primer pocket crimp?

[tmsand338]

I had asked a question about headstamps in another thread and it was mentioned that sorting could be useful for determining brass with crimped primers. So, can someone tell me how to tell if its crimped? I looked over a whole bunch of this brass I was given and it all looks the same, other than some have a green coloring around the primer. If the primer is crimped, do I have to somehow remove the crimp? Will my decapper pin bend if I try to remove the primer during resizing?

Thanks!

[rondog]

Only military brass will be crimped, no commercial stuff. Some, like Greek HXP surplus .30-06, is staked with three little punch marks. Most crimped brass will have a "ring" around the primer. This is from being struck with the crimper, which is like a punch used for cutting holes in leather. It just punches a ring around the primer, which upsets the brass enough to "crimp" the primer in place, so they can't back out during the rigors of military activity or the firing of full-auto weapons.

Decapping "shouldn't" break a pin, but I've punched a pin through quite a few tough primers before. If that happens, toss it in the scrap bucket. What's more important is to use a penlight or bore light and look inside each case to make sure it's not Berdan primed, those are useless, scrap them if brass. Also look for small rocks or pebbles in the cases, those will break decapping pins too.

But yes, the crimps need to be removed before you try to put in new primers. You can use a special cutter in a drill, or a swaging tool in your press. Only has to be done once though.

[newracer]

[Hoser]

There is some civilian brass that is crimped.

Decapping most of them is no big deal. PMC has the most agressive crimp I have found. Getting a primer back in if you did not swage out or trim away the crimp is 50/50 at best.

The easiest fix is to find someone around you with a Dillon 1050 that can process it for you. Or buy a Dillon swage tool and have at it.

[Trigger Time 23]

I had some Hornady Match in .308 that was crimped.

[rondog]

Huh, I've never ran across any commercial brass that was crimped, at least never noticed any. I personally use these Hornady cutters in a cordless drill, one for small primers and one for large. It stops at the botton of the pocket, and only bevels the mouth of the pocket just enough to cut the crimp off. Also gets a lot of crud and carbon out as well. Works good for me, but I hear the swaging works good too.

[Hoser]

Huh, I've never ran across any commercial brass that was crimped, at least never noticed any.

Here is an example of some commercial. There is more out there, but reaching into a 5 gallon bucket found these will little effort.

Hornady, PMC and Federal.

[sabot_round]

There is some civilian brass that is crimped.

Decapping most of them is no big deal. PMC has the most agressive crimp I have found. Getting a primer back in if you did not swage out or trim away the crimp is 50/50 at best.

But with this tool..

I personally use these Hornady cutters in a cordless drill, one for small primers and one for large. It stops at the botton of the pocket, and only bevels the mouth of the pocket just enough to cut the crimp off. Also gets a lot of crud and carbon out as well. Works good for me, but I hear the swaging works good too.

...you can do anything!!

[Hoser]

But with this tool..




...you can do anything!!



Yeah but with these tools, I can do anything, faster. Much faster.

[ray1970]

Every time I see pictures of your reloading stuff I keep looking to see if any of those little Chinese kids can be seen. Haven't seen one yet. You must have those kids well trained to stay out of photos. At least I assume you run these things with sweat shop labor.