primer questions

[RegionRat]

do i need to ream the primer pocket in .223 that had a crimped primer?

Is reaming or swedging better?

if i test fit a new primer into a case can i remove it safely?

So there you have it...

Fans of crimped brass, folks who hate it, folks who swage, and folks who ream, folks that do it all by hand, and folks who run fully automated with many variations in between.

Are you confused yet?

First answer is yes it is necessary to remove the crimp after pushing out the spent primer. You should notice the difference if you have any feedback through your decap tooling at all. That primer crimp can come in several styles and it was typically also sealed so there is some residue of that in there too.

How you remove the crimp is a matter of taste. You can do either method equally well if you put in the effort to get good tooling and learn to use it.

A dedicated primer pocket gage isn't required, but it is a good idea especially when you are just starting out.
https://ballistictools.com/store/small-and-large-primer-pocket-gauges

The degree of power or automation is completely up to your taste/budget with either method, I even know folks who both ream and then swage because they don't want their automated progressive machines to hiccup on the primer installation.

Unless you are a trust fund baby who can have the butler clean up their mess, I don't recommend rookies jump right into bulk loading and automation till after they learn the ropes. You can jump right in if you want to, but be prepared to make some batch mistakes if you do this on your own.

If you can, try a little bit of both methods and then decide, but have an eye toward your end goals in terms of how many at a time you will be doing and how fast you will go. If at all possible, find yourself a very experienced mentor who can demonstrate both methods as well as what motorization and automation can do for you. YMMV

 

[searcher]

Regarding you several guys who were unhappy with the RCBS swager - I wonder whether all of you are talking about the same swager. RCBS makes the press-mounted swager - which is fine for small jobs - but nothing I'd want to use on a large batch. Then - there is the bench mounted model which is a whole different deal - as it will put the brass out pretty quick.

I only bring this up as the guys with the press mounted swager may be thinking "the" RCBS swager is a PITA, when in fact, there are two greatly different models. Also - the guys thinking of getting one should know there are two different ones as well - press mount and bench mount.