Swaging- Rookie swager question

[Fotheringill]

A friend who departed for a more friendly state, gave me about 1200 once fired cases in .223. They are easily sorted by head stamp. They will be full sized and otherwise prepped.

Now the crimp. I knew nothing about it except seeing it mentioned here and there but did not pay attention since I don't have a rifle that uses them.

I purchased a Lyman reamer with the pretty orange and gray handle (I now have five handles). It was only $10. I used it with a power screwdriver last night and reamed four cases. They looked good and when I seated primers, the feel was different. They seated, but the process of seating felt a little off. Depth was fine, but a different feel.

Now the question- Do the RCBS and Frankfort Arsenal decrimpers also shave the inside of the primer pocket or do they somehow pop out the crimp thing, obviating the need to cut away the inside of the pocket?

If the answer is yes, I will consider it. If it is the same shaving process, I will stick with what I used last night.

 

[Walt Krafft]

I prefer the rcbs primer pocket swage for the few cases I need to do. A reamer can make the pocket oversize.

 

[Catgunguy]

I prefer to use the Dillion Swager. I don't like to remove brass from the primer pocket. Swage them then check for primer depth.

 

[Cemetery21]

Do the RCBS and Frankfort Arsenal decrimpers also shave the inside of the primer pocket or do they somehow pop out the crimp thing

I don't think there is a tool that pops out the crimp. One style cuts, as you have, and the other style "swages" the crimp, forcing the crimp back into the approximate location the primer pocket brass would have been before it was crimped over the primer.

 

[Cemetery21]

Also, RCBS makes both a cutter head and a press mounted swage tool. I'm not familiar with what FA makes.

 

[Bill K]

Most just swage and/or ream out the pocket and taken the crimp off. With that many cases and for future use, get the RCBS swage die set up, or a simular brand, well worth the money in the long haul and too add to your reloading equipment.

 

[brainiac]

I have 2 swagers, one bench mount and one press style. Neither leaves a primer starting chamfer or bevel. Primers are still hard to seat unless perfectly lined up. I stick with an RCBS crimp removal cutter. The way it is made it can't oversize a pocket.

 

[pertnear]

I always used the RCBS primer pocket swager but when I decided to process several thousand .223 cases I bought the FA tool. Much faster & much easier & the results were better. It doesn't cut just swages. Its limitation is that it won't swage pockets on any cases larger than .308 (i.e no .30-06)

 

[Cecil S.]

I have the Dillion swager and I found it very easy to set up and use.

 

[LonewolfMcquade]

I assume reference to swagging "223" OP really meant 5.56 cases? I thought only the surplus (5.56, 7.62x51 etc) had crimped primers. 223, 308 etc have no crimp.

 

[Jackal2016]

I assume reference to swagging "223" OP really meant 5.56 cases? I thought only the surplus (5.56, 7.62x51 etc) had crimped primers. 223, 308 etc have no crimp.

Federal's gold medal match in 223 are crimped primers as well as the American Eagle variant. I have also come across some Hornady 223 that were crimped too.

The Dillon Swage tool works for me, sometimes a little touch up manually with one of those pocket reamers and using one of those pocket gauges to verify.

 

[Fotheringill]

Jackal:

I did. I have found this thread to be quite informative in an area that I have not experienced before.

BTW- I did 10 cases with the Lyman head and a power screwdriver. New primers did not blow up my rifle when I shot them on Saturday at a range visit and no adverse effect on accuracy.

 

[Red Khon]

I use the Dillon super swager, but if you pay close attention to the primers pocket it's not unusual to get a ridge of brass around the pocket, that can cause case length measurements problems.