and that is a real pain to do more than just a few! I'll bet you haven't gotten that far yet!
 
Lee stuff is cheap, for sure. But some people obviously like their stuff. I’m just not one of them.

To properly process mil brass, you're in for some work. After the primer is out then the crimp has to be removed. I always used a case mouth deburring tool.
Don’t use CCI primers for the first loading. CCIs are a bit bigger and are hard to get seated.
If I had lots of mil brass and had to do it again, I’d invest in a Dillon primer pocket swag ing tool.

Before you seat the primers, you need to trim those things, because mil brass is long. I spent $700ish on one of those schmancy trimmers. I can’t remember the name right now. It trims and deburrs all at once. It was very expensive and well worth the money; good stuff always is. If you were local, I’d let you borrow it. I trim brass once.

After all that, when it comes time to develop a load, your velocities will be all over the place.
You do have a chronograph, right?
If you’re just banging around with an AR, who cares. But the guys who are winning matches are using commercial brass.

I shoot a lot of mil 223 brass because I'm cheap, and semi automatics tend to toss brass, and you don’t find all of it. After the smoke clears, if you factor in the work it takes to make it usable, mil brass really isn’t a bargain.
9 mil and 45 brass, definitely worth it.
 
Vendor 1, thanks for the reply. I do swage primer pockets, don't use CCI primers and trim cases etc. I can't get by the removing the primer. I also have an RCBS depriming tool and get broken pins with that also. I get the brass free for the picking. I haven't got my Social Security reloading allotment yet, so trying to be frugal.
 
I've always been a tightwad, but .223/5.56 commercial ammunition is pretty cheap right now, and I wonder if a cost/benefit analysis would support reloading that caliber? Powder is expensive as are primers and bullets, so even with scrounged brass does it pencil out? I don't reload any more (lost my 550 Dillon and stuff in our fire), and my .223 is a bolt gun, so maybe I'm just fading away anyway....
 
I deprime thousands and thousands of crimped in 5.56 cases using the simple Lee Universal Decapping Die #90292 before wet tumbling. I also keep a supply of the aftermarket HD replacement decapping pins on hand. I'm not really a Lee tool fan but this one is inexpensive and works well for the purpose. So far I've only actually bent 1 decapping pin, when the die worked loose in the press and I didn't notice and the die got out of alignment, MY FAULT.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002SF2ZXU

Decapping Pins: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYVRN7DG
 
This is /the tool/ for the crimped in primers. Can knock them out by the thousands with complete ease, watching TV or whatever. Military crimped, sealed, corroded in, doesn't matter at all. Made right here in Oregon; I met the owner & he has a sincere interest in making a quality product. No adjustments ever needed, and lets me maintain the dies I currently have in position on the press.

https://harveydeprimer.com/

Edit: Reading the reviews, it looks like one person was actually able to break the decapping pin - after approx. 100,000 cases, lol.
 
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Kestrel said:
This is /the tool/ for the crimped in primers. Can knock them out by the thousands with complete ease, watching TV or whatever. Military crimped, sealed, corroded in, doesn't matter at all.

https://harveydeprimer.com/
Click to expand...
1784844083491.webp
Not with carpal tunnel and neuropathy.
Might do 2 or 3.🥴
 
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I recently acquired a bunch of FC brass. The primers are sealed with a blue substance, there's a year stamp behind the FC and the primers are not only crimped, they're CRIMPED with extreme prejudice. A chamfer/radius on the primer pocket is necessary.
 
WR Moore said:
I recently acquired a bunch of FC brass. The primers are sealed with a blue substance, there's a year stamp behind the FC and the primers are not only crimped, they're CRIMPED with extreme prejudice. A chamfer/radius on the primer pocket is necessary.
Click to expand...
My FC 308 has no crimp and is some of the easiest brass to work with. Almost to easy.
 
Good info here, thank you. Being an Oregonian, I am leaning to buying the hand held tool made in Oregon. I have the Lee tool, broke pins and the same with the RCBS die. $5 cheaper thru Missouth Shooter Supply for Lee die, just got one and broke the pin
on fourth round. I just ordered a Harvey tool. I like the idea of depriming in the house while watching the news. Thank you all for your input.
 
WR Moore said:
I recently acquired a bunch of FC brass. The primers are sealed with a blue substance, there's a year stamp behind the FC and the primers are not only crimped, they're CRIMPED with extreme prejudice. A chamfer/radius on the primer pocket is necessary.
Click to expand...
Federal was the most recent commercial firm running the military 5.56 production IIRC. With a year stamp on the case head they may be overruns or they simply adjusted their procedures to make all their 5.56 ammo to military specs.
 
Igiveup said:
What do you guys use to deprime military 5.56? I hsve a lot of the brass to reload but getting the primers out can be problamatic.
Click to expand...
Some 5.56 brass has super small flash holes. Hornady sells a stepped replacement pin that will do the job without breaking. Works with all brass. The Dillon Super swage is the quickest and best pocket swager.
 
Igiveup said:
Good info here, thank you. Being an Oregonian, I am leaning to buying the hand held tool made in Oregon. I have the Lee tool, broke pins and the same with the RCBS die. $5 cheaper thru Missouth Shooter Supply for Lee die, just got one and broke the pin
on fourth round. I just ordered a Harvey tool. I like the idea of depriming in the house while watching the news. Thank you all for your input.
Click to expand...
Happy to hear you're going to try out the Harvey; please let us know how it works out for you.
I love mine; certainly one of the most useful reloading tools I have.
 
