.223 Rem Primer Pockets -- MIlitary

[Locoweed]

I have a bunch of military spec .223/5.56 brass and want to remove the crimp around the primer pocket. I'm aware that RCBS sells a swaging tool as does Dillon. Is it possible to just give the pocket a quick twist with a chamfering tool to remove the crimp?

 

[Centerfire]

Lyman

Lyman has a primer pocket reamer for $10.00. It reams the id of the primer pocket and chamfers the edge at the same time. Great for small amounts of brass. If the new ones are like my old one the nail that holds the cutter can be removed and the cutter chucked into a drill for low speed use.
Centerfire

 

[Larry Elliott]

I've got one each of the Lyman primer crimp remover and RCBS crimp swager, but what I use is a Wilson/RCBS case mouth chamfering tool. It removes the crimp, and leaves a nice bevel on the edge of the pocket that eases primer seating. Neither of the other two tools does that. A twist or two and you're done. It also works for both small and large primer pockets without having to buy another tool to misplace.

The mouth chamfering tool is also just as fast (or slow) as the other two methods for this job.

 

[MarkR]

I have used the primer pockt reamers, the mouth champhering tools and the Dillon knucklebuster primer posket swaging tool. All of the methods have deficiencies. The Dillon does the best all around job if your brass is all like manufacture. The mouth champhering tool leaves the pocket angle at 45 deg. which can cause some problems if your loading on a progressive like a Dillon, the reamers don't cut much of the primer pocket side walls which is good and bad...you can end up cutting an off center radius and leave one side with the crimp still there. To me this is the most tedious job and I don't care to do it...So...if I want to use mil brass now, I get it from Scharch Manufacturing, its cleaned twinkle clean, trimmed to length, resized and primer pocket reamed, about $100.00 per M.

 

[John Kielly]

I found that the RCBS tool was difficult by itself (but then again, Aussie brass has 100% primer crimping), so I made a tool to start the job. I spun an old countersink bit against my linishing belt until I had ground all the flutes off it & left it with a smooth cone finish.

I drop the bit into my shellholder & run it up on the case in RCBS die. It pushes the crimp back just enough so that the RCBS swager enters easily & bottoms out completely.

 

[realm-aw]

Not a Hornady fan, but....

The only Hornady tool I use is their inexpensive primer pocket reamer. Do not put it in your cordless drill or you will remove to much brass. Get a handle, and you will soon get the feel of how much to remove. Here is a link: http://www.midwayusa.com/Search/#pocket___1165_-_1-2-4_8-16-32

 

[AVanGorder]

I have a bunch of military spec .223/5.56 brass and want to remove the crimp around the primer pocket.... Is it possible to just give the pocket a quick twist with a chamfering tool to remove the crimp?

That is exactly how I do it

 

[nrb]

The swage tool works best

I use a RCBS swage tool mounted on my press to do many, many rounds. The swage does not remove any brass to weaken the case but reforms the primer pocket to accept new primers.

 

[BottleBaby]

I've used case chamfers, etc and swagers. I like swagers the best, they just seem to do a better job. Primers hang up less, and you aren't removing brass.

The RCBS is probably the worst swager, the Dillon being much better.