Is it possible to "over" swage ?

[85MikeTPI]

I never gave it much thought, but I've been swaging most of my converted 300bo brass and 223/5.56 brass on the Lee APP. I use to swage with a RCBS press kit on my single stage and found the APP so much easier.

Anyway, I found a bag of swaged 223 that I started priming recently, and I started crushing primers the pockets were so tight. I think I had used the APP to swage these, so I pulled and processed another 1000 pieces of FC 5.56 on the APP and gave the swage pin a quarter turn more.

After I primed 200 of them and started loading, I noticed one was dumping powder because it had no primer. I found the primer in the bag and stared wondering if I swaged them "too much" ? Is that even possible? The failed brass did have bolt impressions on it indicating it may have been fired over-pressure in the past. These are being loaded to 5.56 CIP spec (63K psi) so I'm more concerned than normal. It may be a month before I'm able to test them on the range.

 

[John from MD]

Yes it is. I stopped swagging years ago because I was finding too many primer blow outs with moderate loads. I now only cut the crimp out of the mouth of the pocket and the problem has gone away. I just chuck a cutter into my drill and mount it in my vise and can knock them out faster than when swagging.

 

[4g64loser]

I never gave it much thought, but I've been swaging most of my converted 300bo brass and 223/5.56 brass on the Lee APP. I use to swage with a RCBS press kit on my single stage and found the APP so much easier.

Anyway, I found a bag of swaged 223 that I started priming recently, and I started crushing primers the pockets were so tight. I think I had used the APP to swage these, so I pulled and processed another 1000 pieces of FC 5.56 on the APP and gave the swage pin a quarter turn more.

After I primed 200 of them and started loading, I noticed one was dumping powder because it had no primer. I found the primer in the bag and stared wondering if I swaged them "too much" ? Is that even possible? The failed brass did have bolt impressions on it indicating it may have been fired over-pressure in the past. These are being loaded to 5.56 CIP spec (63K psi) so I'm more concerned than normal. It may be a month before I'm able to test them on the range.

The very short answer is "yes". In short, this is why I gave up on the Dillon super swage and just ream all crimps now. It is a major PITA but it eliminated damaged cases/loose primers. I had some that literally wouldn't fit in shell holder and others that were still too tight. Meant sorting by headstamp before swaging. Nope. My buddy that I do some work for has the ultimate tool for reaming; a milling machine. I modified a reamer to fit in a collet and just grab handfuls of cases.

Buy one of these.

 

[atblis]

Yes. It’s also easy to lose a primer pocket to over pressure. Every time I’ve had a primer fall out of a loose pocket, the case has had sharp markings from flow into the bolt face

 

[trickg]

Yep - I have one of those with the ends marked with a sharpie so that I know which one is the "go" side and which one is the "no go" side.

I've been a bit frustrated with swaging primer pockets - too much, not enough - and like others, I find it easier to use a case mouth inner chamfer tool chucked into a drill to cut out primer pocket crimps.

 

[John from MD]

Yes. It’s also easy to lose a primer pocket to over pressure. Every time I’ve had a primer fall out of a loose pocket, the case has had sharp markings from flow into the bolt face

Errr, I believe he was talking about over Swagging.

 

[atblis]

Errr, I believe he was talking about over Swagging.

Read his last paragraph