Your thoughts on the Dillon 600 Swage ?

[Johnch]

I have a bunch of crimped 223 and 308 brass I have been wanting to load

As I need to do a fair amount of primer pocket swaging and doing it other ways is going to take some time

I was thinking of buying a new or preferrably decent used Dillon 600 Swage

But I figured someone here has one

So how well dose it work ?

Any other sujestions to speed up the process for a more reasonable amount of $$ ?

John

[Doby45]

It is worth every single penny. Very easy to use, not much to explain because it is so simple. I just let my dad borrow mine or I would just send it to ya and let you use it.

[Mk42gunner]

I bought one used, no instructions came with it (naturally). What works best for me is to mount it to the bench at about a 45 degree angle to the left. I put the case on and flip it down with my left hand, operate the handle and pull the case with my right hand.

It takes a few cases to get the correct rhythm going, then you can just about zone out until you are out of cases for your left hand to grab.

The Dillon is definitely easier to use than the RCBS primer pocket swager, (I have both).

One thing to add, I wouldn't set either swager up for less than a hundred cases.


Robert

[Johnch]

The Dillon is definitely easier to use than the RCBS primer pocket swager, (I have both).
I have a RCBS primer pocket swager that screws in like a die and uses a swager in place of the shell holder
What a PITA

One thing to add, I wouldn't set either swager up for less than a hundred cases.
I have several thousand pieces of brass to do

Robert


Thanks
I will start looking for a used one

John

[sourceofuncertainty]

I borrowed one from my bro to process a couple thousand .30-06 cases. It worked very nicely and was certainly quick compared to reaming primer pockets by hand, which is what I was doing before.

[Lloyd Smale]

aint a perfect tool to do that crappy job but its the best ive found yet.

[Kevin Rohrer]

I bought one a couple weeks ago and am amazed at how well and how easily it works. With it mounted on a board, I can sit in front of the TV and decrimp brass all day long.

:drinks: Highly recommended for big decrimping jobs and will last forever if you set it up correctly. :drinks:

[Guesser]

Good tool, cheap when considering the aggravation involved in doing it any other way. I know; I tried'm all and finally got smart and called Dillon.

[uncle joe]

I have a lyman hand reamer. I just unscrew the bit out of the handle and chuck it into my cordless drill, lay the drill on a table with one hand laying on top push the trigger with the thumb and hold the case in the other hand. way cheap $7

[sargenv]

Before I picked up one of these in an estate sale, I had the RCBS press mounted unit.. I MUCH prefer the Dillon unit. Unfortunately my unit only came with the small rifle primer punch setup, I have to get off my fanny and call Dillon to get the large primer punch setup for it. I processed 10 gallons of 223 brass over the course of about a month..

[dragonrider]

It's a great tool.

[finishman2000]

Hey John, If you want to borrow mine for a few weeks let me know. I have both large and small pocket reamers.
Cas

[mike in co]

swagers are great if one has a single lot of brass.
the tool works by setting up based on case head thickness.
if the lot varies, the head thicknessvan vary, the amount of swaging can vary..
you dont find out till later when you start having issues priming the brass.
yes i own one....i seldon use it...

i currently only ream with lyman vld inside neack reamer.
the tool as it comes will do small primer pockets perfectly.
to do large pockets, one must grind the tip a little and do trial and error till happy with the results.

the tool can be used by hand...slow
in a drill motor....one hand on the drill one hand on the case...better than above.
in a drill press...use two hands on the case...pretty quick.
i use my lathe...very fast...550 7.62x51 cases in about 40 mins.

the tool produces a verly narrow lead angle, removes the crimped material only, and is pretty much self guiding. it has no cutter on the end, so does not mess with pocket depth.

so if its mixed brass i say no....go with the lyman tool
if all one lot go with the dillon

mike in co

[finishman2000]

just set it deep. the worst that happens is that the mouth of the pocket get rounded over. does no harm at all.
I set a few thousand cases out to the guy in texas figureing it would be faster, he sizes, swages and trims. i'll keep doing it myself. pockets were so tight is was problem. the dillon i've used for 25 years and will continue using it.

