I bought some Hornady 6.8 SPC ammo with the intention of reusing the once-fired brass. Turns out the primers were crimped in. I bought a hand-held Lyman Primer Pocket Reamer to remove the crimp.

www.cabelas.com/produc...l+Products

I wasn't very successful. After using, I could only get a primer inserted in 12 of 18 case and those were tough inserts. I ruined a half dozen primers in the process. Any suggestions on how to get the primer pockets back into shape so I can insert some primers?

A Dillon swage works well.
I use reamer tho, Lymans.

I use a Dillon Super Swag for rifle or my 1050 for pistol.

Thanks, gelandangan and RePete. I did some searching and now know what a swage is. This is definitely the way to go for removing primer pocket crimps. In my search through U-Tube trying to see how a swage worked, I found some other tips that got me through my priming issues. I think I prefer to avoid primer crimped brass all together.

I have about 15kgs of .223 brass that I sort through to load so I dont have to pick up my empties. they are GI brass so have a real nasty primer crimp. the deburing tool for case mouths works a treat to get rid of the crimp burr and the pockets are as good as new. I dont give it heaps just a couple of twists and bobs your uncle.

Elvis wrote:

the deburing tool for case mouths works a treat to get rid of the crimp burr ... just a couple of twists and bobs your uncle.

Elvis, this did the trick on the few that still needed help. Do the primers start seating easier on additional reloads? Mine are taking lots of force to insert.

I also received 1000 once fired 30/06 GI brass that had crimped primers, this was about 10 years ago and if I remember right, I used a 7/32nds drill bit in a drill press with case mounted in a portable vice (for drill presses) and just barely touched the brass to remove the crimp.

I still have about 200 cases left of that brass and it has served me well as each piece of brass has 3 firings each on them. I sold the other 800 to another loader as I didn't need that many as I had over 1000 new Rem and LC brass.

I also clamp my reamer in the drill press to rid of the crimp.
Fast and efficient.

slimjim wrote:

Elvis wrote: the deburing tool for case mouths works a treat to get rid of the crimp burr ... just a couple of twists and bobs your uncle. Elvis, this did the trick on the few that still needed help. Do the primers start seating easier on additional reloads? Mine are taking lots of force to insert.

yip mine do I guess the slight taper makes it like seating boat tails vs flat base.

I used a drill bit on the .223 Mil brass the same way OV1 did and had no problems. Once you remove the crimp the primers seat as per new brass.

You will find ex military brass is a little more "robust" than commercial civilian brass, and the tolerances are usually spot on whereas civi brass might be a little less exact.

Cheers, Vince

I have used the RCBS swage die and have removed the primer crimp on many military cases without a problem. Hope this helps. Take care...
Joe

Joe Boleo wrote:

I have used the RCBS swage die

JB, I saw a you tube video of this and its a good solution for a single stage press if you don't want a dedicated swage tool like from Dillion.

I also use the RCBS swage. I still take a small turn with a 5/8 countersink bit to put a slight bevel on the mouth of the pocket.

To keep the swaging stem from loosening and getting bent I added a lock nut.

Here is a previous thread on same subject.

www.huntingnut.com/ind...pic&t=8905

Another vote for the RCBS swage die. It works very well. All the best...
Gil

I have used the RCBS swage die, the reamer on the RCBS Case prep machine and the hand chamfer/deburr tool - but my favortite way is now to send to brass processor and let them deal with it....