I picked up some cheap LC brass and now have to remove the crimp. What's the best way and what is the best tool? Thanks Daniel

How many rounds do you have to do? Several companies (RCBS, Dillon) make a swagging tool to remove the crimp. It presses out the crimp, so no metal is "shaved" out of the primer pocket. I like the swagging style best, since it does not remove material, and keeps a more uniform removal. LINK- Dillon swagger for crimp removal

If I am doing only a few cases, I have a tool that goes on my RCBS case prep center that rotates and shaves off the crimp. This works, but you lose metal around the primer pocket area, and has reduced the amount of reloads in the brass.

But if I'm loading ammo and need to remove a crimp, that task is done on my Dillon 1050 press during loading.


RCBS crimp removal tool for the case prep center:

Yup, this^^
If I have a bunch of crimped primer brass I am going to load, I set up my RCBS primer pocket swager and do them all at once. Like Chad said, if just a few, I use a trimmer/uniformer that I have mounted in a small hand drill. Sometimes when loading, I will come across a case that is hard to start a primer for whatever reason, so I will give it a quick tickle with the trimmer/uniformer and keep on trucking.

I have done thousands of military cases with the RCBS swager and have been very satisfied.It is a little slower than some but I do mine in the winter when I can’t do anything else.

I nearly bought a Dillon swager many years ago, but decided I wouldn't be using it much and that I'd rather buy components. In the meantime I used other tools to deal with primer crimps, and hated every minute of using them...but each time was "probably be the last time I'll ever do this." Ha.

I bought a Dillon last fall and have been using it some. I could kick myself in the a$$ for not buying one back in 1993.

I recently bought the RCBS swager die. I timed it, it is twice as fast as a hand held cutter. One issue, is it requires lots of force to pull the swager back out of the primer pocket. I have a long term loan of an old Pacific single stage press. I broke the handle off last week. So off to the shop it goes for me to build a new one out of tool steel.

"Firemen can tear up an anvil with a loaf of bread". Retired Fire Chief.

I'm using the RCBS trimmer/uniformers on a Lyman Prep Center. Primer seating is so much smoother, all my new brass gets the work for this one-time treatment. I've not experienced any loose pockets or reduction in cycles on my brass. Even my pistol brass gets the work, that slight bevel at the base of the case makes priming on a progressive press slick.