M14 Forum

82nd ABN

I am also ordering the flash hole de burring tool. You can order both the dry lube and the media in one package to save a couple of dollars.
The brass I have is the winchester BH match brass so i guess it is crimped, however they are all boxer primed so i thought you used uniforming tool to get rid of the crimp.
Thanks for all the input!!!

82nd ABN

Oh boy I can't believe what a pain in the arse it is to clean these primer pockets even using a drill motor and brush. Its going to take a long time. Shoot I thought decapping the few thousand pieces of brass was a pain now this!!! I have my work cut out for me. I think what I am going to do is complete 500 of each caliber. Use them and as I use them clean them and clean another 100 pieces so I am always making progress to having them all cleaned.

perazziboy

W, good luck with it. It is alot of work so make a marathon out of it instead of a sprint. Look at the primer

pocket uniformer that Sinclairs sells and make sure to get the drill attachment. I have used this on about

10k rounds and it works great and stays sharp. Yes, it is a pain in the tail!

30Caliber

Yep. That's the reason why I only use a cutter when I absolutely have to (ie safety, reliability, or a something that makes a measurable difference on a target).

I've got a small collection of time consuming stuff I refuse to use anymore.

82nd ABN

Plan on grabbing the redding uniformer and they do have the drill attachment. I have decided that I will take your advice 30cal and make it a marathon. My dam fingers get tired after a half hour so I am taking it slow. I am also going to bag them up in bags of 100 rather than all in one large freezer bag. I want to know how many of the dam things I have at the end of all this. Have to get smaller bags!

Bamban

Get yourself a pair of those gloves with rubber dimples on them. Makes grabbing the cases that much easier.

82nd ABN

Have a couple of pairs, thanks for the suggestion Nez I will give it a try. One thing I discovered, a large freezer bag holds approx 300 rounds. I have 6 bags and finished cleaning the primer pockets on one bag worth in two days took approx a total of two hours a bag. I figure I have a total of 2500 pieces of 308 brass to include about 200 pieces of privy brass. I have not shot the 06 much so I figure about 300 pieces and somewhere around 1500 pieces of .223 brass. Needless to say I have my work cut out for me before all this brass is ready to go. I'll take my time and get it done over the next couple of months.

I also found an 8oz bottle of RCBS case slick that I forgot I ordered. Figure I will give that a try as well.

nf1e@snet.net

I feel your pain Warren, as one of our infamous presidents said. Crimp removal and pocket uniforming are 2 separate operations. I set my RCBS case prep station up with a cutter type crimp remover, a pocket uniformer and a flash hole deburing tool. Takes a lot less time and works better than the drill routine for me. Once you get the routine down it becomes much less of a chore. You are at the point that many guys just give up. It does take just a bit of patience. Take your time and do it right. Mistakes happen, but if you are doing a small batch at a time, less damage is done. Remember the berdan primed cases and broken pins. It's all good. I have to remind myself all the time of sayings we learned as kids. " Haste makes waste". Keep them in the 10 ring.

dozier

Thanks geepee, this was what I was trying to describe in my post #8 above. I guess a pic is worth a thousand words. As for uniforming the primer pockets and removing/beveling the crimp at the same time; The Hornady Reamer works best. PN # 176-759 in Midway Cat. As I reload GGG only, the PP's are already deep enough and consistent. This reamer removes the tight side walls and puts a nice 45 degree bevel where the crimp was. Makes it easier to start a new primer. The reamer stops cutting when it bottoms out on the PP hole. Very fast when used in a hand drill. I used to use a RCBS swager, but have eliminated the operation. Hopes this helps others. dozier

82nd ABN

Looks like the BH match brass I have has the crimp that goes all the way around the primer pocket. I have not seen many types of crimps, I have seen something that appears to have three notches in some of the other brass.
Are there two different tools to be used, one to remove the crimp and another one to uniform the primer pockets. As usual I ask a question and some times get a little more confused than I was before. I thought the primer pocket uniforming tool did both jobs in one shot.

TexIndian

My turn to wear the dunce cap! I tried the graphite lube the first time without the 'application media'. I was getting way too much of the dry lube in my necks. That's why I was getting it all over everything. Lesson learned and order placed.

Yeah Warren, that's why I quit using the brush to clean pockets. It's also a pain to uniform the pockets but at least you are killing two birds with that stone. Norma brass is the only brand I've seen that the Sinclair tool doesn't clean a nice fresh bottom with. The pockets on that stuff are really deep. But it's so expensive that I've only bought a couple hundred just to give it a try (and it only goes into bolt guns).

EDIT to answer your question. Uniformers only cut on the bottom of the pocket while reamers only cut on the side walls. I've never seen a single tool that does both jobs, although I don't know why someone couldn't make one.

D308FAM

Yes, one tool is used to uniform the depth of the primer pocket and another tool is used to either cut out or swage back the primer crimp.
After depriming the case first deal with the primer crimp and then move on to the primer pocket depth uniformer. If you try to uniform the PP depth before dealing with the crimp it's hard to get the depth uniformer in.
.....
Lubing inside the case necks just before resizing can really improve both the headspace uniformity AND reduce the rounds total indicated runout (TIR) as if that expander ball is grabbing, gouching, or catching as it comes back out of the case body and through the neck area it tends to pull the neck out of line, etc. Myself, I use a very light coating of Imperial on a Q-tip and deposit it right at the inside base of the neck where it meets the shoulder so the expander ball picks it up as soon as it starts entering the neck.
TIR can sometimes be improved just by putting an 7/8th inch ID O-ring between the dies lock ring and the reloading press. This O-ring allows the resizing die to "float" in the threads and also helps it to self-align in the press. You just screw down the die against the O-ring until the headspace is right and then get to resizing. This "O-ring" method is "automatic" as once the resizing die is set up it just happens during a step you would be doing anyway and thus you are not adding a lot of work to bulk-reloading.
I don't myself worry about what Imperial might be left in the neck after resizing as I feel the expander ball scrapes it down to such a thin layer it is not an issue. The Imperial I have to periodically clean off of the top of my resizing die expander balls seems to confirm this theory.
Frankly, as I once read an article in Precision Shooting magazine where "cold neck welding" was decribed for ammunition that had sat for a long period of time so that the projectile and case neck start "sticking" to one another, I've felt that a very slight lubricant residue in the neck might well keep this from happening and keep the neck tension more uniform in loaded ammo.
The key thing with Imperial inside of case necks is to keep it to a very thin application; NOT gobs or ridges - a THIN film. This isn't too hard to do with a Q-tip and can yield very happy results on a target and/or reduce any "fix it" efforts needed on loaded ammo to try to "straighten it out" if the average TIR is too high.
When the inside of the necks are properly lubed there is just a noticable "smoothness" and a feeling of "pressure" as the neck is resized.
I lube cases no matter if carbide dies and/or expander balls are in use or not as I definately respect the major issues that can arise in the reloading process if the cases do not resize uniformly.
If I were worried about lube on or in cases and had a lot of them I would probably just wash them in clean, warm soapy water and probably use the ultrasonic cleaner to make sure things were agitated well.

Nomad

Have used Hornady's Unique case lube placed finger in the lube rubbed it on thumb
does a couple of cases place a little on the neck before the sizer. After that sizing, trim
clean primer pockets and square and touchup flash holes then final tumble.
Finish with brushing the inside of the necks to clean out dust and grit.........Load and shoot...........