The Firearms Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.
21 - 30 of 30 Posts
This is a reamer, it WILL cut some brass if you have a crimped pocket, but also bevels the edge a tad so that the primer will go in. I still get about 1 in 200 that I shave a tiny bit of brass on when priming just because I didn't quite do it enough I suppose.
Yup. That's about what the Lyman tool that I use does.
 
I picked up the RCBS press swag kit a couple days ago and have processed 70 LC 5.56 cases with it. All had a crimp that made a complete circle around the primer hole rather than at just 3 or 4 locations. I find this very obnoxious as it created a fine ring of brass that tended to break off and foul the primer pocket or priming tool.

What ended up working the best for me was to tighten down the swag till the press linkages made a loud "clunk" when it cammed over and took a very strong forward stroke of the press arm to dislodge it from the tool. This was what it took to create the bevel around the primer pocket. I'd not recommend a Hornady press for this process as the harsh mechanical banging about caused the die to unlock and pop out. I'm also not sure how it will hold up to hundreds of swag operations as it is cast aluminum.
 
I just have the Lyman hand reamer that also puts a bit of a taper on the pocket. I don't load for speed, so a few evenings spent completing that process on my brass is just more time spent "meditating". I separate the cases out that need this done as I can vouch that they are once-fired in this way and use these for my loads where I'm looking for the greatest accuracy versus just plinking rounds.
I don't load for speed either so this slow process doesn't bother me one whit. I have two of the Lyman hand reamers so I unscrewed the reamer bit from the handle of one of them then chucked it up in my cordless drill. Works great and the variable speed of the drill is very handy. Never had a fail to seat a primer using this process.
 
gandog56:

I was the one that had the problem. If I am the first person then why is it in the Dillon instructions say that the head thickness impacts the adjustment. If every lot of LAKE CITY brass has a different head thickness it is hard to get uniform result. That is exactly what I found on 7.62 brass of various head stamp dates and even within the same head stamp date (obviously different lots). I abandon using the Dillon swager for that brass. It may work fine on other brass (???).

If you still have your instructions you might read them to verify what I said is true.

LDBennett
Did you miss that I had the RCBS swage set, not the Dillon? But, you are still the only guy I have heard that had a problem. Most people swear by them, not at them.
 
The Dillon instructions spell it out. And with varying lots and head stamp years I had the problem in spades with 308 brass (or what ever its metric designation is). It is not a Dillon problem but a military surplus brass problem.

LDBennett
 
If you're talking about the Dillon Super Swager 600 you would be the first person I ever heard of that had one fail on them. And I'm not shilling for Dillon because I own one, I have the RCBS kit.
I re-read what I posted, I don't see anything that would suggest that my Dillon swage has failed. I've had this for 20+ years and it still works as good as the day I got it. The cases I ruined were because I got in a hurry and had the primer pocket off-center from the swage punch.
 
I have started using the Lyman chamfer tool in my cordless drill. Eliminates the crimp completely and quickly. Have loaded 100 of the military brass that I have done this way and the primers seated good. Takes very little effort to ream the crimp out of the primer pocket with the chamfer tool chucked up in the cordless drill. Then chamfer the case mouth while you are at it.
 
I use the RCBS swedge tool on a Lee Classic press. It is the solid cast iron press that is big enough and strong enough to reload 50 BMG. After getting the swedge tool I had to call RCBS and get them to send me a larger stripper cup. The one in kit is for a .75" ram and the Lee press has a 1.125" ram. It does take some pressure to inset the swedge into the primer pocket and even more force to get the case off the swedge (don't ever forget to put the stripper cup over the ram!). I keep a Q-tip moistened with rem oil and wipe the swedge about every ten rounds that helps a lot.

I just finished processing 3,000 lake city 5.56 brass and everyone of them was swedged and the primers went in with very little effort - just a firm push seated them perfectly.
 
I'll back up LD on the Dillon being finicky with case head variances. Even more so than the Rcbs kit. I borrowed the Dillon from Time2Shoot last year and got frustrated after a couple dozen cases. Then I used a 60 degree countersink in my drill press. Last month I bought a used Rcbs kit and did 1000 with no problem. About 80 of them were a different headstamp but I could tell the difference and tossed them in a bowl for later staging with a readjust of die.

Steve, did they charge you much for the extra large stripper cup? That would be nice then I could use it in my Herters press
 
No, the larger stripper cup was sent free of charge. I've never noticed a difference in rim thickness making any difference in swedging, but I only used it for .223 so maybe 7.62 has problems I would not know about.
 
21 - 30 of 30 Posts
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top