How to remove military crimp?

[1911Man]

How do I go about doing this? I'm starting to get quite a pile of military brass and am ready to learn.

[doug66]

I have a RCBS swaging tool that works well. Mounts on ram of a single stage press. I have stuck the pointed end of a deburring tool into primer pocket, and give a twist. Works well also.
I hand prime with the Lee gizmo, so I can feel if I have removed enough of the crimp. I like the the deburring tool method the best.

[howlnmad]

There are several ways to remove a military crimp.
1- there is a crimp remover availible from reloading suppliers
2-some say you can remove them with a case chamfering tool
3-I went out to my woodshop and got a countersink for screw holes. Chucked in my bench top drill-press and go at it.

Just remember, you only want to remove the crimp, you're not cutting new pockets.

howlnmad

[res45]

How many you have to do will probably determine what system you want to use,about ever reloading equipment supplier makes some type of tool be it a small hand tool,press mounted like RCBS or stand alone system like the Dillion or one that used with a case trimmer setup.

I don't do that much military brass so a small cheap hand tool works for me I use this one http://www.grafs.com/product/260039 the handles also works with primer pocket cleaner tips. There very sharp and cut the crimp out with about one or two turns.

[312shooter]

Easy, take a chamfering and deburring tool and a drill. chuck the end of the deburring side into the drill and start slowly with moderate pressure with the chamfering end inside the primer pocket. You will see a single coil of brass spiral off and your done. Absolute results everytime and an inexpensive way to get uniform results.

[army mp]

I use the primer pocket swag, I load a lot of AR ammo and believe the swag a better choice for the Semi rifles, I have never had a slam fire. And believe that trimming the pockets too much contributes to loose primers.

[Skipper]

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct...tNumber=389104

[JLA]

pointy end of a deburr tool...

[oldreliable45120]

I use the Hornady crimp remover. I have one for both lg and sm primer pockets.When I have alot of mi brass to prep I unscrew the tool head from the handle and chuck in in a cordless drill.It works great doing it this way because you cant overdo the chamfer on the case, the tool will bottom out before you can overdo it. I used to use the RCBS swaging tool but it took way too long.

[medalguy]

It depends on how much brass you're doing. Dillon makes a great swaging tool that is extremely fast and easy to use. I think it's a bit pricey but it sure works great. Amortizing the cost over thousands of rounds of ammo brings the cost very low and it's very fast and totally repeatable. No guesswork and no ruined brass.

[LDBennett]

My experience may be different than most but I bought about 1000 cases, 308 , of Lake City (Mil-Surp). I deprimed them all with a standard sizing die and then attempted to reform the crimped primer pockets with my Dillon Tool. The few case's prime pockets done with the tool were not uniformly formed comparing one to the other so I broke out the instructions. It seems, according to Dillon, that military brass can vary in head thickness enough to create this situation.

I had to resort to using the rotary tool made by RCBS to reshape the primer pockets to remove the crimp.

The Dillon tool is probably not all that useful if it can not do ordinary Mil-Surp 308 brass from Lake City!

LDBennett

[howlnmad]

LD

You did not just put down a Dillon product, did you? Just kidding .

howlnmad

[LDBennett]

The Dillon tool would work great IF ............. Mil Surp brass were more consistent

So you see I am not putting down Dillon, but the brass. Too bad that about the only brass you'll ever need to remove the crimp on is Mil Surp brass.

There are a few tools that Dillon makes that I will not recommend but there are tons of tools that Lee makes that I absolutely will not recommend. I am fair in that I like the Lee Factory Crimp Die design, just not the materials Lee chooses to use to make it.

OK... I give up. I put down a Dillon tool. There goes my subsidy from Dillon for this month. :-) :-)

LDBennett

[medalguy]

I have also found some variance in 308 brass but not very much. Lately I've been reloading some 9mm and found quite a bit of web thickness variance in that brass. Generally when I get LC 308 brass it's all one year and is usually pretty consistent.

[LDBennett]

I found this head thickness variation across the same year head stamp. This was 308 LC brass.

I think the Dillon tool to be not useful, if this is the case with all mil-surp brass as their instructions imply. Actually the RCBS tool when powered takes less time.

When I recently did some 50BMG brass with crimped in primers I chucked up each case in my lathe and used a counter sink. That also worked just fine but thank goodness I only had to do 50 cases.

LDBennett

[howlnmad]

LD
I was just trying to give you a friendly hard time. I have actually been looking at the blue presses, just can't warrant the cost as to the amount I do.
I'm glad you posted that about the 308's. I don't reload them but it is good to know. Never know what rifle may show up next.
How did you make out on those 50 cal rounds? Haven't heard anymore about them.

howlnmad

[LDBennett]

howlnmad:

Its a waiting game! We have to wait for the die set, the powder, and my son-in-law to come up with his half of the money for the BOHICA Conversion unit for the AR lower we already have.

In California we can not have 50BMG as we might shoot down an air liner (that's the argument the gun control freaks used to get the law passed). But Californians, being of the inventive type, started using the 50 DTC. It is a slightly reformed 50BMG case that uses the 50BMG bullets, primers and the same reloading data. But it is legal here! The nummy gun control freaks made the law 50BMG specific!

So we have to have dies sets made. CH/4D makes them but only in batches and they are currently sold out. The wait is 2 to 3 months. The powder, like all powder today is hard to get. It is H50BMG and my wholesaler doesn't have any. Hodgdon (or any powder distributor for that matter) will not give them specific schedules for delivery of powder. So we'll have to wait on the powder. Then there's the money for the conversion. My son-in-law just got a big tax bill so that may be a couple of months wait as well. If I get the powder and the die set, I'll put up the BOHICA money and he can pay me back later (he's good for it).

I don't want to anneal the brass until I get the die set and the BOHICA (use it to test the chamber fit of the sized brass). You can't get the horse before the cart when you are doing custom dies and a unique chamber. One shooter, trying to fire form the brass, already got hurt when he apparently was jamming the bolt closed on cartridges that didn't fit the chamber. I want to be sure every sized case is right before going to the range! The first shooting step is reduced loads and fire forming the brass and I think we are months away from that!

LDBennett