550b primer seating problems .223 and 5.56

[Quag]

I'm having primer seating problems in my 550b. I separate 5.56 and .223. I use the Dillon Swager on all my military brass with crimps. I also have started using it on all my commercial .223 brass just to be safe. I use CCI small rifle primers. Out of 10 cartridges I have 2 to 3 failure rate. That's too high. I talked to Dillon and they said even if you use the Dillon Swager you can have primer seating problems with military brass. The recommend tightening down the shell plate as tight as you can get it (I did it and it helped it a bit). Another suggestion is to use other primers as the CCIs are very hard. I do not want to use federal for rifle, but I am thinking about Winchester or Remington primers.

I'm ready to give up on using my 550b for primer seating and order a RCBS hand primer.

Any thoughts?any one have experience with the RCBS hand primer? Do you think I should switch the primers?

BTW my press is seat up right I also use it for loading 9mm and no primer seating problems its like butter. Also I do use federal small pistol primers to avoid light strikes. They are certainly soft.

Thx

[Youngeyes]

I had the same problem. I switched to the RCBS swager set up on a single stage lee press. I couldn't be happier with results. I can set it for just the right amont. The military stuff still gives you a little stiffness on setting a primer, but no more crushing or very high primers. I use the CCI 41 primers.YMMV

[Quag]

I had the same problem. I switched to the RCBS swager set up on a single stage lee press. I couldn't be happier with results. I can set it for just the right amont. The military stuff still gives you a little stiffness on setting a primer, but no more crushing or very high primers. I use the CCI 41 primers.YMMV

Did you have the Dillon Super Swager 600 like I did? Also do you swage your commercial .223 primers? You shouldn't have to but I'm finding it helps if you swage all of your cartridges regardless if they have crimps or not.

[Quag]

I think I solved my problem. I was only giving the cartridges one pass on the Dillon Swager. I realized after the first pass its good to spin the cartridge 180 degrees and give it another pass. Its all in the resistance the Swager handle gives you, if you are still getting resistance give it another pass. Some of the .223 factory brass took up to 4 passes. I found the Wolf and Federal needed up to 4 passes to clear the pocket. I then loaded 50 cartridges with not a single primer seating problem. Sweet just like my 9mm loads.

I did the same for 5.56 American Eagle brass that had 1 pass through the swager. These took 4-5 additional passes to get right. I loaded about 20 of these and had one primer that did not seat right and one primer that seated high. Given what I heard about the military brass this failure rate is about right (less than 10%).

What was surprising to me was I assumed all the factory .223 brass did not need to be run through a swager, from here on I'm going to run everything through the swager that I pick up on the range and mark my cartridges that have been cleared.

[Youngeyes]

I never had the Dillon. I swage everything. I found that I didn't need to turn the brass. I just swage it 2 times each. I also set the swager and then add a /4 turn more to make it a bit deeper. It's the depth that gets the tighter crimp out. Not sure how you adjust the Dillon, but the RCBS is like setting a bullet seating die. Glad you got it worked out.

[dauntedfuture]

The Dillon swager or a cutter is a good way to go. For years I used a hornady crimp removing cutter-thing. You chuck it in a drill and go to town. It is easier and faster then a swager is and they run about 8.00