I'll Sargent Schultz this one...

"I know nah-thing!... nah-thing!!!"

I am aware of three choices:

RCBS Press Die $30?

RCBS Bench Mounted $80?

Dillon Super Swage 600 $100?

Pros and cons please as well as other options?

Thanks!

How much brass are we talking here? Just a few rounds, I'd get the cheapest tool I could find. Thousands of rounds, I don't know. If you don't already have your brass, T J Convera sells prepped once fired brass that has had this step done for you.

Dillon cause it's BLUE!

I have the RCBS which I used a few times. I dislike swagging crimps so I bought a bunch of de crimped LC brass. I have other things to do,like take a nap.

As mentioned it depends on how much how often??

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Still Running Against the Wind

i use an rcbs press set. works real well if your not in a hurry. you only have to swage them once. hth.

Few and far between. 7.62x54R for starters.

And the occasional 9 mm.

From what I read in another thread, may be needing it in .45 too.

As tempting as the Dillon sounds, the $30 RCBS die and a $70 RCBS Partner press prices out the same and seems to be a more versatile setup.

It sounds like the die works as advertised. Thanks for the advice folks.

I have the RCBS die version, and yes it works well, For the price it is a good deal if you do not have a lot of them to do.

You can actually just use one those reamer tools to ream out the crimp if you do not have a lot to process. A little more grunt work but it also works just fine

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Still Running Against the Wind

It's almost impossible to keep a round hole with a reamer. If you do get one, make sure it has an odd number of teeth (e.g., 5). It's also slow and tiresome to do it by hand.

I compared the RCBS and Dillon swaging tool, and desided the extra cost of the Dillon was worth while. It's easier to hold down (if you don't clamp it) with the vertical stroke. The holder is very fast to set up and operate. It takes about 15 minutes to do 100 pieces of brass, once you develop a swing.

It takes so little force, if the brass doesn't seat all the way, you can punch a new primer pocket before you realize it.

I have the Dillon swage (surprise!), its the only Dillon item I dont love.

Sometimes its hard to feel the punch into the hole. Some of the cases have different thickness of head material or have burrs from the flash hole.

The lever seems to have to travel very far for the small amount of movement of the ram (I understand leverage) but it needs lots of hand motion and wears me out after a while.

I now just use a reamer, a simple hand reamer. Stick it in twist, done.

If you have thousands to do, buy a Dillon 1050

Take the bit out of your hand reamer and chuck it in a cordless drill. It only takes a couple of turns to do the job.

My thinking exactly. I've done several thousand cases with an RCBS unit over the years.

I've got tons of (free) GI .223 cases I've reamed with a hand reamer and have never had a primer issue. My time is free, and I'm too cheap to do otherwise. I've been know to trim the crimp out with a pocketknife, but I wouldn't recommend that for a lot of cases. I even hand ream crimped 9mm brass I pick up. Once and done. It's part of reloading for me. If it were a concern, I'd buy new, uncrimped cases. It's all in how much work one wants to do. The tool of choice will last a lifetime either way, so it's a matter of time or money.

I chuck my hand reamer in my lathe. Start the lathe on a very slow speed and do 100 rounds perfectly in about 20 mins. I have done military crimped ammo in .45acp, 30-06 and .223. I also do this when match preping cases for benchrest work. .......... Big Cholla

I use and like the RCBS $30 set. It pushes the brass back where it belongs and doesn't weaken the pocket at all. It's quick and easy but so are the bench versions if you have the money. It all comes down to how you like to work and how easy you want to make things. There are times when i have a lot of brass to process I wish I had spent the $100 on the Dillon 600 or the newer RCBS bench swadger.

BUT, I recently bought the bits and guides to form the primer pockets with my Forster case trimming lathe. I can tell you it's very fast and leaves every primer pocket exactly the same.
These two tools work well with the Forster case trimming tool in the last link:
Forster Original Classic Power Case Trimmer Primer Pocket Center

Forster Original Classic Power Case Trimmer Primer Pocket Chamferring

Forster Original Case Trimmer Kit

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

The more I learn about reloading, the more the availability of some pretty cool tools becomes apparent.

I can feel my "Sears Craftsman" addiction coming back to life!!

A radial arm saw??

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Still Running Against the Wind

How do you know you need one? I have removed primer crimps from military brass for several years (45 ACP, 9mm, .5.56). I use a 60 degree countersink (standard type available at most hardware stores) usually by hand and if I have a lot to do, I'll chuck the countersink in my drill. Works good for me...

What about a 1/2 inch 82 degree countersink ?
What inch is your 60 degree countersink ?

[QUOTE=rebs081;136748392]What about a 1/2 inch 82 degree countersink ?
What inch is your 60 degree countersink ?[/QUOTE
I've got a half dozen or so from 1/4" up. Try your countersink and just remove enough to cut out the crimp (just remove the metal pushed into the primer pocket).

I have used the RCBS swage tool (the original one) to swage over 20K rounds of brass. With any swage you need to sort by headstamp.

I have a once used Dillon swage tool that sits in the box on a shelf. I just like the RCBS tool more and use it as my first go-to swager.

Most people have problems with the RCBS tool and don't follow the directions. They wind up bending the rod. I have never bent mine, but like a lot of things, you need to learn how to use it. There is a learning curve.

Do you sort by brand or do you sort brands by date also ?

I also use the countersink in the drill. I don't know what kind it is; I just bought the first one I found at a hardware store and it works fine. I use it for everything up to full power .30-06 and never had any kind of problem associated with chewing brass out of primer pockets.

Dave Sinko

I sort by brand, but I check the first few by "feel". Even when you have sorted by brand, there can be variations in web thickness. You will immediately feel a case with too thick of web. Rather than just blindly force the swage to the completion of the stroke, just let up and set it aside.

Probably 95% of the same headstamp will all swage the same. The remaining 5% will either be thicker or thinner in the web. I make a minor adjustment and finish off the lot.

I will swage S&B brass due to having tight primer pockets even though none of the pockets are crimped. I also polished the stud to make case removal easier. I initially experienced cases that didn't release easily and polished the stud to assist in this regard.

I'm finding that the primers in commercial .223 and .308 rounds are mostly crimped. Only new cases can be primed without opening up the pocket. I recycle all the brass I find, and there's a lot of 5.56/.223 lying about. That means opening the pockets is a regular part of my case prep.

It's easy to overdo use of a reamer, and often hard to keep the hole round. If you use a reamer, find one with 5 teeth. Even numbers of teeth are more likely to make an out of round cut.

The best solution is swaging. It's always round and always the same size. There aren't any shavings to clean up and you don't get a cramp in your arm from turning a tool.

After looking at the options, I chose the Dillon. I like blue, but more important, the ergonomics of the Dillon is superior to the RCBS machine. You an use the vertical lever of the Dillon without clamping the tool to a table. The RCBS motion is horizontal. Once I get into a swing, I can do about 20 cases a minute.

I don't bother to sort pickup brass. It's safe to "swage" a good case, but can get noisy to prime a tight one. At very least, it breaks your rhythm reloading. I catch my own brass, which makes sorting unnecessary.

I like the RCBS benc tool. I mounted mine on a 2x2 & clamp it in my bench vise. It works fine, but I still get the occasional tight pocket & it gets a ight reaming as well.

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