[Allen Roberts]

I am using two different hand/ drill pocket tools and have yet to replaced new primers into 12 pieces of once fired brass using two HCBS hand primer instruments. What’s my problem? I have hand prepped and using with a drill. No luck so far.

 

[Twang]

Are you having trouble "seating" the primers? What caliber are you loading? I RARELY clean my primer pockets - maybe after the 3rd or 4th loading, if it's looking extra gunky - but all I load is pistol ammo. When I do clean them, I use a Lee #90101 tool. I guess bench-rest rifle shooters probably clean, true-up, de-burr after every shot, but not me. I don't have any experience with rifle cartridge reloading.

 

[maxhush]

What brass? Military brass, or commercial? Usually a primer pocket cleaning tool would suffice, unless it's once-fired brass with a crimped in primer and, if so, then the primer pocket would need reamed or swaged first.

 

[A B]

I use a dillon swager.Super Swage 600 (dillonprecision.com)

 

[canebreaker]

What caliber cases are you cleaning?

 

[SubGunFan]

Hard to really understand what he is saying, but my guess is he has some military brass with crimped pockets.

.

 

[Allen Roberts]

223 once fired brass. Can’t seat the new primers.

 

[DoyleAlley]

Let's go back to basics. Don't clean a pocket and see if you can seat a primer.

 

[stewbaby]

Yeap, as stated by others, my guess is it has crimped primer pockets…you may need a pocket swaging die.

RCBS 9481 Primer Pocket Swager Combo-2 Amazon.com

 

[turable.shot]

223...., likely crimped, If you have not done so, that pocket will need to be swaged or reamed, like has been said.
I ream.

 

[canebreaker]

223 once fired brass. Can’t seat the new primers.

New primer won't go into the pocket or it falls out after you put it in?

 

[Gulfport Joe]

This is what I use. Less than $90! I can do .223/5.56, .308/7.62x51 & 30.06/7.62x63 brass. Dillion makes a fine piece of equipment also but it is double the cost of this one. {Note} only military 30.06/7.62x63 (M1) brass has crimped primers. And not all of that does but some. I have never encountered commercial 30.06 brass with crimped primers.

Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

 

[maxhush]

223...., likely crimped, If you have not done so, that pocket will need to be swaged or reamed, like has been said.
I ream.

Yup, swaging is much less tedious, but equipment for reaming is generally a much, much, cheaper hand tool (as I recall, you can even usually use the same tool used for deburring and chamfering the case neck after trimming, if the nose on it is small enough to fit in the primer pocket). If you're not doing a lot of cases then reaming is probably the way to go (and it only needs done once on military/crimped primer pocket cases).

 

[canebreaker]

I bought one of these for swagging pockets.
Airgas - PFR24692 - Pferd Inc® SF-1 1/4" X 5/8" Tree Double Cut Tungsten Carbide Burr
Grind the tip of the burr until it bottoms out in the pocket and just removing the crimp.

 

[Allen Roberts]

Good news. I‘ve been much more aggressive using the Swager in a drill. Much better results seating the primers. Thanks to everyone that helped.

 

[SubGunFan]

You either swage or ream. You don’t do both.

What is stamped on the heads of that brass?

If you do too much of either, the primers might fall out. It doesn’t take much to just remove the sharp edge around the pocket.

 

[SubGunFan]

FYI……

Swaging uses a press in tool.
Reaming uses a spinning cutter.

.

 

[Allen Roberts]

I use the Lee 2-headed pocket cleaner. I never had any luck by hand. I placed it in a drill so maybe I was reaming. I finished the brass.

 

[BasMstr]

The Dillon Super Swager in a Burnell’s Customs mount is the . I have one set up for 223/556 and one for 9mm.

 

[turable.shot]

Let's go cheap, unless you have a lot to do, Left was picked up at Midway,
On the right, a Local Building Supply Store.
I've used this to do several thousand.
I should have gotten a swager.