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Decrimping Disaster

S

SporterII

Full Member
Full Member
Minuteman
Nov 23, 2006
2,049
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Central Fl. USA
I cleaned some of my Federal 223 Match brass and tried my hand at decrimping with a new Forster ream
Complete failure.
I can opperate this type of tool and believe it is not sufficient. Primers go sideways and otherwise end up in the trash.
All my Winchester, Lapua , Remington brass primes like butter with my RCBS hand held.
What is the best tool to salvage this Federal crimped brass?
 
Re: Decrimping Disaster

I would experiment with the reamer. Forster makes really good quality gear, so I suspect there is a learning curve with the tool.

If I worked at forester, I would prefer making a tool that doesn't take off too much material, rather than one that ruins brass by taking off too much.

Try wiggling the reamer around a little more to increase the amount of material removed.
 
Re: Decrimping Disaster

Dillon 600 Deswager, unless youve totally buggered the pockets.

I haven't tried the RCBS deswagger but it looks capable if you want green.
 
Re: Decrimping Disaster

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Gunsnjeeps</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Dillon 600 Deswager, unless youve totally buggered the pockets.

I haven't tried the RCBS deswagger but it looks capable if you want green. </div></div>

This

RCBS makes a bench mounted and a die, the die is not bad, its what I use. But all accounts are both benchmounted units are better, Dillion is the long time standard, I keep meaning to upgrade.
 
Re: Decrimping Disaster

If you have a good number to do, and plan buying more crimped brass, get the bench mounted tool.
I have the RCBS die, it's slow. Have the tool for the trim mate also, sucks, just end up with sore fingers!
At the price of brass these days, it will pay for itself.
 
Re: Decrimping Disaster

I have used the RCBS die set up for years. It works well, but it is slow and kind of a pain to use. If I ever get another it'll be one of the bench mounted units.
 
Re: Decrimping Disaster

How long does it take y'all do process pockets with the Dillon SS600?

Any particular technique? Break it down for me, because I find this process to be a royal PITA.

Here is my method:

- Adjust caseweb support stem so that it will swage ALL headstamps. Obviously, it will be capable of overswaging some...

- Swage by amount of force on the lever, instead of just camming it over for maximum swage

- I am right handed, and stand directly in front of the tool, which is mounted to my bench. This means the lever swings to the right, as viewed from my position.

- I place the "to be swaged" bowl to the left of the tool, and the "swaged" bowl directly behind the tool.

- I grab a piece of brass, place it on the stem and flip it down using my left hand.

- As soon as the case is in place, my right hand begins swinging the lever while my left hand grabs a fresh case.

- By the time my right hand has swung the lever down and then back up, my left hand is ready to flip the stem up. I grab the swaged case with my right hand and toss it in the "swaged" bowl while the left hand places the fresh case on the stem.

I can do about 15/minute this way, but it's tough to keep up the speed.

Really wish I had a Dillon 1050...

Any advice?
 
Re: Decrimping Disaster

Turbo,
I'd work on my stamina when not reloading, maybe eye hand coordination also.
Set a goal of 17 per minute, get stop watch and go to town.
smile.gif
 
Re: Decrimping Disaster

I use the RCBS swager, and it works well. It is not real fast, but I enjoy tinkering around the bench, so it doesn't bother me.
 
Re: Decrimping Disaster

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: NSO123</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I use the RCBS swager, and it works well. It is not real fast, but I enjoy tinkering around the bench, so it doesn't bother me. </div></div>

I agree, the RCBS press mounted swager does a nice job, though it is painfully slow. If you've got a couple hundred cases to do, it works, but when you're looking at 4 20mm ammo cans full of crimped brass, it's simply a no-go.
 
Re: Decrimping Disaster

Have you given Forster a call? The times I've spoken to customer service,they've been great, and I don't even own any forster equipment...
 
Re: Decrimping Disaster

I like the Wilson tool. It replaces the cutter head in their case trimmer and leaves a nice smoothly curved edge on the pocket. It's fast and easy if you use the power drive adapter.
 
