This review is by the request of Derek45 located at this post: Link

Introduction:

I was going to buy the GS Custom swage and asked some questions on the above topic. People here seemed to like the swage. After doing a lot of research on the topic, I found a lot of mixed reviews on the swager. I then started looking for alternatives besides buying the 1050 or the ss600. I found another option, The Swage it. I asked on this board if anyone has used it but it seems that no one had. So, long story short, I purchased both.

Brass Used:
Once fired Lake City .308

Primers Used:
Winchester

GS Custom Swager Review

GS Custom Purchasing Link

Price: $99.50



At first look the swage looks really stout .The quality seems good overall. The instructions weren't that good.

Installing this swager was relatively easy. I didn't like the fact that I had to remove the primer disk, but that wasn't a big deal. Alignment was time consuming. I had a difficult time getting the swager to not hit the shell plate. I followed the instructions and eventually got it aligned.

Not it was time to process some brass. For this test I ran 100 rounds of LC. There was more spring pressure than I thought. That spring is really strong but I guess that it needs to be. To get the swager to operate correctly you need quite a lot of force to swage. After swaging my first round, it really didn't seem to do much but I continued with the rest of the brass. In that period of time I had to align the shell plate a second time as the swager kept hitting the shell plate. (There isn't much clearance there). I completed 100 rds in no time and now it was time to reload and see how the swager did.

I cleaned the brass again to get all of the lube off and removed the sizing die. Now Im ready to prime the brass. The first round that I tried to prime failed. I thought that was odd but kept going. The primers did not go in by using 2 fingers like his ad described. After 20 rounds I had 4 failures. After 50 rounds i had 7 and at 100 rounds I had had 16 failures! The primers just would not go in. I removed the primers and inspected the primer pocket and it seemed that the crimp was barely swaged. I can't believe that people could review this well because I don't think that a 16% failure rate is acceptable. I was going to contact the company at this point but I was eager to try the other swager.

The Swage It Review

The Swage It Purchasing Link
The Swage It eBay Link

Price: $129.95  with both large and small pins
$99.95 with a single swaging pin

My first impression was that I couldn't believe the quality of the finish. This thing looked amazing especially next to the GS Custom. At this point I'm hoping that I didn't just buy a swager that just looks good. The instructions were really simple and to the point.

Installation: I removed the primer punch and the lower bracket. I then installed the 2 screws for the mounting bracket and tested movement. I like the fact that I didn't have to remove the primer wheel. The alignment was perfect and now I'm ready to swage. There wasn't any chance of of the swager hitting the shell plate. Couldn't believe how fast that this installed.

Now its time to process the brass. Once again I used LC brass. I was surprised that the the swager actually went into the brass. There was a definite feel that it went in. It required some force but it wasn't that bad. I then ran the rest of the brass. My arm was a bit more tired but it seemed that the swager was doing a lot more.

I cleaned the brass and now I am ready to prime. The primer went into the first piece of brass like butter. The first 20 with 0 failures. Then 50 I had 1 what went in that required  some force and got a bit deformed. At 100 rounds I had a 1 true failure, so it totaled 2 failures! This swager actually worked amazingly well! I did have to make sure that the tip of the swager was clean as I found some brass debris on it. Also I noticed that after 100 rounds that the mounting plate screws were a little bit loose. Not sure if I just didn't tighten them enough initially

Conclusion:
Overall both swagers were built well. The Swage it was aesthetically superior. The installation was a whole lot easier on the Swage it. The failure to prime problems with the GS Custom swager were unacceptable in my mind. I haven't called the company because I'm going to keep the Swage It as I was so impressed. That swager just wins in every way (for the exception of price) and Im sure that anyone else who reviews it will share my views. I would rather spend the extra $30 for an item that works.

Hope that this review was helpful and happy swaging!

Cool  

thanks

Thanks for posting.  Please update if you run into any issues.

Interesting.  Thanks for the review.

I will have the .223 review complete tomorrow. Also, I plan on running a larger test of 500rds. Ill keep you posted.

Thank you for the review.  I had been interested in the GS one and then found the Swage It one.  Also a few days ago noticed the Swage it was from AZ.  Cool they are local to us.
Looking forward to your additional reviews!

Did you have an opportunity to try the Swage it out on a larger run yet?

Curious if it really does work as intended when making a larger run.  With your 100 round test, I was a little concerned at a 2% failure rate.

Sorry for the delay on the update but I have been working to take all of the variables out of testing these swagers. I completely cleaned and lubed the press, sorted through all of the brass that was supposedly once fired and selected all of the un-swaged LC. The results were surreal and am now running another batch to verify those results. Stay tuned as this is about to get very interesting.

Well, Ive completed the testing and the results are very surprising. Let me just start by saying that I had to take all of the variables out of the equation. I completely cleaned and lubed my press, selected the un-swaged LC brass by using a primer pocket gauge and ensured that the press was properly aligned. Here are my results.