[mike in co]

just set it deep. the worst that happens is that the mouth of the pocket get rounded over. does no harm at all.
I set a few thousand cases out to the guy in texas figureing it would be faster, he sizes, swages and trims. i'll keep doing it myself. pockets were so tight is was problem. the dillon i've used for 25 years and will continue using it.

the mouth of the pocket should be rounded..its how the tool is designed.......less than that is well not how the tool was designed....look at the spud..it has a radius on it..to round the mouth of the proimer pocket..if it aint round...set too shallow..or the brass is not the same....


mike in co

[mike in co]

I have a bunch of crimped 223 and 308 brass I have been wanting to load

As I need to do a fair amount of primer pocket swaging and doing it other ways is going to take some time

I was thinking of buying a new or preferrably decent used Dillon 600 Swage

But I figured someone here has one

So how well dose it work ?

Any other sujestions to speed up the process for a more reasonable amount of $$ ?

John

the lyman tools cost about 12 bucks a peice...for 24 bucks and shipping you can have large and small primer pocket tools that never need set up...just runing and use them.

mike in co

[Papa Jack]

I have a large and small size pocket reamer from Hornady, they work great by hand but are two big to put in a drill motor unless you pul the tool out of the handle...
I have also used the Lyman tool and it works good too .
For fairly small lots of brass those are good tools, but then I ended up having a couple buckets of mixed up NATO brass that were range pick ups
I bought the Dillon swager, I built a stand to bolt it onto my reloading table at an angle, the Dillon works great !
"PJ"

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q191/62cad/DSC07226.jpg

[Russel Nash]

now, bear with me since I haven't actually tried this yet, but I have heard that the little handheld case deburring/chamfering tools work great for that.

I use the Possum Hollow Cutter/Trimmer's to trim my brass down.

Here is one video on how that works:

http://www.youtube.com/wolverineatwork#p/a/u/1/i42nDelSKf8

you can get a hex shanked tool holder for the possum hollow cutters/trimmers too. it just so happens to be of the right inside diameter for those hand held deburring and chamfering tools.

just chuck the chamfering tool into the holder, pointey end out and use that ream out the primer crimp.

like I have said, I haven't done it myself, but I have heard that it works slick as snot on the military brass.

and just another FYI...I use the RCBS X-die so I don't have to trim after every firing and resizing.

[mike in co]

now, bear with me since I haven't actually tried this yet, but I have heard that the little handheld case deburring/chamfering tools work great for that.

I use the Possum Hollow Cutter/Trimmer's to trim my brass down.

Here is one video on how that works:

http://www.youtube.com/wolverineatwork#p/a/u/1/i42nDelSKf8

you can get a hex shanked tool holder for the possum hollow cutters/trimmers too. it just so happens to be of the right inside diameter for those hand held deburring and chamfering tools.

just chuck the chamfering tool into the holder, pointey end out and use that ream out the primer crimp.

like I have said, I haven't done it myself, but I have heard that it works slick as snot on the military brass.

and just another FYI...I use the RCBS X-die so I don't have to trim after every firing and resizing.

go read my post...two tools required..one for small(as it comes) and one for large( ground down)
total cost about 25 bucks....

mike in co

[Russel Nash]

Yeah, I read your post.

I am talking about this tool:

http://www.thegunshop.co.uk/lyman_deburring_tool.jpg

which most of us already have because we either bought a starter or beginner's kit when we first got into reloading, or we needed something to smooth out the case necks once we were done trimming.

Add to that, this tool holder from Possum Hollow:

http://media.midwayusa.com/ProductImages/Medium/295771.jpg

which was originally meant to hold their caliber specific trimmer like this one:

http://media.midwayusa.com/ProductImages/Medium/127743.jpg

My logic being if you're alread trimming, chamfering and deburring your rifle cases with the possum hollow cutter/tool holder, then just use pointey end of the chamfering tool to "mill out" or "ream out" the primer crimp.

