Hart's "case saver"primer pocket swager

My "Hart Tool" arrived the other day.
Reason I bought it was to try and save some 30-378 Wby brass, that was ready for the recycle bin.
At this point I have to say I'm less than impressed with it. Trying to find a constant "tap" has been a challange. What works on one case doesn't fix another. The only way to tell is to seat the primer. Will this fix last through multiple firing or has it become another step in brass prep.
Feel my $$ would have been better spent just putting it towards a new supply of brass.
 
philny1 said:
My "Hart Tool" arrived the other day.
Reason I bought it was to try and save some 30-378 Wby brass, that was ready for the recycle bin.
At this point I have to say I'm less than impressed with it. Trying to find a constant "tap" has been a challange. What works on one case doesn't fix another. The only way to tell is to seat the primer. Will this fix last through multiple firing or has it become another step in brass prep.
Feel my $$ would have been better spent just putting it towards a new supply of brass.
Click to expand...

Just finished another batch of brass--opinion hasn't changed.
With the same two taps--about like setting a 16 penny nail in a piece of wood--I'm experiencing results from no noticeable change to where the primer cannot be seated at all.
Again my experience has been solely with Weatherby 30-378 brass.
 
philny1,

Thanks for the feedback. Guess I'll hold off until I get a clearer consensus on a thumbs up or thumbs down. Right now the user opinion remains mixed.
 
I bought mine to salvage a bunch of 223 brass. 223 brass is always loosening the primer pockets. It does work, but it is a lot of work to save a 6 cent case. I use a light brass hammer and get inconsistent results. Sometimes I get the blasted pocket too tight, and a primer won't fit in again. Sometimes I don't get enough swage, and the primers only slightly better than it was originally. Now I find I've slightly mushroomed the post the case fits on, making 223 cases a bit of a challenge to slide on. I would have expected the post to be hardened, but that's not the case. I'll remove the mushroom from the post, and go to a lighter (yet) hammer, probably a plastic or leather one. By the way, be prepared for Harts to charge you Sales Tax on your mail order, even though the transaction doesn't take place in their state. They won't back down, and why should they? It's an extra 8% or so in their pockets for every sale. I work in mail order too, and know how sales tax works.
 
From what experience I have it will only allow you to swage pocket so much. Eventually the diameter of the tool in the primer pocket will not allow any aditional swage of brass pushed into pocket. Directions say to tap tool until it becomes held in place by primer pocket. If I lift tool off of stand and the shell does not come with it I figure I have not swaged it enough.
I am using my press to set the primers and all has been well. I would not recomend a hand primer after this process though.
I bought this to salvage Nosler 300 RUM brass necked up tp .338 edge and now use it on all of my brass. So far I have noticed the force to set the primers is consistant from one shell to the next. I feel the money spent on this tool has allowed me additional firings. Hope others may have same experience.

Good Shooting
 
I think the tool's best application would be on the more expensive brass and/or brass where one has a lot of prep time into it like outside neck turning, primer pocket uniforming, flash hole uniforming, etc...

I can't see myself messing with it for cheaper brass that is easily replaced and used for less precise purposes. Thanks for the feedback. I'll keep an eye out for other's experiences. Right now it's running about 50/50 thumbs up versus thumbs down.
 
Last edited:
Okay, this might be a bit off the topic but bear with me...

I have some 6.5-284 cases that cost me a bit, and while the primer pockets will still hold a primer, they are far from 'tight' any more. For the most part, I wouldn't worry about it enough to get a primer swage tool just for these cases... what does worry me is that a number of them (guessing 15-20%) have the heads swelled enough that they 'click' going into a regular shell holder. They still hold primers, they still shoot fine, it's just a minor PITA wrestling them in and out of the priming tool and/or the press.

Any tools out there to 'fix' this (short of ordering new brass)?
 
How hard are yall hitting those things? I am using a plastic bullet puller and mine hasnt failed me yet, but I have only done a couple to 300 hundred cases thus far. I ruined some 7RUM brass fireforming it for 270AM. I wasnt shooting the gun and wasnt paying attention when my buddy was shooting it. When the cases were ejected the primers fell out and down into the magazine. When I grabbed the brass up to reload them I realized that my winter fireforming load doesnt work in summer. 3 taps with the little plastic handle and I got them tight enough to hold primers and was able to get two more loadings out before I decided that they were too loose again. 3 more taps and no results. I didnt pick them up when I fired them Sunday in NM. One of those cases was used to kill my oryx.

I think that it actually works best on 308 lapua brass. But I cant imagine a case fired hot enough not to be able to be salvaged for at least a cople more firings....well except maybe that case I loaded up with 8208 instead of 870:mad:

It has already been worth it to me for the job it does on 338AM brass.
 
I tinkered with my case saver a little tonight for the first time and I "saved" a couple of pieces of brass that were way blown out. Pockets had maybe .010" of clearance on a new primer in some cases and now they hold primers again.

I think this tool works good although I have only done just a few cases. The directions say to tap the punch lightly but I had to really whack it with a hammer hard twice to get it to form the ring around the pocket. And I noticed that you really need to hold the punch straight or it will try to go in on an angle under the pressure. But I got the hang of it pretty quick and now I have some cases I can shoot that haven't seen the light of day in several years.

One other thing I should mention is that some cases require the small stand and large punch or vice versa so it's probably a good idea just to order both the small and large case saver kits so you have the bases covered.
 
Now that some additional time has passed, is this Hart tool worth the money? I've got some brass that could be salvaged if it really works.
 
I have just procured the tool also. Have not had the chance to use
It but on 2 cases. It works great! You really have to give it a good whack
With a hammer though, the light taps do nothing to help seat the primers.
They were Lapua 300wm cases so I am in the positive about $3.00 already.
 
Thanks,

A few more positive posts and I'll have to buy one. Could always use another toy on the loading bench, and I have some expensive RWS and Lapua brass that I've pushed too hard that could use some primer pocket reduction.
 
I do agree the tool alowed me additional firings from my brass 300 Rem Mag. I did notice after a couple hundred cases and like they say a good "wack" the sharp edges of the tool rounded from the force of the blows. If it was hardened before use this may help.

So my view is it will pay for it's self but could be a stronger steel.
 

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