Reloading .223 questions

[Scratchthejeepguy]

So I’ve been reloading for a little over a year now. I started with a Lee Anniversary kit, but quickly outgrew it and jumped to a Dillon 650 XL. I love it by the way… More so for 9mm than anything else. I’ve also been loading .223 with it and have a few general reloading questions, dealing with .223 cartridges.

1. On some of my .223 brass, after I deprime and resize the case, the primer pocket has a little “ring” around the pocket, and the pocket is too small for my primers. I’ve heard the term “primer pocket swaging tool” and know what it looks like and I assume this tool makes that primer pocket a little larger by “reaming” it out to size. I’m pretty sure this is what’s needed but the term “swaging” is what’s throwing me off. Shouldn’t it be called a “primer pocket reamer” instead? That is what it does correct?
   
2. Sometimes, I’ll put my depriming/resizing die in the single stage press, and deprime and resize the brass as part of my case prep for a batch. On some cases, the brass seems to become almost stuck in the shellholder as if it’s just a touch too big. I have to slide the shellholder out, and pull the case out with some force. Is this normal to have that much variance in the size of the case bottom?
   

[ipscjoe]

Reaming means to cut. What a swager does is ever so slightly stretch the pocket.

[mlmiller1]

Reaming means to cut. What a swager does is ever so slightly stretch the pocket.

Exactly!

The brass with rings is "crimped" primer brass. It needs either reaming or swaging. Just depends on the tool you use.

MLM

[freakshow10mm]

Reaming is cutting and removing material. Swaging is forcing material out of the way to form without removing material. Swaging is the better way of primer crimp removal. You want to remove the crimp, not the material that holds the primer in place.

[DFABOVE]

You might want to look at the Dillon swaging tool.It is really fast to use and built to last a lifetime.I shoot military calibers,.308,.223,9mm and 45acp and the Dillon swages all of them.I find that it is faster to run my brass through the Dillon as part of case preperation than to inspect each case for military primer crimps.

[Chills1994]

So I’ve been reloading for a little over a year now. I started with a Lee Anniversary kit, but quickly outgrew it and jumped to a Dillon 650 XL. I love it by the way… More so for 9mm than anything else. I’ve also been loading .223 with it and have a few general reloading questions, dealing with .223 cartridges.

1. On some of my .223 brass, after I deprime and resize the case, the primer pocket has a little “ring” around the pocket, and the pocket is too small for my primers. I’ve heard the term “primer pocket swaging tool” and know what it looks like and I assume this tool makes that primer pocket a little larger by “reaming” it out to size. I’m pretty sure this is what’s needed but the term “swaging” is what’s throwing me off. Shouldn’t it be called a “primer pocket reamer” instead? That is what it does correct?
   
2. Sometimes, I’ll put my depriming/resizing die in the single stage press, and deprime and resize the brass as part of my case prep for a batch. On some cases, the brass seems to become almost stuck in the shellholder as if it’s just a touch too big. I have to slide the shellholder out, and pull the case out with some force. Is this normal to have that much variance in the size of the case bottom?
   

It could be that the rim is not in the same plane or that there is a burr in the extractor groove from when the case was yanked out of the chamber, and/or it got dinged up during ejection.

I have not done it myself but I have heard that the chamfering end of the chamfering/deburring tool will also "ream" out the primer crimp.

Edited April 10, 2013 by Chills1994

[David.Hylton]

Sounds like the swaging question has been answered. For the .223, it depends on the chamber size the brass was fired in. An over size chamber will yield over size brass. Try using more lube and be sensitive to how hard it is to resize. If it is taking too much effort stop and look at your brass, if it is too over size-discard it.