Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Y'all reloading your 5.56 brass

Steve:

You left out Step 2: ream primer pocket with some cutting tool to remove the brass that the swaging tool didn't, in order to be able to seat new primer.

I've been using this tool for many years and have removed the crimps from thousands of 5.56 and 7.62x51 brass. Never a hiccup. I just finished 1200 5.56 cases.

If I was having problems, and couldn't set up the die so it's at the sweet spot, the first thing I would look at is the swaging head. I would get another from RCBS.

i also have used this tool for years and have never had to use a cutting tool to be able to seat a new primer. the whole premise of swaging is to retain the brass, but move it to a dimension that is able to take the primer. if you are going to use a reamer the swaging is usless.

I have the Dillon bench mounted unit and a S1050. They both work better with sorted headstamps, the thickness of the case head web varies some and mixing some headstamps can cause some to be under swaged or bind. I shot HP rifle and needed a lot of cases ready to load so the better tools made sense.
Can't compete anymore, probably should sell some stuff in this wonderful covid economy....

That is a fair summation of my experience using the RCBS tool.

Great discussion. Pretty sure I will be able to pinch fingers in the bench tool also, so it's not a complete loss....

So you're going with the press mounted RCBS or such?

I already, and happily, purchased the RCBS bench tool. At the time I'd have gotten the Dillon, but, availability took me to the RCBS. Although reports here indicate the press mount unit works, I had literally read hundreds of curses of them and cool with the triple cost. LOL


For the apocalypse I have secured a pretty good stash of brass, primers, Speer 50gr SP and 52 gr HP, TAC and Xterminator. Have some long range bullets too. Going to try some Campfire approved generic loads and just KISS. I have 1 in 7, 8 and 9 twists, 223, Wilde and 5.56 chambers so figure hot 223 level loads aught work. Well, it's on my ample list of things to do.

I agree, you don't need to remove material with a reamer if you use the RCBS swager. That would be counterproductive. I use the RCBS swager for 308/7.62x51 and 223/556 and it works just fine. No problems with it at all.

Dan, I pick up some .44 mag, .30-30, and 7x57 from time to time. Not often, though.

I traded half a ziploc of the .30-30 brass I had for a Publix reusable grocery bag full of "almost new" holsters.

I pick up a bunch of 5.56 brass during the year. Prepping it is a decent hobby when it’s forty below outside.

I run a Dillon 600 Super Swager and about 1 in 10 cases still wont seat the primer. The primer starts but gets tight and then you cant get the shell out of the hand primer.... Is that because I should be chamfering the primer pockets after I swage them? I was wondering if I didnt have the Dillon set up quite right or if there was another problem. I use CCI Primers.

Oakster,
My comments regarding swaging were in reference to the RCBS press mounted swager. It just never quite did the job for me; too slow and not uniform results. I just acquired a Dillon 600 and processed some Lake City brass with it but I haven't had a chance to start reloading any of it yet.
I will say that while it is a faster process than swaging with the RCBS unit, it still isn't as fast as reaming and chamfering in one operation with the Hornady reamer chucked into a drilL, like I was using.
I did put a slight chamfer on the brass I swaged with the Dillon 600 using an RCBS hand-held deburring tool.

Hornady primer pocket reamer


RCBS deburring tool

I hate that Hornady tool - thing has too narrow an insertion angle and it will gouge the pockets. And it is cutting areas that it shouldn't as the crimp is just a little bit of metal at the rim of the pocket.
A 5+ flute chamfer tool makes the best cut to remove the crimp without mucking up the body of the primer pocket.

My research on using a cutter led me to believe this is the correct tool. 90 degree deburring tool. DB 18

https://www.amazon.com/PART-WEL98918-Weldon-DB-18-Deburring/dp/B07228QD34


https://www.dgisupply.com/product/WEL98918/

Got one off Ebay used for a song and a dance.

Rcbs swagging tool , three way cutter/ trimmer makes life easy
Some bitch and moan , pay .50 plus apiece and still can't find ammo , I collect and load and have several thousand rounds , enough said

I have loaded some range brass, some found, some from cheap milsurp I have shot, it sure is lot of work and you wind up throwing a lot away.

My sons bring their friends down to shoot at the farm, and the one thing I require is that I get all the brass. As a result, I've got a steady supply of it. Over the spring, I decided to try a loading of the mixed 5.56 brass, hoping to make blasting ammo for the Mini-14's.

Yikes! It was a chore! I did it on my Hornady LNL AP. I think part of the problem was that my RCBS swager is pretty well done in. I need to replace the mandrels. I've bought the Hornady reamers to try instead.

I didn't read the whole thread but I reload 5.56. I also turn some of it into 300 BO with a chop saw and a jig and also some into 6x45. I recently bought a WFT Worlds Finest Trimmer in 223.I had been trimming it with an RCBS manual trimmer and an electric drill. THE WFT is nothing short of a miracle.I have only trimmed about 150 cases but did it in about 1/3 the time.Here is a link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbkOaPodVi0

Bill

I haven't seen this one mentioned, but this is what I use and it works great. I chuck it in a drill and can go through a tub of cases rather quickly.

https://www.rcbs.com/case-prep/trim/trim-mate-military-crimp-remover-2/855.html


Seems Hornady 308 Match ammo also has crimped primers, so I use the large one on them and again it works just fine.