What did you reload today?

[Lasers]

Do you guys that reload 223 uniform every pocket?

I've reloading a few thousand 223 but this weekend I started having trouble seating primers. It would happen probably 1 in every 25 rounds.

Each case was tumbled and the primer pocket cleaned before attempting to seat using a rock chucker.

I've never done more than scrub out the primer pockets with the rcbs brush tool, so this is new to me. But if it'd save this from happening I'll start looking for the tool.

 

[Nwcid]

I upgraded my G34 with Holosun, new slide, and silencer.

Been loading up some 147gr hollow points from Everglades. My office is in the shop. Every time I need to stand up and take a break I run another 25 rounds. I have a few hundred load over the past couple of weeks.

 

[DLS]

@Lasers

5.56 brass loaded to military specifications has a crimped in primer. There are a number of tools available to remove this crimp, I can give you a rundown if you need this info. You can see the indentations from the crimping process on the rim of the primer pockets you show in your post.

You only need to remove the crimp one time.

Let us know if you want a rundown on the ways to handle this, it basically comes down to trimming, reaming or swaging.

 

[RVTECH]

I started having trouble seating primers. It would happen probably 1 in every 25 rounds.

Isolate all the brass this is happening with and give it all a 'twist' with a standard RCBS deburring tool in the primer pockets.

 

[Lasers]

@Lasers

5.56 brass loaded to military specifications has a crimped in primer. There are a number of tools available to remove this crimp, I can give you a rundown if you need this info. You can see the indentations from the crimping process on the rim of the primer pockets you show in your post

Ty!

I have a bucket of LC stamped 5.56 brass that's clean and awaiting processing, I'll definitely be looking more into that.

These were all 223 headstamps, and had no crimp that I could see. I have many more that I haven't primed, I'll take few pics

 

[belshawelk]

nothing as I dont reload, but I have some small amounts of brass for sale or trade if someone is looking.

30-06, 40S&W, 10mm, 270WSM , 300WM, .44spl., 6.5CM. , .454 Casull ( 3 boxes unprimed new from Freedom Arms, plus 2 boxes of once shot) . Some of these I only have a box of others I have few boxes. And 1 little box of large pistol primers ( maybe like 100 or something). I also have a box of mixed old brass .308, 30-06, 300Sav, 30-30 at least 1 30 rem) ( some of the pieces are rough and probably not good anymore but many still look good.)Its an old box of brass I found when cleaning out my dads house.

 

[jblake00]

Made up 200 9mm rounds this evening. Checking online prices, I figure its worth about $245.67. Not bad for an hours worth of reloading!

 

[Red98422]

Ty!

I have a bucket of LC stamped 5.56 brass that's clean and awaiting processing, I'll definitely be looking more into that.

These were all 223 headstamps, and had no crimp that I could see. I have many more that I haven't primed, I'll take few pics

Sorry to be that guy, but every picture you showed has a crimped pocket. That "ring" embossed around the primer is from the crimping process.

personally I use the frankford swage tool for all my 223-556 brass to uniform the primer pockets and keep things feeding smoothly.

you will absolutely have issues with the LC brass if you attempt to seat primers, they are all crimped without exception

 

[Lasers]

OK, I'm definitely getting examples confused then.

I have some 5.56 brass that I though had crimped primers, you could see the crimp easily next to the primer pocket. These don't look like those do, so I guess I just misunderstood what to look for.

 

[Lasers]

Sorry to be that guy, but every picture you showed has a crimped pocket. That "ring" embossed around the primer is from the crimping process.

No need to be sorry! Thank you! After researching more about what to look for, I totally was mistaken in what I was doing.

Ruined about 10 primers, I'll take out a loan and buy a few more lol

 

[DLS]

@Red98422 is spot on. All your pics showed crimps. Those crimps need to be removed or you will continue to ruin primers, not to mention really stress your priming tools.



I highly recommend one of these:


It's a primer pocket go / no go gauge that saves untold amounts of grief. Get the combo pack with both large and small pocket tool as well as the case neck tension gauge.

Swage Gage ® Small Primer Pocket Gauge (ballistictools.com)
3 gage pack, small and large primer pocket and .224/308 neck tension (ballistictools.com)

I used to remove crimps with an RCBS deburring tool chucked in a drill press. Just slightly bevel the pocket for slick primer insertion. I then got a reamer attachment for my Lyman case trimmer. Faster and easier on the fingers rather than holding onto brass as the deburring tool spins in the drill press. Then I got the Dillon Super Swage ... faster yet and easier on the hands. Now I have a swage that attaches to my 550 press that allows me to have a tool head that decaps, swages, sizes, trims and tensions the case mouth progressively.