Re: Decrimping Disaster

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: NJHKAR</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The best cutting style tool is definitely the hornady crimp reamer. It has a stop so you cannot cut into the pocket.
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/804809/hornady-primer-pocket-reamer-package?cm_vc=subv1253550

I chuck mine into the drill press and roll through them with ease.
I would say definitely stay away from the countersink bit suggested above, it is not the correct tool for removing primer crimps. </div></div>

Like I said a 5 gallon pail in 3 hour's. That's not counting the 1000's I've done over the year's.
Once you try it you can hear the differance of when it's cutting and when it's not.
 
Re: Decrimping Disaster

Take care to ensure your swager does not bottom out in the primer pocket.

I missed this once and ended up with some primer pockets that were grossly distorted, but did not present themselves as anything noticeable when the primers were seated. It took a good friend who sectioned one of my fired cases lengthwise to bring that lesson home to me.

I can't really say what the full consequences could have been but the whole episode scared the Willies out of me.

Greg
 
Re: Decrimping Disaster

I will call Forster. I spent a lot of time with this tool and priming is just not happening for me. I can see a nice radius left but the pocket is still too tight.
I hope not to set one off.
 
Re: Decrimping Disaster

I've ben using the Forster crimp reamer for a number of years. It works pretty well for me, better with the large rifle size. Depending on the headstamp, I will test to see how many revolutions it takes to properly decrimp. It varies with the make of the brass. I usually use 2-4 rotations W/ light pressure and that seems to work. I've tried the Lyman reamer years ago and it didn't work well. I haven't tried the Hornady reamer.


**EDIT** I was curious and was able to get to my reloading room today. I pulled out various once fired 223/5.56 primer crimped brass to test out the Forster and the Lyman crimp reamer.

With the Forster cutter, I tried some "PSD 12" and "LC 04" (NATO) brass. The "PSD 12" brass had a deep crimp and it took 5 medium pressure full turns to cut the crimp out and to easily seat a new primer. The LC 04" had a less firm crimp and it took 3 medium pressure turns to easily seat a new primer.

I dug around and found the small Lyman primer cutter I put away long ago. I haven't used it in years. I found a power adapter for it and was able to chuck it in a variable speed drill, set horizontally in a vice. I set the drill to the slowest speed.

I F/L sized and deprimed a number of cases. I found that "WCC 08" and "LC 09"(non NATO) had light primer crimps and didn't need to be decrimped. I was able to seat new primers with no cutting. On the other hand, I found "FC09"(non NATO), "LC 03" (NATO) and "LC 09" (NATO) had heavy primer crimps.

I turned the drill on and fed the cases into the primer pocket. I found I had to be careful not to feed the cases too far into the primer pocket and open it up too much. When I used care, I was able to cut the heavily crimped cases and was able to easily seat a new primer with a still snug pocket. I used an older Hornady hand priming tool to prime the cases. My new favorite hand priming tool is a K&M hand primer. It is a single feed tool, but it can be adjusted for primer depth and give you a good feel of the primer seating. I use for my L/R rifle ammo.

The point of this shows some crimped cases can take a new primer without reaming and some were heavily crimped and needed to be reamed.

The Hornady primer pocket reamer that was suggested by a couple of members here might be a good tool to try. It's not expensive and it's similar to the Lyman cutter I used. I would get it with a power adapter, chuck it in a drill and try it out.

If you can't get it to work, I'd spend the $$$$ and get a Dillon or RCBS bench swager, especially if you're doing high volume.

What priming tool are you using?
 
Re: Decrimping Disaster

I've used the Hornady reamer bits to good effect for 18 years and they still cut nicely. They have a depth stop feature, which is nice, as one can't cut too deeply. I have them installed on my RCBS TrimMate and this combo works very well, if not a bit on the slower side for a powered gizmo.

Two Christmases ago, I got the Dillon SS 600 and added the string/rubber band auto feed mod, before lending it to a buddy on the AR15 chat.

I need to get it back!

Chris
 
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