sirgilligan
Member
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2010
- Messages
- 895
I finally had some time last night and I was looking at my sorted .223 and 5.56 brass. I had resized a lot of the .223 but I had been avoiding the 5.56 brass because it has crimped primer pockets.
So, I de-capped and resized the 5.56 brass. First thing I noticed was that it required more force to resize them. I figured it was because the primer pocket was crimped. Another thing I made a note of is that after resizing most of the 5.56 brass is just slightly long, while the .223 brass was 95% still within length specification. But that's not the point of this post.
Then I got out the RCBS Swager tool, watched the RCBS video on how to set it up and then a couple of others on youtube as well.
After many times turning the tool in a little more and a little more I finally produced a pocket where the visible edge of the crimp was gone. When I got it set and I started to work on the brass, it took a great deal of force and a quick motion to get the brass off of the swager's nipple. I am wondering, is that normal. The videos showed them gently lowering the ram and the case popping off. That is not the case for me.
The brass was all PMC X-TAC (M855)
I have not primed any of them yet, I have to get out the primers and tell you all what brands I have and ask advice, but that is a future post. I have kind of picked up various primers over time, when they were plentiful and when they were sparse I would buy some just because I had found some.
So, some questions:
Is it normal to require a good quick and firm motion to get the brass off of the swager?
Is it possible to over swage the primer pocket with the RCBS tool? If so, what are the results (besides loose primers)?
So, I de-capped and resized the 5.56 brass. First thing I noticed was that it required more force to resize them. I figured it was because the primer pocket was crimped. Another thing I made a note of is that after resizing most of the 5.56 brass is just slightly long, while the .223 brass was 95% still within length specification. But that's not the point of this post.
Then I got out the RCBS Swager tool, watched the RCBS video on how to set it up and then a couple of others on youtube as well.
After many times turning the tool in a little more and a little more I finally produced a pocket where the visible edge of the crimp was gone. When I got it set and I started to work on the brass, it took a great deal of force and a quick motion to get the brass off of the swager's nipple. I am wondering, is that normal. The videos showed them gently lowering the ram and the case popping off. That is not the case for me.
The brass was all PMC X-TAC (M855)
I have not primed any of them yet, I have to get out the primers and tell you all what brands I have and ask advice, but that is a future post. I have kind of picked up various primers over time, when they were plentiful and when they were sparse I would buy some just because I had found some.
So, some questions:
Is it normal to require a good quick and firm motion to get the brass off of the swager?
Is it possible to over swage the primer pocket with the RCBS tool? If so, what are the results (besides loose primers)?