Swaging range brass

2

2ASJI

Inactive
Hello all

New reloader here, with a question.
I have a few thousand once fired .223.
Iv decided that I'm going to swage them.
My question is can I swage all of them,
Crimped or no crimp. I didn't want to have
To sort them. Any input on this would be
Greatly appreciated.
 
I have never swaged a primer pocket on a case that did not have a crimped-in primer. BUT if sorting is difficult when trying to sort commercial cases from military cases swage-away.

F. Guffey
 
Yes, all it does if done properly is radius the pocket shoulder/crimp a bit. No detriment to non-crimped cases. Some comnercial brands crimp so when in doubt about a batch of brass I swage them all.
 
The only drawback, and this depends on the tool used, is if your tool has an anvil on the inside to support the heat while it is swaged from the opposite side, it can bend flash hole burrs over the flash hole and partly obstruct it. In that instance, you want to deburr the flash holes for consistent ignition performance.
 
Swaging is just a 'no cutting' method of removing the primer crimp on milsurp brass. It's also how primer pocket holes get uniformed regardless of the brand.
 
Well, formed, anyway. Uniforming is another handloading step taken with a cutter to remove the last little bit of tolerance error in primer pocket depth left by the forming. It should also be noted that the swager often slightly widens pockets that are on the low side of standard tolerance. This is especially true with cases made on the other side of the pond, where conversion to hundredths of a millimeter result in the minimum large primer pocket diameter being about three-tenths of a thousandth smaller than our domestic production.
 
I have swaged zero primer pockets. I have no problem glancing at the headstamp to determine if a case needs a primer pocket crimp needs to be removed, and since case inspection is a must, a glance at the rear end is no big deal (you do inspect all your brass, don't you?). As a lifelong machinist/mechanic when I first encountered primer pocket crimps (pre-web) I just got a countersink from my tool box and have used this method for over 20 years and a few thousand assorted military crimped primer pockets trouble free...
 
mikld said:
I have swaged zero primer pockets. I have no problem glancing at the headstamp to determine if a case needs a primer pocket crimp needs to be removed, and since case inspection is a must, a glance at the rear end is no big deal (you do inspect all your brass, don't you?). As a lifelong machinist/mechanic when I first encountered primer pocket crimps (pre-web) I just got a countersink from my tool box and have used this method for over 20 years and a few thousand assorted military crimped primer pockets trouble free...
Click to expand...
Yes I inspect all cases. The reason for my question was I have not quite mastered identifying crimped primers. I tend to second guess myself when telling the difference on some of them. I was asking if it was ok to swage a uncrimped primer pocket. So I could just swage them all to be safe.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
It won't hurt anything and it has the advantage that since it tends to expand pockets that are on the small side of tolerance, it makes the "feel" of subsequently seating primers in them more uniform, regardless of the original case make. That's something you won't get from a cutter that doesn't also ream the side of the pockets.
 
Dang, I didn't know that about European brass. Some of them are very tight but I couldn't see any crimp. I took to swaging anything foreign rather than futzing over myriad head stamps. Thanks for the explanation!
 
your swage device will take every piece of brass to the proper standard shape and dimensions of a primer pocket and there is absolutely no reason why you can't just swage everything you get.

It is still a good idea, as guffy said, to eyeball all of those caseheads as you prime them, confirming that the flash holes aren't closed off. I have never seen a primer pocket with a chad, and don't expect to ever see one, but it could conceivably happen.

Something I feel that you need to be advised on, maybe you don't need this advice, but since you are starting your new skill, don't race through the work and not pay proper attention to your work. little mistakes can happen if a human tries to be a machine. I put a primer in upside down once.
 
" I didn't want to have
To sort them. Any input on this would be "

It's pretty early in your reloading career to start "cutting corners"
 
Mobuck said:
" I didn't want to have
To sort them. Any input on this would be "

It's pretty early in your reloading career to start "cutting corners"
Click to expand...
Not trying to cut corners. As I stated above I am not the best at telling the difference between a crimped primer pocket vs a non crimped primer pocket. I was just making sure that swaging a non crimped casing would not damage it. I will be sorting all brass by headstamp. I should have been more specific in my post sorry for the misunderstanding.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
It is difficult to see certain ring crimps, you might as well just assume that you're going to miss a few of them, and ensure that they are all processed.
 
If you're "sorting all brass by headstamp", you'll quickly learn which headstamps are crimped and can swage those.
 
Make sure your swage fits!
Lubrication helps keep swage tool from sticking.

I had an RCBS swage tool that was oversized and ruined brass.

I can't see where swaging would hurt non-crimped brass.
 
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