Which sizing die for .223 Rem?

[wv109323]

I bought a set of Lyman .223 reloading dies many years. They did OK but I broke a lot of the Lyman decapping pins. It seems the expander/decapping stem would get loose and the decapping pin would get off center and be broken. After a while the stem became bent so I replaced it with a RCBS stem with the more common decapping pin.
Now I am back at square one , the RCBS expander/decapping is bent and I am breaking decapping pins.
Since this is a 22 caliber the sizing stem can not be increased in diameter. So is there a .223 sizing die that takes a licking and keeps on ticking. It seems like about every 2K rounds I need to get a new stem.
I am going through 3-4000 cases a year. I need a small base die.

[gloob]

Lee. Decapping rod can turn berdan into boxer and keep on ticking. That is, if you could tighten it that much... They make it so the rod will slip before that happens, so your decapping rod and pin are not damaged.

I have bent a hornady. I have zero problems with Lee dies in 223. Other than the sizing die is sorta on the loose end in the neck, and I have to scrap certain thin walled headstamps. Like 0.5% of my stash. LC and all the common domestic brands are fine.

[Pee Wee]

What glob said, I have done thousands of rounds with Lee, never bent a pin.

[William Yanda]

"Lee. Decapping rod can turn berdan into boxer and keep on ticking. That is, if you could tighten it that much... They make it so the rod will slip before that happens, so your decapping rod and pin are not damaged."

NO! Gloob, tell me it ain't so. Doesn't everybody know Lee is inferior in quality to any other brand, chosen only by absolutely clueless neophytes who shop by price? Purple font off, actually, I would have made the same suggestion.
I am resizing mil surp brass and may need to use a small base die as well.

[6bg6ga]

The only Lee product I own is the universal decapping die. I purchase the decapping rods from squirreldaddy off ebay because the Lee rods bend like butter. So I decap all my 223/5.56 brass and anything that needs swaged I run thru the swager and then from there to the tumbler and after tumbled I FL resize them.

[Budzilla 19]

Lee universal decapping die, squirrel daddy pin, it'll do the job every time.

[Mk42gunner]

It has been a while since I messed with any .223, but I used an $10.95 set of Lee RGB dies to process several thousand M-16 fired LC and WCC cases. It has been long enough that I don't remember if the decapping die had the oops feature or not.

Robert

[376Steyr]

Lee decapping die plus a Redding SB full length sizer that uses neck bushings is what I use. I pull the decapping assembly out of the Redding. No broken decap pins, no need to pull expander balls through the neck.

[RogerDat]

+1 on Lee for either the universal de-capping die or the RGB die set and just size and decap in one shot. By sizing while removing primer it means the brass is ready for length check and trimming as well as any primer pocket prep.

[StratsMan]

Personally, I've put away my Dillon 223 die and converted to an RCBS X-die... Haven't broken a pin yet, and the cases fall into the case checker all the way down to the lowest mark... My brass will fit any 223/5.56 chamber they have met...

[tazman]

I use the Lee universal decapping die to decap all my crimped primer brass the first time. I think the standard Lee resizing die would do the same job but I don't need it to.
I have decapped thousands of 223, 308, and 30-06 brass with it.

[RogerDat]

In some of the really tight military crimps the collet that secured the de-capping pin in the Lee Die allowed the pin to slide up rather than break. So that is a plus.

[EDG]

I use one of the Lee .22 cal hand punches to decap everything. It has been used to decap every case except berdans since about 1969. I am sure it amounts to a 5 gallon bucket full of spent primers. This punch removes primers that are badly off center and at the same time avoids having the primer ash dumped into the press.

[lightman]

The Lee depriming die does everything these guys say it will. I've done thousands of 223's on my RCBS dies without mishap and I'm wondering why you are breaking and bending so many pins. The only pins I have broken have had something in the case. Its common for brass fired out of an autoloader to pick up a piece of gravel or dirt when they land on the ground.

[ole 5 hole group]

If it wasn't for bad luck, you wouldn't have had any luck at all, relative to your resizing die pins.

Not many people have your luck with sizing die pins but I'm sure you probably won't experience that problem in the near future. Myself, I prefer Redding & Wilson dies and would recommend the carbide button for the FL or neck sizing die. For the 223 and 308, it's sometimes very helpful to possess the Redding body dies as well, eliminating the "need" of a SB die.

[gloob]

In some of the really tight military crimps the collet that secured the decapping pin in the Lee Die allowed the pin to slide up rather than break. So that is a plus.

This is a bonus, for me, too. When a few crimped-pocket pickups sneak into my pile, the decapping rod popping up is what alerts me to this contamination. I will get a hammer and tap on the rod to push the primer out, then immediately decrimp the pocket on this case. This makes the end of the rod mushroom a bit, though. I dunno, maybe one day I'll harden the end or buy a softer hammer. Or maybe I'll - gasp - even buy my first spare LEE decapping rod.

If decapping an entire lot of crimped pockets, you can tighten the rod a bit (a lot) more, so's it doesn't slip as much, if ever. The tension is pretty well dialed in. The rod almost can't be overtightened. 99% of the time, if it slips, you are going to be happy it did. Doublecheck the case before you curse the rod. I've been frustrated at first,* but over time I realize that whenever it slips, it's for a reason I am glad to be informed about. And once set, I have never had to tighten it up over time, unless for specific purpose. It holds where you set it and the exact force that makes it slip remains very constant.

*Especially annoying when you "have" to get out two wrenches, loosen the collet, move the pin back, and try to retighten it while the pin falls down, lol. Just use the hammer, guys. When you hear the "tink" of the primer popping out, it is back to the perfect height. At this point, you can elect to tighten it more, if you want to "turn off" this level of warning. Or leave it alone, if you are hunting down stray crimped pockets.

[hd09]

A small o-ring at the nut that holds the pin to the stem will keep it there. Lyman started doing this in the last couple years.