Best way to remove military crip from .223

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TheDomFather

TheDomFather

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Ok so who has a great idea here?

I have a frankford arsenal case trimmer (the electric one) and I put one of there bits that is supposed to remove military crimps, after a couple of hundred rounds my fingers are ready to fall off anyone have a simple way of doing this?
Thanks,
Dom
 
TheDomFather said:
Ok so who has a great idea here?

I have a frankford arsenal case trimmer (the electric one) and I put one of there bits that is supposed to remove military crimps, after a couple of hundred rounds my fingers are ready to fall off anyone have a simple way of doing this?
Thanks,
Dom
Click to expand...
Actually what you just did is about the simplest way and least painful. I have used a #2 Phillips and today I use a RCBS Case Prep Center which is about the same as what you are doing. Not very labor intensive and you only need a light touch of case to tool head. After a few hundred more the finger muscles improve and they will hurt less. Short of buying once fired GI brass which has had the crimp removed what you have is about as good as it gets. :)

Ron
 
All of the major reloading equipment manufacturers make a reasonably-priced press-mounted system to remove the primer pocket crimp by swaging (i.e. pushing the brass out of the way).

The way I got started removing the crimp in my high school days was to cut out the displaced brass using an L.E. Wilson chamfer tool. It works but it quite laborious.

A knife can be used to cut away the displaced brass.

As someone has aready mentioned, you can use a #2 Philips screw driver as a combination swage and reamer.

Hornady, Lyman and others sell primer pocket reamers that can be screwed into a handle or chucked into a drill.

I use a 60 degree TiN coated countersink. Checked into a tabletop drill press, turn the drill on, grasp the case firmly between the thumb and forefinger of the dominant hand, raise the primer pocket to the counterskink and slowly rotate the case through about a half-turn while maintaining slight upward pressure and the countersink will remove the displaced brass. I have tried every other way listed in this post and for me this has been the most economical, fast and effective method I have come across.
 
I can only do about 69 at a time before my fingers complain. But I trim for length, inside deburr, outside chamfer, and uniform the primer pocket. If the uniformer is tight then I kiss the primer pocket with the inside case neck deburr bit that's running on the prep station. It's a lot of work.
 
I prefer the swagging process, LNL-AP. Since it does not remove any material I'm guessing the base will maintain it's strength, and tight pockets longer. You have to be careful when your using a cutter not to remove too much material, weakening the pocket.
 
Cheapest thing that works the first-time is the RCBS mil crimp removes, I chuck that in a cordless drill and go to work. Removes the crimp the first-time every time and does it for <$20.
 
Blue68f100 wrote:
Since it does not remove any material I'm guessing the base will maintain it's strength,
Click to expand...

Reaming the primer pocket to remove the crimp does not deprive the case of any strength nor does it expand the primer pocket. If you look at the crimp on military cases you will see that it is brass from the edge of the primer pocket that has been displaced below the plane of the case head and into the curvature of the primer cup. The displaced brass carries no force from the case head to the bolt so removing it by either swaging or reaming does not reduce the strength of the case but merely restores the diameter of the primer pocket.

If we're going to chase myths about removing military crimps then we would have to also consider that swaging, by forcing the displaced brass of the crimp back into the edges of the primer pocket work hardens the primer pocket thereby making it less elastic and thus more likely to promote expanded primer pockets.

In fact, the work hardening of the margins of the primer pocket by swaging has an immaterial impact on the strength or longevity of the case in exactly the same way that reaming milligrams of displaced brass has no material effect on the strength or longevity of the case.
 
Ok so looks like 2 recommendations for the dillon which of course is expensive, anyone try the RCBS benchtop which looks similar functionally to the Dillon?
 
TheDomFather said:
Ok so looks like 2 recommendations for the dillon which of course is expensive, anyone try the RCBS benchtop which looks similar functionally to the Dillon?
Click to expand...

When you consider your time, the quality of the job, the ease of use and speed, and the flexibility...it is cheap.

That said, if RCBS has one like it, it may be worth consideration...but I can promise you, you won't regret the Dillon.

Two tools you'll never regret for processing brass, like you're doing:
IMG_0311_1.jpg
 
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hdwhit said:
In fact, the work hardening of the margins of the primer pocket by swaging has an immaterial impact on the strength or longevity of the case in exactly the same way that reaming milligrams of displaced brass has no material effect on the strength or longevity of the case.
Click to expand...

Except, you can remove too much and make sloppy primer pockets.

The reamers are inexact. The process more prone to error. It takes longer. It is messier. It is tedious.

...IMO.

I did it for years.
 
Walkalong said:
You can use your chamfer/deburr tool if you go easy, but the RCBS crimp remover works great and is relatively inexpensive. I chuck it up in a small hobby lathe.
Click to expand...

I've got that too. And one of the other tools mentioned.

IMG_0314.jpg


Walkalong is right. They can do the job, and are cheap.

FWIW...I have them all, and stand by my recommendation.

Sometimes it is cheaper if you buy the right tool first, and skip buying ones you'll want to replace later.
 
I use both the RCBS Military Crimp Remover (reamer) and the RCBS Bench Swager below. I like this swager because it has a short handle that for me is more flexible. I don't have to have it mounted on the bench edge, so I can scoot up close and use it and the RCBS case prep machine at the same time. (with military reamer, pocket uniformer, and flash hole tool mounted and used together.)

Why use the swager AND the reamer? I just use the reamer to barely pop the swaged edge of the pockets to prevent edge-catching on my Pro 2000 progressive. Makes for trouble-free priming, and minimal brass removal both. The best of reaming and swaging.

So then My rifle case prep is done in four steps in batches: 1> Deprime, 2> Tumble, 3> Trim, 4> Swage, Uniform, bump the Reamer, then de-barb the flash holes. Obviously step four only has to be done once on LC brass I buy .

Uniforming pocket depths, BTW, allows me to set my progressive's priming rod to seat to the same depth every time. No more problems with AR 10 or 15 floating firing pins and slam fires. Yes I had one once on my AR10. Very unnerving. I like having a sure and uniform pocket depth and uniform seating depth. I sleep better.
41bb6cf6-4b73-45f5-bec7-6ff1ecfbfc15.jpg
 
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I find wraping the contact point of the case mouth and finger in tape helps tremendously.
 
TheDomFather said:
Ok so who has a great idea here?

I have a frankford arsenal case trimmer (the electric one) and I put one of there bits that is supposed to remove military crimps, after a couple of hundred rounds my fingers are ready to fall off anyone have a simple way of doing this?

I have a RCBS Trim Mate
I cut a light piece of sand paper to 1/2 x about 1 1/2"
I wrap it around the cartridge & use a standard pliers to hold it
against any tool on the RCBS unit.
I can do hundreds of cartridges with no pain to my fingers
try it




Thanks,
Dom
Click to expand...
 
Another vote for the CH4D primer pocket swaging die. Cost effective - like $30, easy, well designed, effective, works with existing press and shell holders. Removes the crimp and, unless rather obviously set up poorly, there's no risk of damage to the brass. One pull of the press lever and done.
 
"...work hardening of the margins of the primer pocket by swaging..." Doesn't exist. You will not work harden anything with the amount of, um, working of the brass that is done when swaging.
In any case, the amount of brass removed when removing the crimp is negligible. There are two ways of making it easier on one's hands. Do try to do hundreds at a time or don't use milsurp brass. Or you can make a tool that fits your mitt better. The whole thing isn't that complicated.
 
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