swaging out crimp

G

ghbucky

New member
I've been struggling with crimp in 5.56 brass. I have the RCBS swager die, but I'm still dealing with hard to impossible to seat primers.

I adjusted the die per instructions, but when I went to lock the collar the screw stripped, so I'm stuck with the depth. I've tried moving the guide rod up and down, but no matter what I do I am still having crimp left.

It seems that this swager die is very popular, so what am I doing wrong?
 
I simply bought the RCBS stand-alone tool, bit of a pain to change out the different "rods" but it's always worked well for me--both on 5.56 nato and 7.62 x 51 nato.
 
Call RCBS. They will get you fixed up and probably be willing to walk you through setup too. They want you to be happy.

That said, I find swaging weird. I use the Hornady LNL swage. It raises a burr towards me. On the ones I can feel that burr, I have to just touch off on the Lyman primer pocket reaming bit in my case prep station. I now do both steps. Pita.

I tried not using the reamer to clean up burrs, but they hang the primers up going in.

I tried reaming only, but it is easy to over cut, IME.

Aren’t you loading for a bolt action Savage? If so, sell/trade that stuff and buy 100 Lapua, Norma or Starline. That rifle should shoot!
 
I used the RCBS primer swaging die too with no problems. As suggested, give them a call. They have very good customer service.
 
I used the RCBS press mounted swaging tool for a few years and it worked well once adjusted, but getting the case to pop off was very difficult and not fun. Now I have their standalone tool and love it. But, after using it I go through all my cases and found that about 25% of them wouldn’t allow my pocket go gage in the primer pocket. So I just take those cases and give them a quick zip with my Lyman pocket decrimping reamer in a drill and I’m done. Kind of a PITA but only needed once so I live with it. This is with LC brass.
 
Aren’t you loading for a bolt action Savage?
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No, I'm loading for an AR

my pocket go gage in the primer pocket
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Until this moment, I did not know such a thing existed. That will save a lot of curse words!

I'll check out Dillon and RCBS' other offers. That or just buy .223 starline brass and call it done.
 
Yes I would agree with the rest that said to call RCBS. They have a wonderful service staff that can walk you through the setup & problem solving. I have worn out my RCBS bench mounted swage & they gave me the replacement parts for free to get me up & running again. Great people to deal with!
 
Ghbucky,

Starline also makes its 5.56 brass, the difference being they are a bit harder, more like LC, which can avoid rim bending during rapid extraction. However, I've not found it necessary and suspect the guns bending rims are a little out of time for some reason.
 
I own one of those RCBS primer pocket dies. I did not like using it with mixed brass. Instead, I use a counter sink drill bit. It is MUCH FASTER, and works on every case the first time.
 
Ballistictools.com for the go-no go gauge. I got the package deal both large and small primer gauges. I check pockets every time I load and cull the ones that are no go.
 
I use the RCBS swaging die as well. It works well, but there is a tip to share to make it work even better.

After decapping, I take a Q-tip and dip it in motor oil. Then, I use the Q-tip to apply the motor oil to the inside of the primer pocket. This way, the brass does not stick to the nipple when the pocket is opened up. I've read where some use sizing wax in the pocket for the same purpose. The brasses get wet tumbled after pocket swaging, so all residual oil is removed.

Otherwise, those brasses tend to really get stuck to the nipple to the point of having to really bang/smack the press to loosen them. I prefer not doing that, obviously.

Bayou
 
ghbucky said:
I've been struggling with crimp in 5.56 brass. I have the RCBS swager die, but I'm still dealing with hard to impossible to seat primers.....so what am I doing wrong?
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My guess it that you're not following the instructions. This is a very simple tool and encountering manufacturing defects would be highly unlikely.

DukeConnor said:
The super swage 600 solved all my promer pocket issues..
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I have one as well but don't use it. Reaming with a Lyman and a drill is more precise and just as fast.
 
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Check out Mighty Armory, a bit pricey but you get a swaging set up and de-primer all in one, just change out the pin(s) depending on what the task is. Takes longer to find the other pin than to change it out. Once set, it works well on all brands of brass, some cases are a bit stubborn and need a bit of reaming, but overall works well.
https://www.mightyarmory.com/collec...-swage-kit-fits-press-ram-diameters-3-4-1-1-8

Not affiliated in any way, but mine works well.
 
A dry neck lube like graphite or motor mica should work, too, if you don't want the cleaning step. A little graphite in alcohol and the Q-tip, and you have skipped the post-cleaning.

For speed, the Dillon 600 with the YouTube auto-ejection spring setup is as fast as I've been able to get this step done, except on a Dillon 1050 which swages at one of its eight stations, so you don't have the separate step. The 600 is helped by the plastic case centering channel sold by Inline Fabrication; though its a lot to pay for a piece of extruded plastic that you still have to final fit with a file. It does work, though, and puts a stop to inadvertently widened primer pockets from catching a pocket edge.
 
Nathan said:
Call RCBS. They will get you fixed up and probably be willing to walk you through setup too. They want you to be happy.

That said, I find swaging weird. I use the Hornady LNL swage. It raises a burr towards me. On the ones I can feel that burr, I have to just touch off on the Lyman primer pocket reaming bit in my case prep station. I now do both steps. Pita.

I tried not using the reamer to clean up burrs, but they hang the primers up going in.

I tried reaming only, but it is easy to over cut, IME.

Aren’t you loading for a bolt action Savage? If so, sell/trade that stuff and buy 100 Lapua, Norma or Starline. That rifle should shoot!
Click to expand...
RCBS customer service has been worthless since Covid. California based. Long on excuses and short on action.
I have all the gizmos for de crimping. I always find myself using my case mouth champhering tool. Works best for me.
 
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