Military crimp removal

[Shooter83]

Hi all, just wondering if anyone can point me in the direction of the best way to remove mellitary crimp off. 308 GGG brass please. Thanks

 

[kennyc]

if you are only doing a few at a time then a Lee (other makes exist) case deburring tool will do the job, you can also buy cutter tools that can be held in the chuck of a drill, if you are doing a lot then a swaging tool is the way forward

 

[Rory]

RCBS Trim Mate Military Crimp Remover LARGE RCBS90387 - Premier Distributors

RCBS

www.cdsgltd.co.uk

You could get by with a normal chamfer tool, but it would be twdious and you could chamfer too much material out the pocket.

 

[palmer_mike]

, if you are doing a lot then a swaging tool is the way forward

deffo!

 

[EMcC]

I have used in the past a small size normal electricians screwdriver.

 

[Alantoo]

Just pushing the primer out removes most of the crimp...and a wipe with a primer pocket reamer/cleaner or a countersink will deal with the rest.

Alan

 

[Robs]

RCBS primer pocket swaging tool. Pop it in the press and resize the primer pockets. Will work best if you then deburr the primer pockets. Most of my reloading is TR reloading so get through thousands of GGG imperial cases each year, Never let me down and of course you only need to do it once. Borrow one if you don't want to buy it.

 

[Shooter83]

Thank you all. Plenty of options here. I probably have about 500cases.

 

[Sierra]

500 cases should take a couple of hours. Only needs a turn or two each with a reamer/ countersink.

I have sorted mine in the past while the Mrs is watching some rubbish on the TV. "Quality time" well spent!

 

[Shooter83]

500 cases should take a couple of hours. Only needs a turn or two each with a reamer/ countersink.

I have sorted mine in the past while the Mrs is watching some rubbish on the TV. "Quality time" well spent!

Just a regular countersink from tool station? I have plenty of those about in the workshop

 

[Sierra]

Should be fine, just go gently with it and avoid taking off too much brass from the pocket rim.

 

[Woodsmoke]

I find a turn with a standard deburring tool does the job admirably

 

[25 Sharps]

Just pushing the primer out removes most of the crimp...and a wipe with a primer pocket reamer/cleaner or a countersink will deal with the rest.

Alan

Not in my experience with GGG 5.56, you have to remove a lot of material to get a decent seat for your new primer.

After a couple of years of reaming I bought an RCBS primer pocket swager 2. Best thing I ever did! Gives a nice even pocket with really removing any material

 

[Alantoo]

Not in my experience with GGG 5.56, you have to remove a lot of material to get a decent seat for your new primer.

After a couple of years of reaming I bought an RCBS primer pocket swager 2. Best thing I ever did! Gives a nice even pocket with really removing any material

On the GGG cases I experimented with the crimp bulges only went into the pocket a little way and just overhang the radius of the primer cup...the actual wall of the primer is not affected.

Depriming pushed most of the crimp bulge back and there was just a little bit remaining that came out with a countersink...the countersink did not go below the radius of the primer so did not reduce the contact surface area / seal of the primer against the pocket wall.

I am sure a swager works fine at pushing the bulges back...but the added advantage of a wipe with a countersink is that there is a lead in for the new primers at the mouth of the pocket.

Alan

 

[25 Sharps]

On the GGG cases I experimented with the crimp bulges only went into the pocket a little way and just overhang the radius of the primer cup...the actual wall of the primer is not affected.

Depriming pushed most of the crimp bulge back and there was just a little bit remaining that came out with a countersink...the countersink did not go below the radius of the primer so did not reduce the contact surface area / seal of the primer against the pocket wall.

I am sure a swager works fine at pushing the bulges back...but the added advantage of a wipe with a countersink is that there is a lead in for the new primers at the mouth of the pocket.

Alan

.308 may be different but what you are describing would not be the case. As both myself and @kennyc found with a reamer you think you’ve removed enough material visually and you still get so much resistance seating that you can crush some primers so you have to remove more material.

If you have a lot of cases to do the swager is the way forward

 

[MarinePMI]

Use a swaging tool.

The RCBS one if fine for a few cases.

If you intend to use military brass a lot though, a Dillon Super Swager is the way to go. You can plow through a thousand cases fairly quickly, especially with the rubber band mod.

 

[Alantoo]

.308 may be different but what you are describing would not be the case. As both myself and @kennyc found with a reamer you think you’ve removed enough material visually and you still get so much resistance seating that you can crush some primers so you have to remove more material.

If you have a lot of cases to do the swager is the way forward

If you were crushing primers then yes obviously not enough metal was removed or pushed back...but I am surprised you experienced that having used a reamer which presumably can only cut to its fixed diameter.

I tried both a reamer and countersink and actually preferred the countersink because of the lead in it gave for subsequent primer insertion.

Alan

p.s. Thinking about your reamer problem a bit more, was it a two flute reamer? I was wondering if it generated a reuleaux triangle instead of cutting a clean circle at the pocket mouth...once it was further in it would have been kept concentric and guided by the unbruised portion of the pocket...but I would have though it would have tended to just cut oversize at the mouth even if reuleaux shaped.

 

[GGG]

I use a Dillon Super Swage 600, and have found it to be the very best solution when swaging large quantities of brass. It’s even quicker if you make a little modification to speed up the process