.223/5.56 Primer Pocket Crimp

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landrvrnut22
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.223/5.56 Primer Pocket Crimp

Post by landrvrnut22 »

I have close to 10k in mixed brass I have tumbled. I am going to start depriming, and preping to reload but I will need to take care of the primer pocket crimp. The last time, I used a countersink bit and did them by hand. It took a long time, and was tedious, and I ruined a few.

This time I am looking at trying to either swage or ream the pockets the proper way, and would like to hear how everyone does it.

I have a Lee Single Stage press, and a Dillon 650. I will load all the .223 on the Dillon. I deprime everything using a Lee Universal decapper, so my Dillon does not get choked up.

I have looked at the Dillon swagger, RCBS crimp swage die, and Case Prep center.

From what I have read, I have to sort out the head stamps and setup each head stamp for the Dillon, and RCBS. With reaming, there is no setup, but a greater risk of damaging the brass.

What's your preferred method and why?
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JediSkipdogg
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Re: .223/5.56 Primer Pocket Crimp

Post by JediSkipdogg »

I have the RCBS crimp swage die and well.....I'll sell it to ya. LOL I would say my success rate with it is about 25% and it's a pain IMO to use.

Last week, after talking with someone at work, I bought a Lyman Primer Pocket Reamer and wow, 100% success. Yes, I've made 2 out of 200 to big, but it's better than smashing 75 out of 100 primers. I can also do the reaming while watching TV or sitting around at work.

I don't know why you'd have to sort out headstamp for the dies, I never did.
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landrvrnut22
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Re: .223/5.56 Primer Pocket Crimp

Post by landrvrnut22 »

JediSkipdogg wrote:

I don't know why you'd have to sort out headstamp for the dies, I never did.
It's my understanding you have to sort the headstamps because of variations in the rim/base. All the swage dies index off the inside of the base, and so you must adjust for these variations between headstamps.

Which sounds like a royal pain, and why I asked the questions in the first place.
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JediSkipdogg
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Re: .223/5.56 Primer Pocket Crimp

Post by JediSkipdogg »

landrvrnut22 wrote:
JediSkipdogg wrote:

I don't know why you'd have to sort out headstamp for the dies, I never did.
It's my understanding you have to sort the headstamps because of variations in the rim/base. All the swage dies index off the inside of the base, and so you must adjust for these variations between headstamps.

Which sounds like a royal pain, and why I asked the questions in the first place.
Maybe that's why it never worked for me. Which doesn't make sense since I bottom it out either way. The only thing I could see if you have the rod adjusted too far down is you may bend it, but it seems like a tough rod that unless you are putting your full body weight in it then you won't bend it.

I just hate it because you have to put the brass on the rod first and then raise the swager into the primer pocket. If you try to put it on the swager and raise it onto the rod you'll go nuts. The rod is the exact diameter of a .223 case mouth. So getting it lined up was the annoyance.
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Re: .223/5.56 Primer Pocket Crimp

Post by mreising »

Lyman primer pocket reamer is the way to go. At least you will only have to do it once on each.
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Re: .223/5.56 Primer Pocket Crimp

Post by techmike »

I use the RCBS Trim Mate. Then got THIS ADAPTER, and it works quite well. Saw pics online where folk just bought the pocket tool, and with some threaded rod used it in a cordless drill to automate the process cheaper than getting the prep center,
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Re: .223/5.56 Primer Pocket Crimp

Post by JustaShooter »

techmike wrote:I use the RCBS Trim Mate. Then got THIS ADAPTER, and it works quite well. Saw pics online where folk just bought the pocket tool, and with some threaded rod used it in a cordless drill to automate the process cheaper than getting the prep center,
Pardon me while I scratch my head, but how does that remove the crimp? It looks the same as the Lyman primer pocket uniformer I have, which only cuts the bottom of the primer pocket to a pre-set depth, I don't get how it would remove the crimp at the mouth of the primer pocket?
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Re: .223/5.56 Primer Pocket Crimp

Post by techmike »

Oops, my bad. THIS ONE then the pocket uniformer.

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Re: .223/5.56 Primer Pocket Crimp

Post by JustaShooter »

techmike wrote:Oops, my bad. THIS ONE then the pocket uniformer.
Now that one looks like it would do the job nicely.
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Re: .223/5.56 Primer Pocket Crimp

Post by techmike »

It does. :D
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Re: .223/5.56 Primer Pocket Crimp

Post by Cloudwraith »

mreising wrote:Lyman primer pocket reamer is the way to go. At least you will only have to do it once on each.
I use the Hornady pocket reamers on my Lyman Case Prep Xpress. The reamers that came with the Xpress worked but had more cutting edges and it was sometimes hard to get the brass started on an even plane. They also seemed to wear out sooner because the cutting edges were thinner. The Hornady's have less edges and are thicker and seem to be working much better for me.

http://www.amazon.com/Lyman-Case-Prep-X ... +case+prep" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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http://www.opticsplanet.com/hornady-pri ... 12134249:s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Re: .223/5.56 Primer Pocket Crimp

Post by Music Man »

Check out Dylan Precision's swaging tool, It's sweet and works very well.
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