Remove Military Primer Crimp with Wilson Primer Pocket Reamer
Many shooters, particular those who shoot vintage military rifle matches, reload once-fired military cartridge brass. This brass may be high-quality and stout, but you may encounter a primer crimp* that interferes with the seating of a new primer. There are a variety of dedicated, military-crimp tools on the market, such as Dillon’s excellent Super Swage 600 tool that “rolls the crimp away”. But the Dillon tool costs $100.95 and takes quite a bit of room on your reloading bench. If you don’t want to drop a C-note and give up valuable bench space — here’s another (much cheaper) solution.
If you already have a Wilson case trimmer set-up, you can ream away those military crimps using an affordable Wilson accessory — the Primer Pocket Reamer (large #PPR-210, small #PPR-175). This $32.99 accessory is used in conjunction with a Wilson case trimmer and case-holder as shown below.
In the older Riflemans Journal website, the Editor, “GS Arizona”, shows how to use the Wilson primer pocket reamer to remove military crimps on Lake City .30-06 cartridge brass. He explains: “The case goes into the Wilson case-holder, the same one used for case trimming, and the reamer replaces the trimmer head in the tool base. The threaded rod on the left side, which is normally used to regulate trim length has no use for this operation and it is simply backed out. Hold the case-holder as you turn the reamer into the primer pocket, it cuts easily and quickly. The reamer will stop cutting when the proper depth is reached.”
Do you really need to do this operation with military-crimped brass? Yes, and here’s why: “any attempt to prime the case without removing the crimp will simply result in a mangled primer that cannot be expected to fire and certainly won’t fire reliably.”
Read Full Article on Riflemans’ Journal Website (more photos and detailed write-up).
*Why does military brass has a primer crimp? GS Arizona answers: “The crimp is nothing more than an intentional deformation of the case around the primer pocket, the purpose of which is to retain the primer in the case despite high pressure situations in machine guns and other automatic weapons where a loose primer may cause a malfunction. As reloaders, our task is to get rid of the remnants of the crimp in order to allow re-priming the case.”
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Tags: Brass, Military Crimp, Primer Pocket, Reamer, Reloading, Wilson Trimmer
Hornady makes also makes a primer pocket reamer bit that you can use with a handle or an electric screwdriver (with an adapter).
The main problem with this Wilson one is that there is too many steps for each case: you have to put each case into the case holder, ream, and then take the case out of the holder. As anyone with a Wilson trimmer knows, putting case into the case-holder and removing it takes just as long, if not longer, than the actual trimming or reaming operation.
In contrast, the Hornady is much faster, stick it into the primer pocket, give it a turn (by hand or with an electric screwdriver), remove. You could probably do 3 cases with the Hornady in the time it takes to do one in the Wilson.
The Hornady is also cheaper ($10 plus a screwdriver adapter).
chuck a countersink in a electric drill and go at it.
I had the super swage from Dillon. The problem with it is the web thickness varies from case to case and you constantly have to adjust, then if you “swaged to much” you then have to fix the flash hole.
switched over to a countersink bit on a drill press at low speed, works great.
also notice on some cases that were swaged was loose primer pockets.
I sold it for about what I paid for it, he has the same issues I did.