Good Primer Crimp Tool For BULK

M

Marco Califo

New member
I have 5000 crimped 9mm NATO cases that need the Primer crimps removed, swaged, processed. I did 100 with a countersink bit in a screwdriver handle. But, I am not doing 4900 more that way. The Dillion Sawger is out of stock at Grafs and too pricey for my budget.
Has anyone tried the Frankford Arsenal bench mount unit? Looks like it stands upright on the bench. I have seen that one for $99-109.
I read reviews at Midway. Not impressive.
 
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Thanks Ballardw, I have one of those contraptions and have used it, and put it back in the box. As I recall, it was bad for mixed 223/5.56. At that time, I was using mixed brass. What I was looking for is something solid, and probably the Dillion is that.
Are the Dillon and Frankford swagers adjustable for different headstamps (anyone)?
 
Worlds Cheapest Trimmer - ~$25
Worlds Finest Trimmer - ~$75

Both chuck up in a standard drill.

I use the WCT. The only downside is that it can be a pain to set sometimes. I've got an old corded drill that I use it with.

Oops! I just realized that you wanted primer crimp removal.

I ream - very fast. I don't remove very much material - just the crimp lip.

3285A643 Cobalt Steel Countersink for Screws, 90 Degree, Black-Oxide, 5/16" Body Diameter - from McMaster Carr

This works well with Lake City brass but does not work as well with Aguila brass. Aguila brass often has oval primer pockets because their staking machine seems to wander.
 
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If the Dillon seems too pricy, you may not be thrilled by the RCBS version, which I've read is about the same in function and is about a quarter less expensive.

Another option is to use a deburring tool with a small tip-diameter blade (the bottom one in this illustration). A couple of turns with your hand, and you are done, especially for the modest crimps in small primer pocket brass.
 
$100 buying the tool just for that? What's the going price for once fired non-military 9mm brass? 5 cents each? $100 can buy 2000. Sell the 2000 crimped brass to recycle yard, or to somebody who actually enjoys doing it. Use whatever money I get to buy myself a cold one.

-TL

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I have both the press mounted and the bench mounted RCBS versions. For me the press version just didn’t work, the swager would get stuck so it was quite a chore to move the handle on the up stroke in order to free it from the primer pocket, I had to give the knob on the handle a hard rap with the palm of my hand about 50% of the time. The bench mounted version works pretty good, but not perfect. I get about 1-2% of them that still need a twist or two of a reamer so primers seat properly. This is only using the SRP version on military 5.56 brass from Lake City.
 
Tangolima, I bought the 5000 pieces because they are all mil-spec, once-fired off a military range, and identical (every single one WRA 98 NATO). I already had a couple thousand commercial 9mm brass sorted by headstamp; those are throw aways for indoor ranges that keep the brass.
My goal with this brass high power loads like Berrys 124 grain HP's @ 1200 fps. Longshot yields 1209, Blue Dot 1239, and BE86 & Auto Comp in the 1190s range, for my Glock 26.
I have not yet compared the case weights and water capacity of my NATO vs Starline (new) vs various commercial headstamps. I should measure and make a table of the results. What is the appropriate sample size to measure for each headstamp?
The $100 is for my time and inconvience, and missed touchdowns, while twisting the countersink bit-screwdriver unit and inspecting each case, and using a Lyman Primer Pocket reamer tool head on some or all. I got that technique down and test seated primers. It works, but was
 
Actually I tried leaving the crimp unmodified. Priming was a bit rough to begin with. After a few loads, especially the warm ones, it became quite agreeable.

-TL

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
https://www.mightyarmory.com/collections/swage-dies

I don't do pistol, but have swaged several thousand 1x 556 cases with their swage die. Remove the screw down top to swap swage sizers, works for all brands of brass (rifle for me) with no adjustment, the de-prime function works the same, unscrew the top, swap out the swage pin for the de-prime pin, screw top back down and continue on.

The button does stick in the occasional case, but MUCH better than the RCBS version for rifle. a bit of case lube on the button works wonders on reducing the "stickies". Mine is built like a tank and the CS was great when I got mine a few years ago. I use the de-prime function now for 20 cal up to 6BR. I use the 6BR size depprime pin for everything, again, built like a tank.
 
I've noticed before with small primers (5.56 NATO) what Tangolima is saying. I could actually seat primers directly past the crimps. Large primer pockets, no. That would mangle some primers. At least, it would if they were LC ring crimps and not the lighter HXP staked crimps.

So, given the small primer pocket crimps are light, you might consider the next-to-last method in this video. He suggests just taking a #2 Phillips head bit and spinning it in the pocket with a drill. That should move the small amount of brass in the crimps easily. Chuck it in your drill press and bring the cases up to it. That should be as fast or faster than any swaging operation. Something to try, anyway.
 
I don’t have any suggestions others haven’t said . However I had 2k wcc 9mm cases years 11 & 12 one thousand each . Although you can see what appears to be a press/circle crimp on the 11’s , not one of them needed to be swaged . Point being “if” separated by specific lots . You might want to see if any don't actually need swaging . Or even checking each headstamp , maybe you get lucky like I did .

For years I removed my crimps with drill and fingers without issue but will say those 1k 9mm cases did fatigue my fingers and I’m glad I didn’t have to do the other thousand . And since bought Dylan super swagger , love that thing .
 
MG, I started out trying to prime to see if that would work. Using my hand primer tools (Lyman & RCBS). I could not seat the primers consistently, or not at all. They do have ring crimps that I was able to remove with a countersink bit in a screwdriver handle, and also used a Lyman Primer reamer head on each. That made them primable, but slow.
This picture shows un-processed (the crimps) on left and my hand-processed on the right.
 

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Yep thats a crimp alright , sorry I have no easy solution for you . The smaller the case the bigger pia it is and 9mm is as small as I’ve come across with crimped primer pockets .
 
Lyman brass preparation tool kit. In there is a bit for chamfering inside of brass neck. I chuck that on a drill press on slow speed. I just feed the brass to the bit by hand. Each brass probably be a few seconds. Doing 2000 pieces will still be several hours.

-TL

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
I have used either the small or large of the below
Hornady Primer Pocket Reamer

I have an aluminum shaft arrow cut off that they screw right into. This let's me set up using the drill press. Makes quick work of things.

Measure your pockets and determine if you might need to dress a touch off the tip to get all of the crimp. If so a dremel tool or just a light touch on a grinder or shop stone will take it off.

Hope that helps.
 
Thanks for all the replies and ideas. The Dillion 600 Super Swage came back in stock at Graf's, and I added the 9mm adapter. Free shipping and CA tax $183.
So, no new powders, dies, tools or bullets under the Christmas Tree. Ho Ho Ho!
 
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