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Old October 8, 2008, 02:47 PM   #1
Starvingboy
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Pocket swaging on a Lee hand press

Anyone do a lot of primer pocket swaging? I was going to try a lee hand press with a RCBS pocket swager set up. Should work? Option B is one of those Dillon Super Swagers. Anyone have any experience with swaging a LOT of brass? The belt fed tends to eat ammo
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Old October 8, 2008, 02:59 PM   #2
BigJakeJ1s
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For a hand-held setup, I think you'd need to secure the RCBS "stripper cup" to the ram or frame with a spring or something, to keep it from falling off. I'm not sure about the force required to swage primer pockets, but my experiences with the Lee hand press were that it was very springy (meaning the swager may tend to swage the pocket off center?), with not very much leverage.

Andy
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Old October 9, 2008, 01:29 AM   #3
scsov509
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The hand press isn't going to get the job done given the way the RCBS die works, and you're going to end up getting real frustrated real fast. I will say that I've done about 3k 223 cases on a Lee Classic Cast press and been more than pleased with how the setup works, so that's going to be the cheapest route to go if you've got a single stage press already available. If you don't, then I'd still consider the RCBS/single stage setup since you can use the press for other aspects of case prep as well.
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Old October 14, 2008, 02:28 AM   #4
totalloser
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I have never used the hand press, but I have the RCBS swager, and my guess is that it would be very clumsy-possibly to the point of impractical to swage on one of those. A cheapo $15 single stage would work nicely, though. It takes minimal force to swage pockets, ('bout the same as priming) but there is a ring that pops the shell off the nipple thing which would probably not work well in a hand press (if at all).

From what I have heard from users of the Dillon, they work nicely. I haven't been swayed enough to purchase one, however. Done thousands, thousands left to do!

BTW, 5.56 only needs a decrimp on about 1 in 20 or more. 7.62x51 EVERY case needs a decrimp so far.
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Old October 15, 2008, 12:26 AM   #5
Starvingboy
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Sounds like the portable press is out. What about one of those stand alone jobs? I forget who makes it, but I have seen one that looks like a mini press, and it is only for swaging pockets. Anyone tried them?

I have a long commute, and do my pocket reaming with a lee thimble-thing while driving Something easier on the fingers would be welcome.
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Old October 15, 2008, 03:14 AM   #6
Hey_Allen
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Heh... My first thought after your explanation of doing this while driving was the police report explaining the cause of distraction after a mishap.
"Driving while... What was that again, officer? Reloading?!?"
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