By John Kleespies
A handheld chamfer and deburring tool is a double-ended tool that looks like Flash Gordon’s rocket ship. Or… rather… Dr. Zarkov’s rocket ship, to which Flash availed himself. For simplicity’s sake, we’ll call it Flash’s ship from here on out…
The pointy end of the rocket ship is used to remove burrs from the inside of a freshly trimmed case mouth. It will also give the edge a slight bevel to assist with inserting the bullet into the brass. The other end of the rocket ship is used to remove burrs from the outside of a case mouth. This tool also has one other secret use that I will reveal at the end of this article.
When looking to purchase one of these tools, I strongly recommend seeking out a version that has a post sticking out of the rear of the tool, as if Flash Gordon’s ship has a tip extending from his rocket booster. The purpose of this post is to guide and then secure the mouth of the brass in place while the tool is deburring the exterior of the case. If this piece is missing, then the nose of the brass will slip through the fins, and the user will be stabbed by Flash’s rocket fins. One of my deburrers recently had this little extension snapped off, and my fingertips were repeatedly reminded of the importance of this seemingly innocuous post.
This seemingly innocuous post, by the way, also has a hidden skill that allows for the secret use that will be revealed at the end of this article…
The other suggestion that I’d make is to look for a tool that has a longerish grip area with aggressive knurling. Most of the tools that I’ve encountered are a bit on the shorter side and oftentimes have negligible checkering, which results in finger slippage, which further results in fumbled tools… at least for me.
To that end, the accompanying photo is a case of what to do and what not to do. Notice the small tool with no knurls. Its rear post recently broke off, and that is the final straw that is landing it in the trash. The second is a Hornady Deluxe tool: it is long, has a ton of knurling, and a strong post at the end.
Perfect!
So, what’s the secret use for this tool?
If you take that little post and clamp it into a drill chuck to spin the chamfer end, this tool can be inserted into a primer pocket to perform a quick and sloppy primer pocket swage for removing a military crimp from things like 5.56x45mm brass.
Cheers!
