Crimped Brass?

kam582

kam582

New member
Got my hands on some range brass, a lot of which is Lake City. I started to sort it, and then realized that because I have never dealt with crimped brass, I don't know what it looks like. Can someone help out?
Thanks
 
There's a tiny ring pressed into the brass around the edge of the primer pocket.
Hold a piece of factory brass beside it and it'll be apparent if it's crimped.
Sorry I don't have a picture. Maybe somebody does.
 
Thanks for the reply. I don't see anything obvious, but some of the pieces look like they might have a sealant on them. That makes me think military, but again I'm not sure.
 
If you buy a primer pocket crimp removal tool, you don't really have to "see" the crimp, you can feel it as soon as you put the tool into the pocket.

This makes it easier because you don't need to pre-sort the brass, I just work my way through all of it because as soon as I put the reamer into the primer pocket I can tell that the case doesn't need it and I just drop it in the done bucket and move on.

Obviously, if you're using other methods, you need to know which are crimped so you don't over do it.

When I need to, I can do hundreds of cases in an evening. It's just not that hard, even when doing it by hand.


Grouse
 
Great post/link that fw707 posted.
Depending on the amount of brass that you have could be the deciding factor on dropping $100.00 for the Dillon Tool.
If you have just a few hundred or so, then just using a cutter/reamer would work.(one member here I recall posting that he just used a pocket knife, and that would work)
I have done a couple thousand or so with the RCBS tool, and wish that I would have spent another $65.00 for the Dillon.
 
Lake City produced a bunch of 'civilian' brass that was not crimped during their slow production years following Viet Nam and before Desert Storm...As shown in the photo, the copper crimp ring is pretty evident if it's there...Federal produced a bunch for the military and didn't change for their civilian market due to cost of change over...

The red sealant will not really affect your reloading process, but if there are crimped ones, RCBS makes a Primer Pocket Swager that works well if you only have a few to deal with that sells for about $35 the last time I checked (when I got mine) a few years ago...
 
I appreciate the information. I think I've got crimped and non crimped brass. I've already got the Hornady 3 head case prep tool, and I see that Hornady makes a tool to remove the crimp that will work in the case prep tool. From what I can find, it works fine if you don't use too much pressure. I don't have a tremendous amount, so I don't think I can justify the Dillon tool.
 
Originally Posted By: fw707A case neck chamfer tool will work if you just need to do a few cases.

Yep. I just did 1000 with one last month. Took about two hours with my Makita.

Greg
 
Originally Posted By: GLShooterOriginally Posted By: fw707A case neck chamfer tool will work if you just need to do a few cases.

Yep. I just did 1000 with one last month. Took about two hours with my Makita.

Greg

Me, too. I have the pocket reamer, but my wrists get sore if I have to hand ream crimped pockets. I have a chamfer tool holder, to chuck the chamfer tool in a drill. I lock the drill on continuous, and push the crimped pocket into the inside mouth chamfer end, spinning in the drill and WHALA no more crimp. A hundred pieces of crimped primer pocketed brass is ready for new primers in minutes. And it puts a nice little bevel on the primer pocket, to help hand priming when the case isn't just perfect on the shell holder.

Squeeze
 
Originally Posted By: kam582I appreciate the information. I think I've got crimped and non crimped brass. I've already got the Hornady 3 head case prep tool, and I see that Hornady makes a tool to remove the crimp that will work in the case prep tool. From what I can find, it works fine if you don't use too much pressure. I don't have a tremendous amount, so I don't think I can justify the Dillon tool.
That will work just fine for you.
I think the cutters that I have are made by Lyman, and I drilled and tapped a small piece of aluminum to better chuck up in a cordless drill.
I did 250 pcs of .308 Win this way and they primed fine.
 
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