I run both RCBS and LEE dies in this cartridge .... RCBS seems to handle this task well as long at the pin stays tight. LEE is a little better by design, though I have destroyed its original pin.
After market improved pins are available
 
I, too, have the Dillon 600 swager. I just got a couple "223" replacement Lee pins but haven't installed one yet. The old pin is in the die so tight I am going to have to get the help of my neighbor to remove it.
 
OK, the Dillon Super Swage is indeed fast and produces nicely swaged pockets. BUT, it can leave a sharp corner at the top of said pocket. OTOH, the older, slower RCBS swage set produces a nice radius on the primer hole. I figure the time needed to use the RCBS unit is about the same as using the DSS and then chamfering the pockets. It'd also help if the end of the small primer swager had a wider foot print where it backs up the case head.

For decades it's been apparent that whoever is operating the Radford ammo plant apparently believes that SAAMI is a pole dancer at a local club rather than a production standard. Especially with respect to 5.56 primer pockets. The routine was swage, chamfer then run a uniforming tool in to get the specs correct.
 
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Mike LaNier said:
I've always been a tightwad, but .223/5.56 commercial ammunition is pretty cheap right now, and I wonder if a cost/benefit analysis would support reloading that caliber? Powder is expensive as are primers and bullets, so even with scrounged brass does it pencil out? I don't reload any more (lost my 550 Dillon and stuff in our fire), and my .223 is a bolt gun, so maybe I'm just fading away anyway....
Click to expand...
I'm loading 55g FMJ with Hodgdon, CFE223 and Winchester small rifle primers for about 38 cents a round. I don't think you can buy factory for that price plus my rounds are tailored for my guns. Of course I'm not factoring in my time because it's entertainment for me. The other thing is I don't really buy based on sales, other than maybe free shipping. I'd bet if you really wanted to pinch pennies and shopped around for components, you could beat that 38 cent price.
 
The cases I have used were military bought from Cheyenne Brass 30 years ago. The primers came out easy but CCI primers always sat high when placed. Never had to trim cases as they always failed with a split neck first. On both 5.56 and 30-06 I always would dip the necks in graphite to ease the bulge coming out when the die was opened. This worked well on the '06 but the 5.56 still split after maybe 3 reloads.
 
for brass with known crimped primers, I just set up the Dillon with the proper shellplate, and use a universal decapping die from Lee. Sure, some dont like them, but they are cheap, and if you break the damn thing, its easy to replace. All I want at that point is to get the primer out for further processing, and the Lee does that just as well as any other IMHO. After the primer is out, get a swager of your favorite flavor and take the rest of the crimp out... I wouldnt reccommend a Hornday reamer... I had issues with the reamer oversizing the pockets and getting poor life out of the cases afterwards.... swaging should prevent that and is what I will be doing in the future.
 
Well, I ordered the deprimer on the 27th and got it yesterday. Broke the pin on number 61. I got extra pins so replaced with correct pin and did ok. I found on a few it was hard to get the pin in the primer hole, but after that the squeeze was easy, and I have Arthur in my hands. I did 100 assorted military brass without any further problems. I was slow fitting the brass into tool, RCBS on the bench is faster.
.
 
I have loaded MANY cases with crimped primers. I never had any problems using RCBS or Lee resizing dies. The primers come out without drama and then I chew out the pockets with a countersink in the drill. It doesn't take much to remove the crimp and you get the feel for it real quick. But what I really hate is trimming the cases with the cheap Lee trimmer setup. That is what takes the most time.
 
While I have decapped military 5.56, I don't load a lot of 5.56/.223 so I have bought processed 5.56 and .300 blackout (converted from 5.56) over the years pretty cheap - I have enough to meet my needs.

Riposte
 
I used to tumble brass before sizing using walnut shells. You would get a small "Nugget" caught in the flash hole. that would sometimes roll the decapping pin to the side and usually break it off! (When they just bent, it was a real pain the remove the case!)

I went with Wet Stainless Steel Pin tumbling, and the snapped decapping pins became a thing of the past. The wet process also cleans the inside of the case and the primer pocket.

For removing the crimps, I have a RCBS "Primer Pocket Swagger" that work on the upstroke of the press handle. I did 20,000 5.56 cases in 1984 and used this method. Same advantage as a bench mount without the expense and use of space.

On that 1984 batch, I bought once fired cases for 2 cents, WW748 was about $6 a pound by the 12- or 15-pound keg, CCI Mag primers were $6.99/m by the 5M, and Winchester had dumped 50 million 55 gr FMJ/WC on the market at $8.99/M retail! I loaded 20,000 for about 8 cents. Loaded on a Dillon 450, great ammo, I still have a few thousand left.

Ivan
 
Yendor 1 said:
"I spent $700ish on one of those schmancy trimmers. I can’t remember the name right now. It trims and deburrs all at once. It was very expensive and well worth the money; good stuff always is. If you were local, I’d let you borrow it. I trim brass once."
Click to expand...
Kudos C-Soldier on the "loan out" comment, always nice to be among friends whose generosity is large. For years Ive freely loaned out my M1- carbine tool set (everything you could ever need) dozens of times and have never once had to "chase" them down or have things "disappear "... Maybe its the comraderie of like minded folks that makes honesty a priority, maybe its just people being people ?.
 
Igiveup said:
What do you guys use to deprime military 5.56? I hsve a lot of the brass to reload but getting the primers out can be problamatic.
Click to expand...
If you are breaking pins you need the stepped pin from Hornady as many cases now have very small flash holes. The Dillon super swage makes short work removing the crimps.
 
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