I started with the GS Custom andI ran a test of 200 rds of LC .308. I ran the first few pieces and it didn't seem like the swager was doing anything. I checked that the swager was completely screwed in to the press and continued running the brass. There wasn't any feel to the swaging process, just seemed like the swager was just hitting the brass.

Before I converted over to priming the GS Custom process brass, I switched over to the Swage It. With the first piece of brass you actually felt the swager actually forming the primer pocket. I continued wit the rest of the brass and every piece had the same feel as it was truly unprocessed.

Results:

The GS Custom swaged brass would not accept ANY primers! I then noticed that the brass wasn't going into the swaging station fully and noticed that the locater tab was loose. I tightened that and continued swaging. The brass still was not accepting primers. All 200 failed! This swager defiantly does not work. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I needed to figure out why my results were so drastically different from my above post. The answer is the brass. I found that most of the "once fired" LC brass was actually processed at some time or another. So when I ran the initial test, the brass was already processed and allowed the primers to go in. When I decided to select the the truly un-swaged brass is what caused these results. This swager impacts the primer pocket and doesn't do anything. The swager pin is far larger than the primer pocket. I don't understand how this is supposed to work and how people can review this product positively.  Here is a sample of the results:

Now the Swage it. The first primer just pushed right in as well as the other 199! They were absolutely perfect! I then looked at that swager more closely to determine why it actually worked. The swager actually goes in the brass and forms the primer pocket similar to a manual swager. The pin is obviously smaller than the primer pocket and tapers so that it can form the pocket. Hers is a sample of the results:



Now I needed to address chumly2071's concern of the 2% failure rate that I had in the initial test. When I first started loading the GS Custom brass I ran into the problem of the brass not fully going into position and not allowing the primer to be positioned incorrectly with the pocket. I feel that is where the failure rate was with my initial test.

Conclusion:

The results speak for themselves. I feel suckered buying the GS Custom swager, but at the same time I have the Swage It that works great. This is the last time that I will ever use that GS Custom swager.

Good review.  As you continue to use it, please keep this post updated with the results.

I have the GS Swager and in truth, am very disappointed with it.  It doesn't do the job well at all.  I haven't used my GS Swager since I first tried it and consider it a total waste of money.





That
said, the Swage IT looks to have a superior design in a fundamental
way.  That being that the Swage IT's swage is mounted to the press frame vs being
mounted to the Platform as the GS Swage is.  This means that the Swage It transfers
loads to the frame body via a shearing force through the mounting screws while the GS Swager transfers the load to the Platform via the threads of the primer mounting hole in the Platform.  The long term loads on the threads could stretch them causing them to fail.



I'm seriously considering buying the Swage IT as it's superior design and apparent superior performance may just sway me to give it a try.  That said, I'm still a bit leery about the loads on the upper tangs of the the shellplate cutout and the possibility of damaging the Shellplates with long term swaging.



 

There really isn't that much stress on the press or the shell plate. But for the sake of argument lets say that you smoke a shell plate every 20,000 rounds. Who cares. That sure beats processing brass the other way. I do not see any problem with using this swager and I will load a lot more this week and report back.

Also, I was going to add my video but it seems that the company has finally uploaded one to their site. Here is the Link

Have you had an opportunity to use it on small primer cases, like 5.56?  If so, same impressions so far?

Yes I have used it on 5.56 and it works just as great. It requires less pressure to swage as well with a similar feel.

Just looked at the video and it looks to be less pressure to swage the brass than my GS version.  Even though I've got a Super Swage, this Swage IT looks like a great add-on to my press and with my Dillon Trimmer and resizing die installed on my case prep toolhead, I'll be able to decap, resize, swage, and trim my brass in a single step.
ETA: In the spirit of full disclosure, it appears that the OP, jeffr2015, who is a new member of AR15.com and lives in AZ may actually be the Manufacturer and Owner of Swage IT located in Glendale, AZ.  If true, his comparison between the two offerings may be a bit biased as he's reviewing and comparing his own product to a competitor's.   If jeffr2015 is the manufacturer of Swage IT, he used a clever approach to advertise his product.  





His very first post on AR15.com has him asking for an alternative to the GS, then the next day he responds in that post asking  about the Swage IT with a picture of it. Then 6 days later he starts a new post where he says he bought both and tested them against each other. (Quite fast to get both in, test them, and come up with results.)  Not dishonest, but very clever marketing.
Is jeffr2015 the manufacturer and/or owner of Swage IT?
Just an FYI and as I said, the Swage IT looks to be superior to the GS item I bought but regret owning.  However, I think I'll wait for a few more unbiased reviews before I go about getting a Swage IT for my 650.
 

Paging Norcal LEO

Locked while the issue is examined.  AeroE