anyone with a better idea?

[Lloyd Smale]

swaging primer pockets is my most dreaded job! Right now i have about 5000 .223s sized and trimmed and needing swadging. Ive got the dillon swadger and have tried about every other one on the market and have even tried cutting them with a champering tool and drill. All are mindnumbingly slow. I would pay a grand for a unit that worked with a colator and operated like a progressive press!! Anyone find a way to make this job at least bareable short of buying a 1050?

[lead-1]

I did 4000 with an RCBS swager over the course of 3-4 days, I feel your pain.
On the other hand I bought some off a guy that he said "he" swaged and were ready to load, he actually cut them with a chamfering tool so deep that almost half the pocket wall was gone.
I feel your pain.

:groner:

[largom]

I just finished 500 Lake City 30-06 cases with my Rockchucker and a RCBS swage tool. A royal pain but like deburing flash holes it only has to be done once.

Larry

[dragonrider]

Ya I know what you are feeling, I am looking at the same thing and also have the dillon unit, got an RCBS press mounted unit also but it is no faster, might be easier though.

[BABore]

Invest the grand and proceeds from the sale of all your mil cases into some spiffy new commercial brass that don't need swaging.

[anachronism]

I just finished a couple of thousand with a reamer in a cordless drill. Mindnumbing is a pretty fair description. Somebody needs to invent a primer swage that actually works. We have high speed trimmers, why not high speed swagers?

[KYCaster]

A friend of mine has a Dillon trimmer on his 1050 press with case feeder. Swages primer pockets and trims as fast as he can pull the handle.

He sets it up once a year and processes all his .223 and .308 in a day. He's done about 5000 .223 for me.

Jerry

[mike in co]

i have a dillon super swager, i have had an rcbs swager. i have had various pocket reamers.

for the most part they all suck. the swagers work well IF the brass is all one lot. the tool is based on case head thickness and work poorly with mixed brass.

most reamers take out too much metal from the entrance, from the case head or from the bottom of the pocket.

so what to do????

lyman vld inside neck reamer !!!!!!!!!!!!
as it comes it will do a small primer crimp, if the tip is ground it will do large primer crimps.

unscrew it from the handle and chuck it in a hand drill, a drill press or as i do, my lathe.


it has a very narrow angle and no cutter on the end. the narrow angle does two things: it leads itself into the pocket very straight and only removes enough material to remove the crimp. the end product provides a strong pocket with a lead angle for starting the next primer.

how quick is it ???

in my lathe i did 550 cases(lr..lc 7.62) in about 40 min!

each case takes 2-3 seconds.

i use a 6"pr of slip joint pliers with duct tape on the jaws. pliers in the left hand, pick case up with right, feed into pliers, grip with left, guide with right, into cutter, count 2, relsase grip with left drop in bucket with right.....
start over.

i stil own the dillon, but use my vld cutters most times.

mike in co

[reloader28]

I did a 1000 308's so far with the drill technic.
I put the case in the drill mouth first and run the Lyman hand primer pocket swager in the pocket. I didnt have any trouble at all. Takes about 4 - 5 seconds per case.
You do need a 1/2" drill motor.
I had an RCBS one that I put in the drill and then I would push the case into that. THAT SUCKED.
But when you put the case in the drill instead, its actually not to bad.

[wistlepig1]

AMEN on mind numbing! I have the RCBS.

[LAH]

This is my way Lloyd. If you have a means to fix the drill so it's doesn't move [vise, etc] you can ream the pockets 'bout as quick as you can handle the brass...............Creeker
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h244/Creekerpics/Picture390-1.jpg


Dry Creek Bullet Works
Dry Creek Firewood

[Hardcast416taylor]

Mike in Co. You beat me to it by saying the RCBS unit is headstamp selective. You have to seperate all the cases you are going to do by headstamp arsenal. Otherwise you might, or probably will, bend the center rod as you adjusted it to the inside length of the case you started on. The VLD idea is something I will try, thanks.Robert

[buck1]

This may not help but I bought a LEE made punch and base to deprime crimped LC .223s. One sharp strike of the hammer and its deprimed and sheers the crimp at the same time. One of the few things I think they got right on the nose.

[jmorris]

I would pay a grand for a unit that worked with a colator and operated like a progressive press!! Anyone find a way to make this job at least bareable short of buying a 1050?

If you would already pay a grand for the soultion your 2/3 the way there and know the answer.

[Doc Highwall]

I have the RCBS and it is case head selective. I bought the Wilson reamer and I think it does a lot better job then the RCBS swage does. I have the screw driver adapter for the Wilson and it saves the fingers.

[Lead Fred]

I use an RCBS primer pocket uniformer bit in a cordless drill.

Iver done 1000s that way. $20 that goes a long ways

Wear a leather glove

[markinalpine]

This may not help but I bought a LEE made punch and base to deprime crimped LC .223s. One sharp strike of the hammer and its deprimed and sheers the crimp at the same time. One of the few things I think they got right on the nose.

