Different size decap pins?

[OnceFired]

Hey all

Saw advice on here sporadically about getting a stuck case out of a die, by freezing the die. That worked nicely for me overall, and I think it was the lion's share of how I extricated the stuck case I had. But I should relate the story anyway...

First off, this is the depriming die. I wasn't sizing/flaring/crimping it yet - and this was clean brass that simply had not been deprimed. It should note that this is LC brass. And this is a die I bought used off of CraigsList a while back and hadn't used yet. It is a 3-die set from Lee in 223.

I think I had deprimed about 10 pieces prior to this one getting stuck. Each one was a bit tough, but that last one was a real bear. I added penetrating oil to it, and no luck there. Tried putting the die in the vice, and all I did was chew up the case with pliers. I tried unscrewing the decap pin, and that sort of worked. The pin itself would not come out - even after the nut at the top was completely off. I knew something was wrong, but I couldn't see down into the die enough to ascertain what the issue was.

Some of the videos I saw about fixing this issue say to drill the case. I couldn't because the pin refused to come out. I had nearly zero clearance - I could still just barely see the pin if I pulled it all the way "out" of the case. I didn't want to ruin that by hitting it with the drill.

So, I followed the advice here and froze the whole die overnight, right on top of the frozen veggies. I was hoping that would be enough on its own - but alas it was still stuck good. And now it was slippery from the oil & condensation now that it was out of the freezer.

I saw other videos that mentioned using a punch on the decap pin, after the nut was fully loosened but not removed. I tried that and with just a couple taps out it came from the die, but with a surprise. The pin was still stuck in the 5.56 case.

With some significant additional effort when I had the case in vise & using pliers on decap pin, I finally managed to get the pin out. What's odd is that the shoulder on the pin (about halfway down its overall length) was caught in the mouth of the case. Big time. It would move around (wiggle) but it would simply stop hard trying to pull it out. Which of course is why I couldn't drill it.

Checking it on other cases (just the pin this time) I learned the decap pin just BARELY fits in most of the cases I have.

What I am wondering is this - is it possible to put the wrong size decap pin in a given depriming die? Since this is a CraigsList special, and I had issues very early on, I am thinking this might be the problem.

Thoughts?

[engineer401]

I have a Lee Universal decapping die because it was available when others were not. It hasn't given me any trouble. I bought two extra decapping pins just in case. I compared the Lee decappers with soem from my CH4D dies and noticed the pin that extends from the assembly appears to be about half as long. I never had issues decapping LC brass with the Lee die. The oly thing I can think of is a try to raise the die in the press to avoid contact with the shoulder. If that doesn't work for you, maybe another brand of die is necessary.

[GhostHawk]

Pistols are easy, so I tend to use the die for those.

My main press is a lee Hand press, so resizing, decapping 7.62x54 could be quite a chore. Got better when I read about imperial sizing wax.
(TY MidwayUSA, awesome stuff)

So now depriming, sizing is much easier. But there are still times that I prefer to manually deprime.

Well I started with the depriming tool for the Lee loader in 7.62x54 but about the third time I tried to deprime a Berdan primer it broke.
But I found some very inexpensive lee depriming pins that work great! Well great that is in large rifle, not so great in .223 with small primer and small flashholes. I swear they get stuck 2 out of 3.

So for now I'm just staying out of .223's.

I'm thinking the solution would be to have a slightly tapered depriming pin just a little smaller in the middle where it passes through the head. Might have to get some emery cloth and play with one a bit.

[jmorris]

First thought is that you need to use a case lube when resizing rifle cases, I use it on all cases but it is a must for rifle cases. Not WD40, or "oil" but case lube.

Most rifle dies have the expander built into the decapping stem, in one way or another.

The reason is that the bore of the powder drop would be too small and powder would bridge even more so than they do already.

Trying to pull the expander out with a case stuck in the die is not going to be very easy.

With a lee die, you want to back off the collet and use a brass, aluminum, lead drift/hammer to tap the decapping pin and case out of the die. Once both are out of the confines of the die it is much easier to remove the pin/expander from the case.

Actually once the case if free of the die you can often rotate the case to the part not destroyed inside the shell holder, tighten the pin back down and pull it from the case with no problem.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/reloading/expander.jpg

There will be some "spring back" of any case that will have proper neck tension and that is the resistance you are feeling.

[country gent]

There could be several things going on here. A true decapping die dosnt touch the case body or neck all it does is push the old primer out of the cases. Using your sizing die and decapper stem in it with rifle cases you do need to lube them lightly with a case lube, Hornady one shot Imperial sizing die wax a lube pad and RCBS s lube/ I perfer Imperial sizing die wax normally for this. The decapping rod expander needs to be positioned corectly in thedie body so it doesnt hit the bottomof the case inside and also so itsnot so high the expander is in the neck where its being sized. The die body sizes the neck small ( to account for slight diffrences in wall thickness) and the expander opens it back up to the correct size from the inside. A light radious polished on the pins end helps alot to center and alighn it better faster. A light polish on the expander portion helps it slide better also. Lubing insides of case necks with a brush or bore mop and motor mica also helps, an the motor mica is a dry lube that dosnt contaminate the powder.

[Wayne Smith]

I lube inside the necks with an idea I read on this site years ago. I filled an old medicine pill bottle (straight sided) with shot and poured in some powered graphite. All I have to do is shake up the bottle with the lid attached, remove the lid and dip the case in the shot. Very easy. I suppose you could use motor mica just as easily.

[rockshooter]

First thought: Using the Lee Universal decapper I discovered that some pick-up 5.56x45 marked also 1k 13 has teeeny flash holes that held the pins captive. As the OP discovered, it can be a booger to get that all back to normal. I ended up recycling a whole bunch of that stuff. Second thought: way back when, I discovered some 9mm brass that would reseat the primers after they were punched out- the pin was large enough to grab the inside of the primer and pull it back in. That's when I discovered that RCBS makes 2 sizes of primer pin.
Loren

[Harter66]

Get a long 1/4 28 bolt 3 inches or so. A couple of files(at least one that is a single cut for 22 cal.) ,280,320 and 3 or 4 "0" steel wool.

Go to your drill press (fine use the lathe if you want)

Cut the bolt head off in the case of a Lee die match up the top shoulder dia.
Flip it over and reduce 2 inches from .250 to .220 or a little less sand and polish.
At this point you can continue on and make a 1 piece pin with a knock out pin or center drill for a changeable pin . In 7mm and up I have end drilled the piece and cross drilled for a set screw . The 22 pin I just turned as a 1 piece. Now you have a pin that can't hang up in the neck and the basic expirence to make over size decaping rods for other calibers like a 762x 39 that takes a 318 boolit or 3165 paper patch for example.


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