Prepping military .223/5.56 - tips from experts?

[rwebster71]

I'm told that the wages of sin, is death... but for anyone else that has had to prep hundreds (or thousands) of cases that have a military crimp, I'm sure there is some penance derived!

Anyhow, I was doing some .223 reloading this weekend and spent the better part of 3 hours just getting a few hundred rounds of crimped brass ready to go. I'm using a Lyman Case Prep Xpress, which has been a good little machine. After an hour with my hands cramping like mad, I resorted to holding the brass with a set of soft-neck pliers, to push down on the pocket reamer.

While I don't particularly enjoy prepping brass, I do know the importance of it, and reaming the pockets on military brass is tedious and time consuming. I have about 5,000 - 8,000 more rounds of crimped brass to do... any advice from people who have had to deal with reaming the pockets on thousands of rounds of .223?

Thanks,
Rick

 

[Hooda Thunkit]

So some today, some a few days from now, some next week....
That's the best I can tell you.

And pick up your own brass from now on, you won't have to do it again for a while.

 

[LiveLife]

any advice from people who have had to deal with reaming the pockets on thousands of rounds of .223?

I use C-H reamer - https://www.ch4d.com/products/equipment/case-tools/psk

And pick up your own brass from now on, you won't have to do it again for a while.

I use brass catcher.

 

[Taurus 617 CCW]

How about using a Dillon Super Swage 600? Its not perfect but will save you a lot of pain in your hands.

 

[Hooda Thunkit]

I use brass catcher.

The only 223 rifles I own are bolt or break action.

They don't fling the brass into orbit. Most of the time it never even hits the ground.

 

[1KPerDay]

I would use a swager in a press (RCBS type) or the dillon.

These are pretty nifty setups IMO

 

[TEXASJD]

I take the de swaging bit and use a high speed drill found this to be faster, I also recommend wearing a leather glove dont jam a case into your palm (dont ask me how I know)

But I have sure looked at these too when I had 10k cases to deal with
https://www.brownells.com/reloading...m-series-primer-pocket-swager-prod122150.aspx

 

[gudaki]

I ordered a primer pocket reamer from burstfireguns and couldn't be happier. They will fit most electric case prep stations and they are simple and quick to use. Here is a 5% discount code but not sure it still works. THR5

 

[CoalCrackerAl]

I use a RCBS swage die. It makes reloading much better. Im working on 9mm today. Some of them have swaged pockets.

 

[N555]

How about using a Dillon Super Swage 600? Its not perfect but will save you a lot of pain in your hands.

Yes.

 

[rwebster71]

So some today, some a few days from now, some next week....
That's the best I can tell you.

And pick up your own brass from now on, you won't have to do it again for a while.

Well, I was fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to acquire about 5-6,000 cases at no cost.

 

[rwebster71]

I would use a swager in a press (RCBS type) or the dillon.

These are pretty nifty setups IMO


OK, those swagers seem to be the hot ticket. Never seen one before! Thanks for sharing, that sounds like a real time saver.

 

[earplug]

A #3 Philips bit with the flutes sharpened with a Dremel will cut the crimp out quickly. I have used a drill press and a hand drill.
I learned this trick on THR.

 

[lightman]

I'm told that the wages of sin, is death... but for anyone else that has had to prep hundreds (or thousands) of cases that have a military crimp, I'm sure there is some penance derived!

Anyhow, I was doing some .223 reloading this weekend and spent the better part of 3 hours just getting a few hundred rounds of crimped brass ready to go. I'm using a Lyman Case Prep Xpress, which has been a good little machine. After an hour with my hands cramping like mad, I resorted to holding the brass with a set of soft-neck pliers, to push down on the pocket reamer.

While I don't particularly enjoy prepping brass, I do know the importance of it, and reaming the pockets on military brass is tedious and time consuming. I have about 5,000 - 8,000 more rounds of crimped brass to do... any advice from people who have had to deal with reaming the pockets on thousands of rounds of .223?

Thanks,
Rick

I may be the only guy alive that didn't like the Dillon Swaging tool. It works great once its adjusted but some crimps require it to be readjusted. But for speed and ease of operation its hard to beat. I hadn't seen those mods using springs but they were pretty neat. A rubber band is commonly used but the spring looks like it works better.

To ease the cramping in your hands try using a pair of tight fitting gloves like weight lifters or bike riders use. They help a lot!