Which Lee product did you use?
Mark :veryconfu

[Lloyd Smale]

ive got two champering tools a rcbs and a lyman and neither will do it without either having a bunch that arent done enough or done to much. The dillon is the same as the rcbs. If you have mixed brass its a pain as your allways ajusting it. If it were something that need doing each time i guess id buck up and buy the 1050 but for 1600 bucks ill probably muddle threw the pile with the dillon swadger..

[mike in co]

ive got two champering tools a rcbs and a lyman and neither will do it without either having a bunch that arent done enough or done to much. The dillon is the same as the rcbs. If you have mixed brass its a pain as your allways ajusting it. If it were something that need doing each time i guess id buck up and buy the 1050 but for 1600 bucks ill probably muddle threw the pile with the dillon swadger..


look at the pic above.

that is the ideam but the angle on that cutter takes out too much brass. do the same with a lyman vld( 12 bucks at midway) and you are set.

take a large hose clamp am dput the drill motor on a 2x4 clamp it at a handy hieght, and go to town.

and yes a 1050 seems to work well, but an expensive option.

i have done three lots of 1200, 1800, and 4000 on the lathe


mike in co

[jmorris]

Before I went the 1050 route I used a rig I can’t find any photos of now. It was a cheap bench top drill press that had a plate bolted to it with a post that stuck up. The case slipped over the post that supported it with the cutter in the chuck. Almost zero effort just not super fast.
Ever thought about just sending it out and having it processed for you? $30/1000 and it’s cleaned, sized, trimmed and swaged.

http://www.custombrassprocessing.com/services.html

[mike in co]

swaging primer pockets is my most dreaded job! Right now i have about 5000 .223s sized and trimmed and needing swadging. Ive got the dillon swadger and have tried about every other one on the market and have even tried cutting them with a champering tool and drill. All are mindnumbingly slow. I would pay a grand for a unit that worked with a colator and operated like a progressive press!! Anyone find a way to make this job at least bareable short of buying a 1050?

you can actually ship the brass to several places that will fully process for a price.

do a google search.....


mike in co

[trooperdan]

I haven't tried it but their trimmer has a big following. Check it out below:

http://www.matchprep.com/reamer.htm

[jmorris]

you can actually ship the brass to several places that will fully process for a price.

do a google search.....

I was just a click faster than you. From the end of post #20,

http://www.custombrassprocessing.com/services.html

[Lloyd Smale]

now that i like. Thanks Dan.
I haven't tried it but their trimmer has a big following. Check it out below:

http://www.matchprep.com/reamer.htm

[sdelam]

I tried the reaming, even bought a RCBS trim mate with the tool for it. It was still too slow for me.

I also bought the RCBS swedging tool, it was a total pain and my LNL didnt like it at all. I had to go back and ream them anyway.

My dad gave me a dillon super swedge but I havent tried it yet.

I bought an x-die to keep from having to trim, but it all gets mixed up and I end up just trimming it all againg anyway. I have the same problem with primer pockets, if it isnt obvious, i just re do it again.

I'm sitting on a few k myself and dreding the chor. I really hate preping .223. I'll load 45 all day but man..223 kills me. When I hit the lotto I'm buying it by the case and leaving it on the ground....


Who am I kidding, I still pick it up. it's a habit

[LAH]

look at the pic above.

that is the ideam but the angle on that cutter takes out too much brass. do the same with a lyman vld( 12 bucks at midway) and you are set.

take a large hose clamp am dput the drill motor on a 2x4 clamp it at a handy hieght, and go to town.

and yes a 1050 seems to work well, but an expensive option.

i have done three lots of 1200, 1800, and 4000 on the lathe


mike in co

Takes out too much brass??????????????

You could be correct. I've never used anything else so I have nothing to compare.

[Lloyd Smale]

well i muddle threw it again and got them all done on the dillon swadger. Been loading them now for about two days. IVe gone through 12lbs of powder so far and am about 2/3s of the way done. Should get me through the summer ar shooting. At least next year no swadging!!

[Mk42gunner]

I've got the Dillon and the RCBS swagers, I think the Dillon works a little easier. I have found that a touch of lube on the swage makes it a lot easier, but it is still a major pain in the neck.


Robert

[bkbville]

I put a 1/2" countersink in a drill, set to a low speed. Take a handful of brass and put it on the bit for a couple of secs, if that.

I did this with a drill press as well once, but couldn't get it to run as slow as I'd like.

My cordless drill stands on its own, but I brace it a bit so it doesn't move when I push the case against the sink, and my cordless can run slow - I adjust the speed with what is essentially a twist tie. So I don't pick-up and put-down the drill.

I pick-up a handful of brass in my left hand, then takefrom that one by one the cases, push the pocket against the rotating coutner sink.

If I had another slow drill I'd put the pocket cleaner into that and move from one to the other.

You get into a rythm; I didn't do any sort of time/motion study, but it seemed pretty efficient and mindless.