It would take a second or two to do, especially if your brass is all jumbled together....just look for the crimp or the NATO crosshair on the headstamp before you throw it in the bucket with the rest of your commercial/civilian brass.

here are the product links, by the way:

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=127743

and

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=295771

The tool holder is 10 bucks.

The trimmer is $20.49...I am ASSuming you'd have to tack shipping and handling onto to that as well.

Now, if you were real cheap, I guess you could already have on hand a socket adapter that fits in your drill, and then use the appropriate sized socket for the deburring/chamfering tool...like the guy did in the video.

[mike in co]

Yeah, I read your post.

I am talking about this tool:

http://www.thegunshop.co.uk/lyman_deburring_tool.jpg

which most of us already have because we either bought a starter or beginner's kit when we first got into reloading, or we needed something to smooth out the case necks once we were done trimming.

Add to that, this tool holder from Possum Hollow:

http://media.midwayusa.com/ProductImages/Medium/295771.jpg

which was originally meant to hold their caliber specific trimmer like this one:

http://media.midwayusa.com/ProductImages/Medium/127743.jpg

My logic being if you're alread trimming, chamfering and deburring your rifle cases with the possum hollow cutter/tool holder, then just use pointey end of the chamfering tool to "mill out" or "ream out" the primer crimp.

It would take a second or two to do, especially if your brass is all jumbled together....just look for the crimp or the NATO crosshair on the headstamp before you throw it in the bucket with the rest of your commercial/civilian brass.

here are the product links, by the way:

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=127743

and

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=295771

The tool holder is 10 bucks.

The trimmer is $20.49...I am ASSuming you'd have to tack shipping and handling onto to that as well.

Now, if you were real cheap, I guess you could already have on hand a socket adapter that fits in your drill, and then use the appropriate sized socket for the deburring/chamfering tool...like the guy did in the video.

plain and simple that tool takes way too much material out of a small primer pocket...no way to be unifrom in the process.....
will it remove a crimp....yes..is it the best tool for the job...NO.
THE LYMAN TOOL REQUIRES NO HOLDER remove from handle and chuck the stub..or use a small hex adapter from rcbs...
with the lyman tool you are done and uniform when the tool stops on the bottom of the primer pocket...a positive stop(no cutter on the end of the tool).

your choice is generic..mine is very specific to the specific job: primer crimp removal.
minimum material removed in both large and small pockets...narrow lead angle is self-centering..nearly impossible to go off center...not true of the large deburring tool...
how do you know when you are done ?? how do you make the cuts uniform ??

heck i dont even like that tool for what it was designed for...it does ok, but way too steep of an angle for a case mouth.

i dont mix commercial brass with mill brass...too big of case volume difference for me.


mike in co

[Russel Nash]

don't taze ...err...I mean...don't hate me bro!

You did see where I prefaced my initial post in this thread with this:


now, bear with me since I haven't actually tried this yet, but I have heard that the little handheld case deburring/chamfering tools work great for that.


right?

I'll get back to ya'll when I actually try it for myself.

FWIW, I did pick up RCBS's primer crimp remover too...I guess it gets spun up by a drill also.

I just haven't torn into my military brass yet. I still have plenty of commercial stuff to tear into.

Hmmn...that is interesting to hear about the difference in the volume of the military brass versus the commercial brass. hmmn...interesting.

[Swede44mag]

I bought a Dillon 600 Swage from a friend years ago after he did all the brass he had at the time it works great. I have tried RCBS and others sold them and kept the Dillon 600 Swage.

You may buy cheaper but nothing works better unless it is part of the Dillon press IMHO.

[Triggerhappy]

I've got a Dillon 600 swager and I love it. In fact I loan it to several friends now and again and find it hard to pry it from their hands at times. It's easy to use and set up and does a nice job. It will definitely last a lifetime, or several if you have reloading buddies.

[mike in co]

it is a great tool when used with a single lot of brass... mix the lot, mixed results.

the lyman vld inside need reamer id my first choice for mixed brass.

mike in co