All methods work and work well. It's all a matter of how many cases are you working with and how much do you value your time.

 

[crossbow5]

Dillon Super Swage is what I use. It really works great.

 

[Ironbar]

nothing as I dont reload, but I have some small amounts of brass if someone is looking.

30-06, 40S&W, 10mm, 270WSM , 300WM, .44spl., 6.5CM. , .454 Casull ( 3 boxes unprimed new from Freedom Arms, plus 2 boxes of once shot) . Some of these I only have a box of others I have few boxes. And 1 little box of large pistol primers ( maybe like 100 or something). I also have a box of mixed old brass .308, 30-06, 300Sav, 30-30 at least 1 30 rem) ( some of the pieces are rough and probably not good anymore but many still look good.)Its an old box of brass I found when cleaning out my dads house.

I'll take the 40 cal brass if nobody has claimed it. Just PM me. Thanks!

 

[Lasers]

So do you guys swage and call it good?

From what I can read (and there are a million opinions) you can either

Swage (which basically remolds the brass so that the crimp is effectively "removed"?)

or "de-crip"/"uniform" which removes some material with a carbide cutter.

Did I get that right?

I'm amazed that I've reloaded this much without having to deal with it, but it probably makes sense since I've been reloading my uncles "old brass" first, which was all reloaded once before and now I'm switching to the brass that I have from firing factory rounds.


Thanks for the guidance

 

[Lasers]

Oh, and I figured out where my confusion was based. I had saved some examples as "crimped primers" but the examples I saved were actually "staked primers". I was looking for stake marks to = crimped.

 

[Nwcid]

So do you guys swage and call it good?

From what I can read (and there are a million opinions) you can either

Swage (which basically remolds the brass so that the crimp is effectively "removed"?)

or "de-crip"/"uniform" which removes some material with a carbide cutter.

Did I get that right?

I'm amazed that I've reloaded this much without having to deal with it, but it probably makes sense since I've been reloading my uncles "old brass" first, which was all reloaded once before and now I'm switching to the brass that I have from firing factory rounds.


Thanks for the guidance

Swage = "Squishing" the primer opening to the correct size, but the "crimp" ring is not removed.
Cutting, various methods = Cutting the crimp out, or removing a portion of it.

You will see people debate on which one works best for them. I have tried the Dillon Swager and RCBS cutter in a prep center.
I find overall with the Dillon I had less errors and it went faster. The cutter looks cleaner but is slower and I found I removed too much material often.

I would say you choice probably comes down to how many you have to do, how efficiently you want to do them and what your level of attention to detail is.

 

[Red98422]

So do you guys swage and call it good?

From what I can read (and there are a million opinions) you can either

Swage (which basically remolds the brass so that the crimp is effectively "removed"?)

or "de-crip"/"uniform" which removes some material with a carbide cutter.

Did I get that right?

I'm amazed that I've reloaded this much without having to deal with it, but it probably makes sense since I've been reloading my uncles "old brass" first, which was all reloaded once before and now I'm switching to the brass that I have from firing factory rounds.


Thanks for the guidance

I am firmly in the swage camp, I use the Frankford Arsenal swagger and am quite happy with it. I've used some brass that has had the crimp cut on it and it's too easy to take to much in my opinion.

both work plenty fine if you do your part IMO.

once swaged or cut you'll never have to do it on that brass again. But you will eventually wear out the brass and need to replace

 

[Mauserman]

Currently loading 450BM. I have 500 rounds to work on. I have fell in love with the 450 in an AR platform. I am loading Hornady XTP Mag 240gr with Accurate 5744. Hopefully they turn out well.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Do you guys that reload 223 uniform every pocket?

I've reloading a few thousand 223 but this weekend I started having trouble seating primers. It would happen probably 1 in every 25 rounds.

Each case was tumbled and the primer pocket cleaned before attempting to seat using a rock chucker.

I've never done more than scrub out the primer pockets with the rcbs brush tool, so this is new to me. But if it'd save this from happening I'll start looking for the tool.

View attachment 788257 View attachment 788258 View attachment 788259 View attachment 788260 View attachment 788261 View attachment 788262 View attachment 788263

Those FC .223 cases need to have the crimp swaged or cut from the primer pockets.
Ask me how I know...

 

[Lasers]

I would say you choice probably comes down to how many you have to do, how efficiently you want to do them and what your level of attention to detail is.

Attention to detail can be high

I'm short a few projectiles, but otherwise intend to get through 4000 rounds before the end of winter.

I'm leaning on the swage path, seems like there's less to go wrong if I have a friend helping out too. I like the idea of the RCBS swage die, I'm wondering if the RCBS JR couldn't handle it. (ended up with one in a trade that I've held on to)