Continuing on in our Mark 7 autodrive series, John Vleiger joins us to talk about the Mark 7 SWAGESense.

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In the Series

This video covering the Apex 10 SWAGESense is a continuation of our series with guest John Vlieger of Mark 7 reloading. 

We’ve covered priming adjustments, powder measure adjustments, caliber conversions, machine maintenance, and the DecapSense.

About the Mark 7 SWAGESense

The entire job of the SWAGESense is to inspect the primer pocket. Just because the DecapSense saw a primer fall doesn’t mean doesn’t mean the entire primer has been removed. The ring of a primer can remain after decapping depending on the condition of the case. This causes an issue when you go to seat a new primer.

From Mark 7:

The swaging station adds a chamber to the inside of the primer pocket to ensure proper primer seating.  If there is an obstruction, it prevents the swage rod from entering the primer pocket by either a partially ejected primer (often called a “ringer”) or a small primer pocket. SWAGESense™ uses Mark 7® proprietary technology to not only perform a swage operation, but can also detect a ringer and small pocket primers.

Advantages of using SWAGESense™ 

• • Swages the toughest military crimped brass
  • Detects small/large primer ringers particularly found in wet washed brass
  • Detects small primers in .45ACP brass
  • When encountering a blockage or small pockets (using large rod), it can stop the machine and alert you through your tablet
  • Dramatically reduces probability of breaking swage rods

SWAGESense™ is constructed using hard anodized aluminum and comes complete with two hardened chromoly swage rods – for both small and large primer pockets.

How it Works and Installation

First off, you do not sacrifice anything the machine can already do by adding the SWAGESense. The swage rod in the sensor is the same size and cross compatible. It still swages your primer pocket, but it is also designed to stop the machine if it detects an issue.

The sensor has a lower housing and upper housing with stiff washers in between that act as springs.

If the swage rod encounters resistance or an obstruction, the two halves press together and activate a micro switch that stops the machine.

To install, you first need to access the factory-installed swager. This means pulling off the sprocket, cover, and con rod. From here it’s a simple swap.

Remove the swage rod from the housing, push it up so you have enough clearance, add the sensor and thread it together to reassemble.

Hold on to the old swage — the rod is interchangeable and can serve as a backup for the SWAGESense rod. The SWAGESense is first and foremost a swage, so you have to ensure it is properly set to accomplish this. Whether you decide to use the sensor or not is up to you.

Testing

To function test, we took a decapped case and ran it through the swage with the swage sense activated. It ran flawlessly.

We sacrificed a fired case with spent primer intact to test if the swage sense would stop the machine. It did, displaying a “Ringer detected” message.

This means the ring of the primer is still in the primer pocket.

If you want the sensor to be more sensitive, adjust the height of the post. The closer the post is to the switch, the more sensitive it is.

Conclusion

The SWAGESense is another Mark 7 tool designed for efficient and safe reloading. It can help you save time as well as preserve parts and components. Be sure to check out all of our other Mark 7 sensor videos!

Get the Gear

The Mark 7 Apex 10 is available directly from Mark 7 as well as from the Double Alpha Academy! 

Find the Mark 7 SWAGESense at markviiloading.com!

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Thanks,
Gavin Gear