Fired Primers Sticking on Decapping Pin

[Alan in Vermont]

I have been having problems with fired primers sticking on the decapping pins when reloading small pistol primer cartridges. This seems to be confined to Federal Primers so I assume there is "something" about their anvil design that lets it grab onto the tip of the decapping pin. It happens on both RCBS and Lyman dies.

If I was single stage loading it would be no big deal but using my Pro-2000 I am going nuts with fired primers getting reseated and having a bunch of bad rounds to pull down.

The primers stick bad enough that some of them get stripped off the pin as the ram is lowered and getting re-seated just enough for them to carry over to primer seating station where they get seated back in the pocket. Sometimes I notice the ram not being in quite the right position when the old primer bottoms out, sometimes not.

The cure would probably be to go to Dillon sizers or back to CCI primers if they were available. All I can find is Federal primers and Dillon dies are weeks out on delivery. In the short term I'm going to try polishing the decapping pins down a little to see if that helps.

Is anybody else having this problem? I can sorta deal with it by pulling ever case out of the press after sizing to visually confirm the primer is gone, or I could resize/decap on my Rockchucker, both of which add time and steps to the reloading process.

[ffries61]

I've been having the same problem, going to try putting a little bit of a radius on the corner of the decapping pin, it seemed to help on another set of dies I was using.Dillon pins come this way now, but that spring loaded decapper really works nice.

Fred

[John Boy]

I have been having problems with fired primers sticking on the decapping pins when reloading small pistol primer cartridges.
Alan, to resolve your issue:
* Buy a Lee Universal Decapping Die & decap your brass
* Clean your brass
* Then reload using your Pro-2000

[lka]

Lol, Sounds like a pain in the *** ;) Never had it happen to me

[country gent]

A radious will help as will a very slight bend to the pin not alot just enough so the primer is off center when relaxed. thus the edge of the primer is knocked of on the side of the pocket. Also set the pin a little on the long side. Work the radious on to the pin with a drill press and fine stone.

[Newboy]

Grind the tip at an angle. That will do it.

[cavalrymedic]

Interesting problem. I think I would decapp off of press with the Lee universal decapper; however, that adds a step that you likely don't want since you are using a progressive press. Try cutting the radius on the decapping pin, or perhaps it is too sharp and needs blunting. Good luck. Just be happy you could find any small pistol primers at all.

[farmallcrew]

I have the sticking primer issue to. I used a little bit of emery cloth on the pin, it shined it up a little and took the burs off. Works slick as a whistle now. Its on a Lyman die.

[Wheeljack]

I like to decap before I clean my shells. I made a decaping tool from a Stanley, spring loaded, punch.
Stanley 58-013 Self-Centering Screw Hole Punch
Two adjustments to the punch. The tip of the punch was ground down to fit into the primer hole with no binding. The end of the punch was ground down to fit well into my 9mm shells. A piece of 2 x 4 with lots of small holes drilled thru, that the primers would fit into. The punch fits into the shell, the shell is placed over the hole in the 2x4 and a whack with a mallet and the primer is out. It's just faster than using the press. Then I may clean the primer hole or not, and then clean the shells.

Check out the punch at Amazon.com.

[Mike Kerr]

It will be interseting to see if grinding/beveling/radius changes etc. on the end of the decapper will solve your problem.

[David2011]

+1 for a little bevel on the tip of the decapping pin. Worked for me. Polish the edges smooth after beveling.

David