Excessive Swaging Of .223 Brass With Dillon SS600

[PCCUSNRET]

I may have ruined a large amount of Military .223 while removing the crimps. I set up the Dillon 600 Super Swager for removing crimps on WCC .223 brass several years ago and it worked great with no problems. Recently I've been going through several cans of military .223 brass and removing the crimps. I never bothered to readjust the rod that holds the brass in place while being crimped. After running several hundred pieces of brass through the swager I noticed there was an indent made in the web of some of the brass (I'll try to get a photo tomorrow if possible). One half of the bottom of the primer pocket has an indentation that is shaped like a 3/4 moon. I have not tried to fire any of this brass yet, but I did resize and prime about 30 of these cases. The primers went in snug but I've read on some other web sites that the web may be damaged and the brass is ruined if over swaged. Would this "bump" on one side of the bottom of the primer pocket cause the primers to fail? Not sure why the indent was only on one side and not in the center of the pocket. I didn't think I was applying too much force but apparently I did or something isn't adjusted properly. Anyone ever have this happen? If yes, was the brass destroyed? Hate to scrap several hundred cases but will if it might be unsafe to shoot or cause the rounds to FTF. Thanks! :banghead:

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I wish I had an answer for you but anything I would say would be a guess. I hope this,works out for you. I'm going to watch this thread since I use a SS600.

 

[Blue68f100]

Are your sure it was not there before swaging?

Looks like the depriming pin was hitting off center and hanging the brass.

Should not impact the primer going off as long as they seat to the bottom to load the anvil up. If the deprimer damaged the brass it may show up though.

 

[Load Master]

I have the same question, if that may have been there before you swagged it. What does the end of your swagger pin look like? Personally I would try loading one of the cases up and see if it will go bang as it should.

One other personal thing, I no longer use Perfecta for a number of reasons. They are not so perfecta.

 

[<*(((><]

I dealt with the same problem setting up my RCBS swager, I had it set wrong for about 50 cases. I had similar marks in my pockets. I primed some cases and loaded them, the primers felt ok when hand priming, however, when I got to the range about 6-8 of the primed cases dropped their primers out. I threw away the cases and readjusted the swager.

 

[PCCUSNRET]

I'm sure it happened during the swaging of the pockets. Also the indentation matches the tip of the rod that holds the brass on the Dillon. I've come to the conclusion that I either had the rod that holds the brass screwed out too far or the brass wasn't aligned properly. Once I get some more crimped brass I'll see if adjusting it differently resolves the problem. I will go ahead and load some of this brass and try shooting them this weekend.

Did those primers that dropped out drop out before or after they were fired?

 

[243winxb]

http://ballistictools.com/articles/primer-pocket-depth-and-diameter.php I would measure the depth of the primer pocket with my RCBS vernier caliper, to see if its in spec. Then i would measure the web thickness with a tool like here. https://www.ar15.com/mobile/topic.html?b=6&f=42&t=276154 Web under .175" is too thin. On my rod, i beveled the tip that contacts the area of the flash hole, to allow for the burr left from punching the flash hole. Photo from www.ar15.com

 

[PCCUSNRET]

I would measure the depth of the primer pocket with my RCBS vernier caliper, to see if its in spec.

According to the chart some of these were not in spec, off to shallow by .005". I took a broken decapper rod that fit inside the primer pocket and mounted it in my vise and used a brass punch to flatten the bottom of the primer pocket and it removed the indent and put the pocket back in spec.

Then i would measure the web thickness with a tool like here. Web under .175" is too thin.

Not sure that would work on this brass as basically it appears what has happened in one side of the primer pocket has been pushed out towards the mouth of the primer pocket and the other side has remained in place. In other words, there is now what looks like a "step" in the bottom of these pockets. I am going to test a few with the indentation pushed back and see how it goes. I don't believe the thickness has changed much (if any) as one side of the pocket was not moved. If nothing else, I've learned another reloading "lesson". You would think after doing this for almost 25 years there would be no more lessons to be learned. One bright side, the value of scrap brass is pretty good right now.

 

[<*(((><]

Both, the primers fell out in the plastic reloading box before shooting and some after before I saw what happened. When I pulled them out of the case (stored primer down) powder trickled out, then upon looking over the rest I found 5-6 others the same way. That day I shot 50 rounds doing load work up and some of the spent rounds lost their primer as well.

 

[PCCUSNRET]

Both, the primers fell out in the plastic reloading box before shooting and some after before I saw what happened. When I pulled them out of the case (stored primer down) powder trickled out, then upon looking over the rest I found 5-6 others the same way. That day I shot 50 rounds doing load work up and some of the spent rounds lost their primer as well.

I'm using CCI small rifle primers and they appear to be "tight" in the pockets (at least before firing). My biggest concern now is whether on not the primers will work with them not being completely flush with the bottom of the primer pocket. I have loaded several rounds of each of FC, LC & Perfecta and should have some results by Friday as to whether or not they will go to scrap bin.

 

[PCCUSNRET]

Shot 36 of these today from a Remington 700 bolt action. All 36 fired on the first strike of the firing pin. I noticed no difference in accuracy and there were no problems with any of the primers falling out of the pockets. When I got home I removed the primers from 2 of each headstamp, FC, LC, & Perfecta and the webs on all that had the bumps in the bottom of the primer pockets still had them, they just don't seem as pronounced. I'm not suggesting that others try this, just couldn't bring myself to scrapping all this brass without at least giving it a try. There were also 10 pieces of WCC brass that I used one of the pocket uniformers to remove the "bump" in the bottom of the pocket and they also fired without any problems. I won't feel so bad now about putting this brass in the scrap bucket now that I got at least one reload out of them. I have not been able to find any information on what happens should a web fail in a .223 case. I don't want to risk damage to my guns and I've made it this far without any injuries caused by my reloads.

 

[243winxb]

The Remington action gives good protection from case web failures. If a primer fails, the bolt face may get a pock mark, but only looks bad. Doesnt hurt a thing.

[/URL][/IMG] Click photo for more info. http://www.photobucket.com/joe1944usa

 

[PCCUSNRET]

I picked up some more LC & FC brass on Thursday that needed crimps removed. I readjusted the 600 for the LC and it worked just fine. No such luck for the FC. To remove the crimp on some of the FC brass it ended up with the same indentation that I was seeing before. This didn't happen with all of the FC, just those pieces that had really tight pockets. I think part of the problem is the rod that holds the brass is deflecting off the bur left from punching out the flash hole and that is why the dent shows up on the side of the web. Beginning to see why there is so much military brass left lying around at the range.