.223 case prep on the cheap

[MA5177]

I'm going to be doing some reloading for .223 on my 550. I don't plan on loading thousands per month so I don't need a major production setup.

I recently purchased 1000 supposedly fully prepped LC brass and am having trouble seating primers and 20-30 %. I ordered a reaming to to go into my drill to try to fix this problem. I also will need to case trim in the future and was looking at the worlds finest trimmer. What do you think?

[Kairo]

Get a primer pocket swager, it helps get rid of the military crimp so you can seat the primers, also a uniformer can square away the pocket and clean the bottom of the pocket. This last one is usually optional unless the flash hole has crud, then that and a flash hole deburrer can help. They do have a rcbs case prep machine, but its not going to be as fast as a progressive press. Just ideas.

[liber]

I ran into the same problem on the primers as I had gotten LC cases, and it seems they are crimped...definitely the PMC cases I reloaded that I fired in my rifle were crimped on top, making them very hard to press in.

A swage is in my future also. I don't like the type that cut the brass pocket, I want the type that pushes in. Seems the primer pocket is the weak point on failing before the neck on most cases, so I'm not sure it makes sense to shave that...I don't know for certain, just seems so...

[Mayor McRifle]

I ran into the same problem on the primers as I had gotten LC cases, and it seems they are crimped...definitely the PMC cases I reloaded that I fired in my rifle were crimped on top, making them very hard to press in.

A swage is in my future also. I don't like the type that cut the brass pocket, I want the type that pushes in. Seems the primer pocket is the weak point on failing before the neck on most cases, so I'm not sure it makes sense to shave that...I don't know for certain, just seems so...

Here's the answer: https://www.dillonprecision.com/cont...uper_Swage_600

[liber]

Here's the answer: https://www.dillonprecision.com/cont...uper_Swage_600

Yep, just waiting for payday...LOL

[Sky_DiveR]

Sounds like primer crimp wasn't removed/swaged. I use the CH4D primer swage kit since it's not dependant on the web thickness. Sold my Dillion for that reason. Only works on a single stage tho.

http://www.ch4d.com/products/equipment/priming-tools/psk

[stilly]

I'm going to be doing some reloading for .223 on my 550. I don't plan on loading thousands per month so I don't need a major production setup.

I recently purchased 1000 supposedly fully prepped LC brass and am having trouble seating primers and 20-30 %. I ordered a reaming to to go into my drill to try to fix this problem. I also will need to case trim in the future and was looking at the worlds finest trimmer. What do you think?

If you want a quick reamer on the cheap, Harbor Freight has 1/2" countersinks that can remove the crimp or totally jack your brass depending on your mood at the time of holding them...

As for brass trimming. I would go with Bronco. I dunno if he can still get any, but he had some of those EZ-TRIMIT thingamadoo-hickees and I got one and I LOVED IT. They make a special blade that is adjustable and cuts three ways so when you trim your prass, that is all. It is like the Giraud except it does not have its own $350 motor. So you put it in a drill press and trim your brass that way. It even has ballbearing inserts and you can trim different brass at different sizes. The extra inserts are around $15 or so.

I love mine. I made a movie on using it and a review, but I never got around to posting it.

[liber]

It is like the Giraud except it does not have its own $350 motor. So you put it in a drill press and trim your brass that way.

Giraud also makes a Tri-Way, it's a head just like the Trim-It and/or WFT, cat fit in a drill press, lathe, or mill. They sell for $90, but only work for one family of case. I have 1 for 308 family and one for 223 family. You can also adapt these to a standalone motor, if the is desirable.

Tri-Way uses the same cutter as the Power Trimmer.

[kcheung2]

I'm a cheap bat%^$, I used a phillips head screwdriver bit in a drill. Works fine, you don't need to remove that much material.

[bohoki]

i use hornadys small pocket reamer tip in a drill

in the old days i used lee trimmer but now i use possum hollow with power adapter and a lyman debur tool(it fits good in the possum power adapter)

[stilly]

Giraud also makes a Tri-Way, it's a head just like the Trim-It and/or WFT, cat fit in a drill press, lathe, or mill. They sell for $90, but only work for one family of case. I have 1 for 308 family and one for 223 family. You can also adapt these to a standalone motor, if the is desirable.

Tri-Way uses the same cutter as the Power Trimmer.

Well damn. Too little too late. Last I heard they were not going to do that. But that is good for them that they did, but they prolly felt like they had to since ez-trimmer came out. I will stick with the e-z trimmer. I like the adustability and I like the three way cutting action and I like how they were totally cool with Bronco. I THOUGHT I had heard that Giraud told someone to go pound sand when they were approached about doing a discounted group buy. But I COULD BE WRONG. But yeah. Too bad for them.

[CSACANNONEER]

I have a Dillon 600, RCBS and CH4D swaging dies and I still use a primer pocket reamer. The only swaging system I like is the CH4D dies.

A primer pocket uniformer is designed to cut primer pockets to a uniform depth, nothing else.

A flash hole deburring tool isn't needed for plinking rounds.

I suggest a lathe type trimmer if you are going to trim a large variety of different cartridges. If you want a drill mounted unit, look at the Trim-It. It is better than the WTF trimmers by a long shot. If you want a cheap trimmer, Lee makes a great little system that works well and is very simple and inexpensive.

[JMP]

Personally, I don't swage.

For .223 blasting ammo on a progressive where there is no sorting, nothing, I just pull the case from the priming station if I get any resistence and debur the edges of the primer case with this tool. Every now and then you'll get a bugger crimp. Other brass, except for 50 isn't crimped unless it is crap brass.



For trimming, if you are sticking with 223 and similar cases on a progressive, then the Dillon RT 1200/1500 is the best. Otherwise, the Giraud Power Trimmer is the way to go if you have a variety of odd cases.

[liber]

Well damn. Too little too late. Last I heard they were not going to do that. But that is good for them that they did, but they prolly felt like they had to since ez-trimmer came out. I will stick with the e-z trimmer. I like the adustability and I like the three way cutting action and I like how they were totally cool with Bronco. I THOUGHT I had heard that Giraud told someone to go pound sand when they were approached about doing a discounted group buy. But I COULD BE WRONG. But yeah. Too bad for them.

stilly, I'm no expert on the different heads available, but I think all of them have some pluses and minuses. One of the things I really like about the Trim-It II is the adjustment with tick marks to adjust it, that looks nice. The Giraud Tri-Way is kind of tedious to set. One of the downsides of the Trim-It seemed to be that the angle of the chamfer was less than desirable from what I have read, I haven't used one, though, so take that with a large grain of salt.

Most people like the Giraud chamfers, and that played a role in my purchase. The Tri-Way has a plastic shield which keeps the brass swarf from flying around. The ball bearing that holds the case in seems a pretty good fit on the Tri-Way, where the Trim-It seemed a bit loose in the youtube videos I've seen.

The WFT looks like a nice head also, but I don't know too much about it. The old one didn't chamfer, I am not sure if the new one does.

I have trimmed about 600-700 cases with my Tri-Ways and they work well, once you get them adjusted.

I'm happy with my Tri-Ways, and others like yourself are happy with their Trim-Its, as folks are their WFTs...all of them beat any of the manual methods, IMO.

I don't know if this helps anyone or not, as I said, all of them have their pluses and minuses, as already stated.

[JDay]

Sounds like primer crimp wasn't removed/swaged. I use the CH4D primer swage kit since it's not dependant on the web thickness. Sold my Dillion for that reason. Only works on a single stage tho.

http://www.ch4d.com/products/equipme...ming-tools/psk

That works the same way. You're just adjusting the die instead of a bar.