Stuck Case Removal

[KCSO]

Tonight a friend brought in a 223 die with a case stcuk in it. Not only that but he had tried to remove it himself with a mechanics slide hammer (level 9 maintainance) and when that tore off the base of the case he pried at what was left with a set of vise grips. UGGGLY!!!

The fix...

I chucked the die in the lathe and with a 1/4" boring bar I turned out the brass till the case wall was only 3 thousands thick. Then I took a dull pick and carefully bent in on 4 sides as much of the case wall as I could. Then, and here's the trick, i soaked the die in Kroil for 1/2 hour. The I used a 228 diameter brass (only Brass) punch and ran it down the neck of the die till it was firm on the case neck, one light tap and the remains of the case came out and the die was saved. Total time 1 hour and my friend is back to reloading now with the die. This will work on any lathe that you can center the die in and as long as you work carefully there is no damage to the die. You do need to get the case wall thin as possible so the case will bend easy and 3 thousands is about right.

[2muchstuf]

Sounds like a lot of work to me, but to each his own.
I have a Reading stuck case remover. Consists of: allen wrench, 1/4"-20 cap screw about 1" long, #7 drill, 1/4-20 tap, and the cap. Drill through the primer hole, insert screw through cap, tighten screw with allen till it pops free. Whole process takes 5 min.
Cost $13, used it two times, worth every cent.

[KCSO]

He tore off the base of the case.

[Antietamgw]

Good idea boring the case. I've used cersosafe a time or two and it works if the case isn't too tight. I have a .303 British FL die in the junk box now that is the same way. Case must have been ready to have a head seperation and this was on RP factory once fired brass. I'll try your way. Thanks for the tip.

[DLCTEX]

A friend of mine reloaded 243's hot and had occasional case separations after numerous loadings. I ground down a thread tap to just under chamber size(so there was no chance of the threads penetrating the case) and screwed it into the case firmly. Usually the case would start turning and pull right out, sometimes it took some tapping. I don't know if this could be adapted for a stuck case in a die, but might work if you don't have access to a lathe. DALE

[Kraschenbirn]

I recall only once having the head pull off a stuck case and that time, I got lucky...I guess. Soaked the die overnight in kerosene, clamped it solidly into a soft-jaw vise, and, carefully, used a broken bolt extractor to remove the case. Cleaned the die thoroughly to remove any galled brass, polished it lightly with a .410 shotgun bore mop chucked in a die grinder, and I'm still using that same .243 WCF die eight or nine years later.

Bill

[abunaitoo]

I've had to remove a few stuck cases for myself and a few friends. The stuck case removing tool works sometimes, but most of the time it just pulls the threads out. To remove it, I would drill the the base off and cut the shell out with a bushing cutter. A few taps split the case and the death grip it has on the die.
I used to rebuild auto trans. The bushing cutter is used to remove the old bushings from the case, without damaging the case surface. The case is aluminum, so if the cutter doesn't damage the aluminum, I'm sure it won't damage the steel die.

[2muchstuf]

Guess I'll have to read more carefully when I'm tired.

I feel like such a stooge right about now !

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