DukeInFlorida
01-18-2015, 11:39 AM
I saw a post on another forum about breaking primer knock out pins in Speer 357 Sig brass. I posted my solution, and thought it might help some folks here as well. So, here goes.
----------- Gandog56 said ---------------
I'm getting tired of busting decapping pins trying to deprime Speer 357 SIG cases. With 1000 cases, so far I've bent or broke off 5 decapping pins. I still have 282 to go, but have to wait till my new order of pins come in. ONLY Speer 357 SIG cases are doing this to me, no other caliber of Speer brass.
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I replied:
I also ran into MANY batches of this brass.
Talking to the folks at Speer, they said that they bought the brass from Lapua, which is known for small flash holes. The solution would be to use smaller pins.
I contacted both Lee and RCBS. Lee was no help, but RCBS graciously sent me some .047" pins, which both fit in their knock out pin collets, and also did the job. So, now I have modified my process of assembling 357 Sig ammo:
1) I resize and deprime using a .40 S&W CARBIDE full length resizing die, from RCBS, with the smaller pin in place. That way, I don't have to lube the necked rifle brass style cases. I'm only sizing the major diameter at this point. But, I'm able to deprime without issues. I do this operation off the press.
2) Once having the deprimed brass prepared, and knowing that the major OD is sized, and with a minimum of friction left to deal with, I run the prepared brass in my Dillon 550b, with a 357 Sig full length sizing die in station one, with the knock out pin removed (cut off). It's still important to leave the collet pin in place, since the ID of the neck is controlled by the OD of the collet pin. In this way, the neck gets properly sized, and the shoulder gets pushed back.
3) In station two, where the powder drop is, as well as the bell mouthing, I have the powder drop tube adjusted so that the bell mouthing is an absolute minimum.
4) In station 3, I do only a push on the bullet, to the proper seating depth.
5) Finally, in station 4, I do a Lee Factory Crimp Die crimp. I have this set pretty tight, as the short length of the neck doesn't allow for a lot of neck friction, and bullet set-back is a BIG problem for this chambering. The deeper than normal crimp assures that the bullets stay tight where they are supposed to be.
Now that I have this system set up, my normal batch size is about 2500 rounds. With not ever any issues! (I never even notice that the flash holes might be a bit small)
Get yourself some RCBS small pins. They'll graciously send you some.
----------- Gandog56 said ---------------
I'm getting tired of busting decapping pins trying to deprime Speer 357 SIG cases. With 1000 cases, so far I've bent or broke off 5 decapping pins. I still have 282 to go, but have to wait till my new order of pins come in. ONLY Speer 357 SIG cases are doing this to me, no other caliber of Speer brass.
------------------------------
I replied:
I also ran into MANY batches of this brass.
Talking to the folks at Speer, they said that they bought the brass from Lapua, which is known for small flash holes. The solution would be to use smaller pins.
I contacted both Lee and RCBS. Lee was no help, but RCBS graciously sent me some .047" pins, which both fit in their knock out pin collets, and also did the job. So, now I have modified my process of assembling 357 Sig ammo:
1) I resize and deprime using a .40 S&W CARBIDE full length resizing die, from RCBS, with the smaller pin in place. That way, I don't have to lube the necked rifle brass style cases. I'm only sizing the major diameter at this point. But, I'm able to deprime without issues. I do this operation off the press.
2) Once having the deprimed brass prepared, and knowing that the major OD is sized, and with a minimum of friction left to deal with, I run the prepared brass in my Dillon 550b, with a 357 Sig full length sizing die in station one, with the knock out pin removed (cut off). It's still important to leave the collet pin in place, since the ID of the neck is controlled by the OD of the collet pin. In this way, the neck gets properly sized, and the shoulder gets pushed back.
3) In station two, where the powder drop is, as well as the bell mouthing, I have the powder drop tube adjusted so that the bell mouthing is an absolute minimum.
4) In station 3, I do only a push on the bullet, to the proper seating depth.
5) Finally, in station 4, I do a Lee Factory Crimp Die crimp. I have this set pretty tight, as the short length of the neck doesn't allow for a lot of neck friction, and bullet set-back is a BIG problem for this chambering. The deeper than normal crimp assures that the bullets stay tight where they are supposed to be.
Now that I have this system set up, my normal batch size is about 2500 rounds. With not ever any issues! (I never even notice that the flash holes might be a bit small)
Get yourself some RCBS small pins. They'll graciously send you some.