I have a couple of Forrester Neck Turning tools that came with a device to hold the case that works kind of like a tap wrench does. The tool that holds a tap when you are threading holes. Google might show something about it.

Most of the time I ream the primer crimp rather than swage it and the tool I like best is the Wilson tool. I have had a few others that got dull rather quickly and the Wilson tool seems to be made of better steel.

Having a bucket of 223 brass is what pushed me to buy a Giraud case trimmer. Expensive, yeah! But I can easily trim 15 or 16 cases pre minute and maintain .001 tolerance in length.

Call me odd maybe, but I rather enjoy doing case prep. But when you're looking at thousands of cases it does get old.

Good Luck with your case prep.

 

[AJC1]

I use a rcbs military crimp remover in a drill press. I do a couple of hundred and stop for a while.

 

[Pottimus]

If I know they are all Once fired Military I will run the counter sink lightly over the crimp. There are times I just see if the primer seats easily. If not...I use a counter sink chucked up in a cordless drill, I do know they are going to be too long and need a trimming that is the real PITA for "This Enthusiast".

 

[Dynamite Rabbit]

If by chance you have a Hornady LNL progressive, Hornady makes a great setup to swage the primer pockets.

 

[Harriw]

I chuck one of those little thread-in primer-pocket reamer bits into my wood lathe. That gives me speed control, lets me use both hands to hold the case, and it guarantees the bit will stay stationary while I push the case against it, (cast iron lathe bolted to the bench isn't going anywhere). I do both the primer pocket and the flash hole this way on all my range-pick-up cases. I've found it's faster to just crank through all of them than it is to sort out the brass with military crimps. And I need to do the flash holes on them all anyway. I tried using a hand-drill first, but found I really wanted 2 hands to hold the case straight. I spent about 15 minutes trying to figure out how to mount my drill in place somewhere before I realized I already had another tool that did that...

 

[Varminterror]

I used to have an autodrive on a Dillon 1050, two decappers, batch them all through, then swage twice.

I don’t have that kit any more, but shoot with a guy which does, so I send him my crimped brass, and pay a small nominal fee measured in ounces of Coors original for the privilege of sitting in his shop and watching the robots run.

 

[Megawatt maker]

Dillion super swage user here, but I found a guy that makes a slick add on for it. Saves even more time.




If anyone is interested..I can dig out his contact info and PM it to you, but you'll have to use FB messenger. I told him about THR but not sure if he joined yet

 

[Bcwitt]

I use an rcbs swager, but if I had to do as many as you have, I might just put a chamfer tool or large drill bit in the drill press & push cases into it one @ a time.

 

[lordpaxman]

any advice from people who have had to deal with reaming the pockets on thousands of rounds of .223?

RL1100. Or find someone who has one, preferably with a trimmer attached. A 1050 would work too. I used to use a SS press with the RCBS swage tool. That works for small numbers of cases for me, but with what you have, or might anticipate having, spend some of your kid’s inheritance. Good luck.

 

[edwardware]

My approach is two-fold:
- Use uncrimped brass to reload for high volume low precision (>1MOA) gas guns.
-Reserve the excellent, consistent, hard, crimped LC brass for precision work; that makes the trouble of swaging pockets worth it, because the brass lasts 15+ reloads. Swaging is much easier than reaming. . . but requires sorted headstamps.

 

[jmorris]

…any advice from people who have had to deal with reaming the pockets on thousands of rounds of .223?

Get a press that has a swage station that removes the crimp as part of the loading process.

The crimp is removed from them in station #3 of this 1050 for example.



Does not even require one to handle each case, making it easier on the hands and much faster.

That said, there are a number of cutting and swaging tools that are more than capable of converting thousands of crimped pockets to something more friendly to load.



I have personally done thousands with the tools above, over the years myself. If you can break it up over time they all will do the job. If you’re trying to prep all of that brass you have stashed in the garage before summertime you may or may not want a less labor intensive setup.

If you have this much, you would probably want Camdex or Ammoload equipment.


Not part of your question but Dillon also has a tool head mounted trimmer that takes most of the work out of that task as well.

 

[Kaldor]

I use a rcbs military crimp remover in a drill press. I do a couple of hundred and stop for a while.

Same here. I clamp a wood block with a hole slightly bigger than the case neck below to more or less hold the brass taking some stress off my hand as I lower the handle. I also wear rubber coated gloves so my hands are more grippy. Its pretty fast and efficient. Ive kicked around putting a foot pedal on my drill press to make it even faster but never finished it.