Removing crimp from primer pockets?

If you have a few cases to work with, any of these methods will work fine. OTOH, if you have a lot to do, I would definitely recommend the Dillon swager. I've been using that one for almost 15 years, and I've swaged many thousands of cases and never had a problem with it. Additionally, if you really plan to reload a lot of .223, you might want to take a look at the Dillon powered trimmer, the 1200. It sizes and trims to length as fast as you can pull the handle on your press. Very fast and efficient, like all Dillon equipment.

I also use a countersink in a hand drill. I've done .223, .308 and .30-06 and never had any problems with the brass being cut out vs. swaged.

Dave Sinko

I use a reamer on my L.E. Wilson Case trimmer. While it does an excellent job, it is slow and hard on the hands.

Lou_NC said:

I've used one of these for years on the primer pockets of both .223 and .308 brass. This chamfer tool came with my RCBS reloading kit, so it was already available.

I usually work in batches of 100 or so. All it takes is a quick twist to remove any excess crimp metal remaining after de-priming.

I believe in keeping it simple.......if I were to load thousands of rounds in a sitting, I might consider buying a dedicated tool, but have never seen the need.


Lou

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This is also what I use. Did 200 this morning.

Price being no consideration my first choice would be a Dillon 1050 with its swager

Aside from that the Dillon super swage would be second.

There's all sorts of power tools/stations I have not tried.

Hand tool. If you don't have 100's of military brass to do I use a Hornady primer pocket reamer on 223 and the occasional problem pistol case. At ~$19 with knurled aluminum handle and large/small reamers it beats the alternatives. The thing cuts brass like butter and has never screwed up a primer pocket.

LostintheOzone said:

Get the Crimp Out! The Best Way(s) to Decrimp Primer Pockets | Squibloads' Gun Thoughts

You choose.

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I purchased the CH4D Swage. I found that my shell holder (RCBS) is so sloppy that the case gets pushed up at an angle and distorts the rim because only a small area is used.

I will order a CH4D shell holder as I have found them to much tighter and will see what happens..

Film at eleven.

"BEFORE" you spend any money removing crimps I have a word of warning for you. Federal cases are noted for soft brass and loose primer pockets after the first firing. These same Federal cases are thinner at the web flash hole than any other brand of cases.



These photos are from AR15.com and the moderator in the reloading forum has written some very good posting on this subject. The moderator uses a 2 inch rod and a set of vernier calipers to measure web thickness at the flash hole for segregating the good Federal cases from the bad.



If you do not sort out the bad Federal cases you will end up with high pressure gas leakage damaging your bolt face.



I started removing the crimps before reading the moderators postings and had over a 50% failure rate with primer pockets that were too loose. I have three five gallon buckets of .223/5.56 once fired cartridge cases with 1/3 being Remington, 1/3 Federal and 1/3 Lake City.

The Federal cases in my opinion are not worth sorting, and are junk to be sold at the scrap yard. The best cases are the Lake City because military cases are made to higher standards than commercial and will withstand more reloadings. The Remington cases are also very good brass and I use them in my bolt action .223 and both my AR15 rifles.

Again I'm not hard up for brass and I have plenty of other brass to use without messing with any more Federal brass in .223/5.56 and taking a chance of screwing up my bolt face with defective cartridge cases.

Your mileage may vary, and the moderator at AR15 is happy sorting his Federal cases and weeding out the bad cases.

Just make sure you weed the bad cases out before removing the crimp from hundreds of cases only to find out over half had loose primer pockets.

The moderator at AR15.com came up with a good way to check the primer pockets for being too loose. If the new primer can be pushed out of the primer pocket with just finger pressure using a Lee depriming tool the cases are NFG. If we have six feet of snow on the ground and I have nothing else to do I "might" sort through my Federal cases. But right now they are sitting in the basement in their bucket gathering dust alone and unwanted.



The Lake City cases are made to higher standards than Federal or any other brand of .223 cartridge case and will last longer.

Thanks for the information. All of my brass is LC once fired. I am hoping to salvage the CH4D swage tool. I will not work with the RCBS shell holder.

Jboutfishn said:

Thanks for the information. All of my brass is LC once fired. I am hoping to salvage the CH4D swage tool. I will not work with the RCBS shell holder.

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I have the CH4D swage dies also and all they do is bend the rim of the .223/5.56 cases.

The best choice is the Dillon swager if you willing to spend the money. I have the RCBS swager the CH4D die and every other type hand type crimp remover and the best hand reamer is the RCBS reamer designed for their case prep station. But like any hand type tool it is hard on the fingers and this is where the Dillon swager shines when doing large batches of cases.

The RCBS reamer/crimp remover is tapered and only removes the crimp and bevels the primer pocket like a factory case.