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Reloading .223 Brass

CapnRob
Query,

Does PMC commercial .223 brass have crimped primer pockets?
Same question for G.F.L. (Fiocci) brass.
Their marked .223, no NATO stamp, clearly commercial brass but many seem to have a crimp ring around primer pocket. Setting up for a big run and have never used these before. Hoping I don't have to swag them.

Thanks for the input gang!
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Comments

9 comments

Date Votes
  • ammo guy
    Commercial brass will not have a crimp. Simply prime as you would any non-crimped case
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  • BHAVIN
    There is a lot of PMC 223 brass that is crimped. I have been finding quite a bit of it. I am guessing that it is the PMC "Bronze" 223 as that is the most readily available loaded 223 around here.
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  • Mobuck
    I just finished processing about 2000 PMC brass and at least 90% had crimped pockets.
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  • CapnRob
    The curiosity burned so deep I actually emailed PMC with this. They replied that their military ammo is produced on different machines than the civilian ammo. When the military side is idle, they sometimes use it to process civie ammo. With current high demand for ammo they've kept both sides running day and night.

    Result, some PMC COMMERCIAL AMMO WILL have crimped primer pockets. I'm guessing same may be true for the GFL (Fiocci) ammo. Real pain in the azz swaging all those casings.....
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  • alexdolhyj
    nearly all PMC brass has the crimped primer, i havennt seen one without it, especially on .223
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  • dfletcher
    Wasn't directly asked, but with all that crimped ammo out there who has the best primer pocket swager? I've finally settled on Dillons as it's easy & quick and I know one pass through & I'm done.
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  • CHEVELLE427
    quote:Originally posted by dfletcher
    Wasn't directly asked, but with all that crimped ammo out there who has the best primer pocket swager? I've finally settled on Dillons as it's easy & quick and I know one pass through & I'm done.


    i have been useing rcbs swager itseems to work fine for me
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  • CS8161
    I use a RCBS Deburring tool to remove the crimp.
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  • Nwcid
    Which crimp tools is the best depends on how much you are doing. Also depends on how much you want to spend.

    I have a Dillon ($90), RCBS swager ($20-25), and RCBS cutter ($20) in a prep center ($100).

    I used the RCBS swager for quite a while and it works well. It is not as abusive on a bench as say pulling bullets but there is a lot of up pressure and "bumping" of the handle to get the brass off.

    I think the cutter in the prep center does the best job. It nicely cuts the crimps out and leaves a nice beveled edge and primers feed in very nice. Down side is after more then about 100 rounds at a time I find my hand going "numb" from the way you have to hold the brass to keep them from spinning.

    I just recently got the Dillon since I have a ton to do. I have just done some test runs with it but it is good. I leaves the primer pockets in the same kind of shape as any other swager but is super easy. The way it is camed there is very little effort needed to operate the handle. Many people mount them flat on a bench and seems to work good that way. After reading some other posts I found some people mounted them vertical on the bench. I chose to mount mine vertical too. This way after swaging you flip the lever down the brass will fall off the spindle. I place a box on the floor to catch it.

    I also looked at the C&H swager ($25) when I got my Dillon. The C&H works very similar to the RCBS but seems to get better reviews.
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