Dealing with crimped primer vs buying new brass

T

T28w

WKR
Joined
Dec 10, 2018
Looking for some advice from guys that have dealt with lake city brass .223 with crimped primers. I am making my way through 1k rounds of Hornady frontier ammo with LC brass and am about ready to load some tmks up. Would it be better to just buy new brass for the tmks or deal with the lc brass with crimped primers. Is a swagger the best option if going to reload the lc brass?
 
I just did about 1500 pieces of 223 brass. broke a couple decamping pins and ran the brass though the RCB swagger. trim to length and chamfer the primer pockets.
lot of work I gave $15 for the brass and a couple dollars for pins.
$300/1000 for new LC if you can find it. save a lot of work and more shooting time.
How many TMKs do you have to reload ? if your only going to load say 100 I would prep the LC
 
Dillon swager isnt the cheapest but its easy to use. Dont be bothered by the crimped brass especially if you enjoy reloading. Its another step to perfect and enjoy.
 
Yeah probably would load about 100 at a time.
DaveCB said:
I just did about 1500 pieces of 223 brass. broke a couple decamping pins and ran the brass though the RCB swagger. trim to length and chamfer the primer pockets.
lot of work I gave $15 for the brass and a couple dollars for pins.
$300/1000 for new LC if you can find it. save a lot of work and more shooting time.
How many TMKs do you have to reload ? if your only going to load say 100 I would prep the LC
Click to expand...
I would prob be loading 100 at a time, at most, and prob not even that often. Really just want to get a decent load established and then use the tmks for hunting. The 68gr frontier at .60ish cents a round makes shooting way easier as time is kinda limited currently And they have been plenty accurate. I’ll look at the Dillon, I’ve seen that mentioned in my looking as the best swager for the job
 
Just purchase a Hornady 390750 Primer Pocket Reamer for about $15. Chuck it in a hand drill at about 200 rpm, and go through the 1000 cases fairly quickly.

It would be silly in my opinion to buy new brass just to avoid removing the crimp.

71xHRb7diKL._AC_SL1500_.jpg
 
logem said:
Just purchase a Hornady 390750 Primer Pocket Reamer for about $15. Chuck it in a hand drill at about 200 rpm, and go through the 1000 cases fairly quickly.

It would be silly in my opinion to buy new brass just to avoid removing the crimp.

71xHRb7diKL._AC_SL1500_.jpg
Click to expand...
Second this. $20 to get rid of all the crimps you’d ever encounter. I just did about 1500 pieces with this. Zip tie the trigger on the drill, clamp drill aimed up, and find a rhythm. Don’t remember how long it took me, but it’s a good rainy day project that doesn’t use up a lot of brainpower.
 
logem said:
Just purchase a Hornady 390750 Primer Pocket Reamer for about $15. Chuck it in a hand drill at about 200 rpm, and go through the 1000 cases fairly quickly.

It would be silly in my opinion to buy new brass just to avoid removing the crimp.

71xHRb7diKL._AC_SL1500_.jpg
Click to expand...
This. But it takes time.
 
Depends on how valuable your time is and how much you shoot I shoot a lot and hate processing brass, so I buy processed LC brass, 1K at a time and load my 223 on a progressive. used brass goes in a 5 gallon bucket. If the time comes I can’t get quality processed bass I’ll do my own.
 
Axlrod said:
I have done large batches in the past. The mighty armory decap die will remove crimped primers without breaking.

www.mightyarmory.com

Mighty Armory PUA Decapping Die w/ Primer Flicker Spring .058 pins Red, Black and Silver are Blems and Discounted

The Mighty Armory PUA Decapping Die is a universal decapping die for depriming small flash hole cases with small flash holes. Recommended for use on all single stage and turret presses. Toughest in the industry!
www.mightyarmory.com www.mightyarmory.com
Click to expand...
FW Arms has a really solid decapper (among other products) that you can buy instead. Once I saw Mighty Armory owner’s openly racist rant on social media, I won’t support that company.
 
I use the cheap Hornady about that cuts the crimp out. Works well, I use it on a hand tool because I don’t come across that many crimps.
 
Get rid of it and get new brass. PM me to dispose of it please lol.

I used the dillon swager and it wasn't too bad. Wouldn't want to do it repeatedly but as a 1x thing it's reasonable.
 
Anyone tried both swager and cutting tools to know is there any difference in the pocket when finished. To my feeble mind the swager seems like it would be more likely to have primer pockets that last longer. I could see the cutting tools ending up with looser than ideal primers. There is a big diff in price between a swager and cutter, if no difference in end result them a cheap cutting one seems easy enough.

Thanks for the replies so far
 
T28w said:
Anyone tried both swager and cutting tools to know is there any difference in the pocket when finished. To my feeble mind the swager seems like it would be more likely to have primer pockets that last longer. I could see the cutting tools ending up with looser than ideal primers. There is a big diff in price between a swager and cutter, if no difference in end result them a cheap cutting one seems easy enough.

Thanks for the replies so far
Click to expand...
I have used both didn't notice any difference other than your time...
 
For $30/100, I decided to just buy 500 pieces of new starline. Not sure how much you can save going with once fired/crimped but I have had bad experience with once fired/range brass in other carriages and wanted to avoid the headache.
 
T28w said:
Anyone tried both swager and cutting tools to know is there any difference in the pocket when finished. To my feeble mind the swager seems like it would be more likely to have primer pockets that last longer. I could see the cutting tools ending up with looser than ideal primers. There is a big diff in price between a swager and cutter, if no difference in end result them a cheap cutting one seems easy enough.

Thanks for the replies so far
Click to expand...
Was kind of worried about the same thing, but that’s what I meant when I said get in a rhythm. The cutter should be stopped as soon as it touches the back of the primer pocket (you can feel it after a while). I’m sure if it was overused it was kill the primer pocket. That being said, I have not shot brass to the point of exhaustion using that tool yet. I do have quite a few 223s on they’re 3rd firing, so I’d say I’m pleased
 
T28w said:
Anyone tried both swager and cutting tools to know is there any difference in the pocket when finished. To my feeble mind the swager seems like it would be more likely to have primer pockets that last longer. I could see the cutting tools ending up with looser than ideal primers. There is a big diff in price between a swager and cutter, if no difference in end result them a cheap cutting one seems easy enough.

Thanks for the replies so far
Click to expand...
I give a quick spin with a hand tool to remove the ring of displaced material that was holding the primer, and then I run it through an RCBS swaging tool. I have not had any problems with loose primers but sometimes installation of new primers can be a little bit crunchy compared to really good brass. I use mostly hand tools and a single stage press so I can pretty much feel everything. On a progressive you probably wouldn't notice.
 
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