Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Reloading for an AR, primer pockets

I am new to AR's, but not reloading. I have never had to remove a primer crimp. I won't be doing high volume. What tool do you recommend?
Can I chuck this in a cordless drill? Is it what I need?
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/501588/hornady-primer-pocket-reamer-tool-small

I have .223 dies from my bolt gun. Is that all I need? No small base?

How do I set up my die to work my brass enough, but not too much? Do I bottom out the die and plan on loosing the brass before I wear it out. On a bolt gun, I know how to test if I sized the brass enough, and if I have some jump to the rifling. How do I do that with this AR.

If it matters, this is a cheaper Palmetto State Armory upper with a .223 Wylde chamber.

Thanks
Jason

Get a case gauge. Size just enough so that a case goes in and out of the gauge without difficulty. Very doubtful small base dies are ever needed for an AR.

If you are not doing a huge volume of brass, the standard and inexpensive RCBS crimp removal tool works fine. It takes some trial and error adjustment. Once adjusted, set the lock ring and you needn't adjust it again. Many who bellyache about the RCBS tool never adjusted it properly and may have bent the punch. I think newer tools have a beefed up punch anyway.

To use a reamer, or any tool with 8-32 threads in a drill, get this: https://www.midwayusa.com/product/314848/redding-primer-pocket-uniformer-tool-power-adapter

Reamers are also sold without the handle if you don't need it.

Hornady or RCBS reamer chucked into a drill with the above mentioned Redding adapter.
Bump shoulders back 3-4 thousandths when resizing.

Pretty much any of the primer crimp removal tools work. I've even used a chamfer and debur tool in a pinch. I have a Dillon super swage for removing crimps that I use when working in large batches.

The best way, only way for me, to setup dies is with a bump gauge and calipers. Sinclair makes them and Hornady also sells a inexpensive kit. You can measure a fired case and then resize until your shoulder has been bumped .003"-.004" back. You can do the same thing with a case gauge as long as you have the right measuring tools. Unless you can measure it, your just guessing.

Do you have a countersink bit already? Something like these will work almost always and you can chamfer the mouths with it also.

https://www.amazon.com/MMdex-3-Piec...r=8-2&keywords=countersink+drill+bit

Probably won't need small base dies.

The advice most people here who reload for AR's is to bump the shoulder back about .003".


If you still have the bolt gun, try the rounds you've already loaded for it, they'll probably work fine in the AR. I'm sizing all of my .223 to fit my CZ 527 and using them in my AR's without issue.

rcbs case master trim mate, I put a primer pocket thingy on one of the stations. I bought 1000 cases from brass bombers they are supposed to already come deprimed and swaged but I find a few cases there and there need a touch up. so I just run the primer pocket on it for a couple seconds.

I prefer swaging. Even though you can chamfer the pocket, many primer pockets have a slight out round hole from crimp processes. Swaging leaves a round pocket. I have two RCBS tools for swaging pockets. My preferred is:

http://rcbs.com/Products/Case-Preparation/Accessories/Primer-Pocket-Swager-Bench-Tool.aspx

I have it mounted to a board and swage while watching TV. I can do 10 to 12 cases per minute. In December of last year i swaged 4000 cases.

I normally decap cases with Frankford Arsenal hand decapper, next clean cases via sonic cleaner and then swage pockets.

I have the RCBS case master. Works fine if you are just doing a few. If you decide to start gathering up range brass then the Dillion Swager is the way to go.

I like swaging better. If I was going to buy a tool, I'd buy a Dillon case primer pocket swager. I always seem to mash my fingers with the RCBS swager.
Otherwise, just use a chamfer tool that you'd use to deburr the case mouths.

Get the Dillon case gauge, I full length size, cause I have more brass than I could possibly shoot. My sons best friend is in the army, he brings a couple 5 gallon buckets every time he drives home on leave. Make sure your resized brass will fall in and out of the case gauge like a factory round. Trim every piece to length. I had 500 rounds the bolt wouldn’t close that I loaded. It was factory Remington, I had to shoot it all in a bolt rifle. I use small base dies. Good luck

Thanks all.

The shop I ended up in today had the RCBS swager kit, so I bought it.
I need to find my dial calliper. I will get a case gage.

I remember there are primers with harder or thicker cups, to prevent slam fires. Is that something I need. I shot some ammo from my bolt gun with no problem.

I've used thousands of CCI, Federal, Winchester, and Remington small rifle & small rifle match primers in my AR's without having a slam fire.

The one I settled on as my favorite is the CCI BR-4 primer.

I've never crimped and I've never found it necessary to use small base dies.

Wishing you the best in your adventure! AR's are FUN!

Ed

Never had an issue with most primers. I would avoid WWSR though, per others issues that I trust. And the federal SR because we did have maybe 2 slam fires with them.

BR4 and Rem 7.5s are standbys but shot a LOT of 450s when moving to N540 powder, more accurate. Found nothing more accurate than BR4 with Target. Then started moving to the M41s as they shot just as well as 450s, harder cup, with N540 which is not a bad thing, with a floating pin.

No crimp, no small base. Did have to use small base in custom M1As, but never in an AR. In fact a buddy neck sizes lots of his ammo for at least a few firings before bumping it back.

I'd add to the list of primers to avoid the Rem 6 1/2 and the CCI 400. Not that they are guaranteed problems, just that there isn't as much margin.

CCI's have a hard cup. It's a much harder material when compared to something like Winchester or Federal primers.

I've shot plenty of CCI 400's in AR's. Never had a problem. Of course, typically I only use them with stick powders, the 450's typically produce smaller groups with ball powders.

400s don't hold pressure like the 450s or the BRs.

That said, I've shot several thousand of them in 5.56. But they aren't my first choice. They are behind a lot of other primers like 41s, 7 1/2s and Wolf/Tula.

Thanks guys. I have mostly cci primers, 400, 450, and BR.
I shot 22s with my 3 boys today. My oldest (almost 11) is really enthusiastic. We shot the AR and a single shot .44 Magnum last week. He wants to shoot more rifles. I have everything from .243 to .458. He'll get a chance at the .243 and 30/30 this year. He's too short for most of my rifles. I have some youth shotguns.

I am so glad I have someone to share this with. The last few years, between farming and work, I have not made time to work or shoot. This year will be different, and we are starting now.

I always uniform the pocket & remove any trace of a crimp that might be present, even on non-military brass..................just makes primer seating so much easier & uniform, not necessarily for any gain in accuracy.

JME, YMMV.

MM

I have some rifles that would run fine with reloads from standard dies. I have other rifles, due to a tightly cut chamber, requiring SB dies. My advice, put a few rounds together and run them. This avoids the pitfalls of a bunch of reloads you have break down and redo.