removing miltary primers ?

[Adk Mike]

I have about 150 miltary 30-06 cases. About half way through getting them deprived. At the rate I'm going I will be out of decapping pins.
What the best way to deprive them ?

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Lee makes or at least made a hand held decapping base and decapping punch for doing 30-06. It only cost a couple of bucks and it always does a good job with crimped in military primers. Slow-yes, but you can't break the decapping pin. Check with Lee on availability. LLS

[country gent]

One of the lee decappers base and pin a quit hit with a hammer works good. A dedicated depriming die larger body than case heavy pin. Some of the older 06 military cases were not just crimped but had a shellac sealant on the primers to waterproof the joint, this acted like a very effective glue over time. A solid quick hit does a good job with the lee hand decapper. Set a piece of firewood up on end to work on as it makes a good solid base with alot of support. Also remember to remove the crimps from the primer pockets before re priming them.

[HiVelocity]

What about swaging the primer pocket? I havent found any military brass that didn't require swaging to allow for commercial primers. Just saying. I bought a
Lachmiller large primer pocket swaging die and, wow, what a difference.

HV

[seagiant]

Hi,
I just reloaded some 30-06 HXP Greek Military brass (nice) and had nary a problem!!! What might be happening is you have some BERDAN primed cases mixed in and they WILL break the pin EVERY time! Take a light and look down inside and see if you see two small holes instead of one big one!

You will also have to ream or swage the primer pocket before repriming! I use a L.E.Wilson trimmer with a reamer that takes the place of the cutter. Works very nice!

[Outpost75]

I have processed thousands of rounds of USGI .30 Cal. brass with crimped primers and have never broken a decapping pin using the Lee Universal decapper die. I use the Dillon autoswage 600 to reform the primer pockets.

[robertbank]

I have the Dillon as well and it works great. Not cheap though. I use it for S&B brass as well. That brass seems to have a crimp around the pocket as well.

Take Care

Bob

[JWT]

I have rocessed thousands of 30-06 and 308 military. I use an RCBS universal decapping die in a Rockcrusher. I then swage the primer posckets using the RCBS swager. I follow this up with full length sizing, polishing, then reloading as normal. I ocasionally break a pin, but it's usually due to being in a rush and not putting the case fully into the holder.

[Mk42gunner]

I have deprimed thousands of rounds of 7.62 and .45 with nothing more than a 1/16" pin punch, a hammer and something with a hole for the primer to fall through, (gave me something to do in the evenings while underway).

As long as the brass is Boxer primed, I wouldn't think you should have broken any decapping pins.

Robert

[johniv]

I have never used a special die for depriming 30-06, I have an old Pacific die set and have never broken a pin.
FWIW
John

[zuke]

LEE decapping die

[Dale in Louisiana]

I have processed hundreds of USGI cases using that Lee hammer decapping set. As for swaging, buy or borrow a Dillon pocket swager.

dale in Louisiana

[TNRELOADER]

+ 1 For the Lee universal

[bangerjim]

I use the standard LEE 30-06 die set decapper as found in the standard 3 die set.

And an RCBS swage die for the pockets.

No broken pins yet!

banger

[petroid]

+1 on making sure they are not Berdan primed. I know a lot of surplus 7.62x51 is Berdan primed and many a decapping pin has fallen victim to its evil ways.

[boho]

I use the Lyman universal decapping die and have never broke the pin.

[seagiant]

Hi,
Try this! http://squibloads.wordpress.com/reloading/get-the-crimp-out/

[mdi]

Yep, I'd suggest you check the brass or your methods 'cause breaking that many pins when decapping means something is wrong. Berdan primed cases may be the problem, or just make sure the case is lubed, placed in the shell holder straight and use a steady, even pressure...

I've processed thousands ...OOPS! Well mebbe 1,000 military rifle cases at most (30-06) and I just use a countersink to remove the crimp ring. Being a lifelong machinist/mechanic I had a few in my toolbox and they work great for me...