Lee ACP and 223

[foesgth]

I like to decap my brass and wet tumble. I took the plunge and got a Lee ACP to do the chore of decapping. I ran a bunch of 45acp and it worked well, Did some 38spl and it also worked. Tried 44-40 in the case feeder and no dice. They are too big at the rim. OK, I can hand feed them. I had been using my Rockchucker with one of Inline Fabrication's case ejectors. That set up worked well but tended to broadcast primers all over the place. The Lee machine does a great job of catching the primers.

SWMBO likes shooting a Mini14. That lady can eat up the ammo when she starts banging steel. If you have ever reloaded after a Mini14 you know that they toss the brass into the next county. Some of the brass ends up with slightly deformed necks. This was never a problem with my Lyman decapping die. The Lee press is another story. The decapping pin on the Lee press measures .215". I am having problems with brass hanging up on the pin. With no shell holder one needs to disassemble and pull the brass off with pliers. I got distracted and didn't notice one hangup and fed a second case into the system. I now have a broken decapping pin and a bent up plastic guide.

Have any of you folks hit this problem? I would really like to do 223 on this unit.

[RedlegEd]

Hi. I'm a little confused. I thought the ACP was a priming press, not decapping press. Are you maybe referring to the Lee APP? If so, why don't you just use the Lyman decapping die on the Lee APP. I have an RCBS Universal decapping die that I use on my APP and it works great because the stem starts out with a small diameter so dents in the case mouth aren't a problem.
Ed

[foesgth]

No, they have a decapping setup for the ACP. One of the reasons I got the ACP is to prime. I haven't gotten to that point yet as I need to deprime first. I load my 38spl on an RCBS 4x4. I know, it's the 21st century buy a Dillon. I have all the shell plates dies etc. I need and they are paid for (did I mention I'm cheap). The 4x4 never had a good priming system and I have always primed off press. Well, I am starting to think I may have made a mistake getting this press, time will tell. My mother always warned me not to be penny wise and pound foolish.

[highmountaincaster]

Run you pin down further

[Garyshome]

Listen for the primer to fall into the bottle if it doesn't hit it again and "Run you pin down further "

[poppy42]

Not familiar with a Lee acp press, but I’ve de-capped about 10,000 223/5.56 cases on my Lee App press with our any issues. Like highmountiancaster said “ run the de-capping pin down further “.

[foesgth]

On this press there is no adjustment for pin depth. I got it because it doesn't need shell holders. It was supposed to do any case without needing separate shell holders. I have ordered a new decapping pin. I wanted 2 but everyone has a limit of one item in reloading gear. Oh, what great times we live in today.





1

[44magLeo]

Once you get your new decapping rod, could you taper the end by the pin? I might try mounting the rod in a drill and use the fine wheel on my bench grinder to do the job. A longer taper my just di the job.
In the Lee catalog I have it shows they sell guided rods. In the pic it shows the end where the pin is small, then the rod tapers up to the caliber it's made for.
I thik this is for situations like yours. The small parts slips inside dented mouths then the taper opens it up to remove the dent. Then the larder diameter of the rod helps hold the case straight so the pin goes through the primer hole.
Leo

[foesgth]

Leo,
I think the problem is the no shell holder design. It only has a weak spring to push the shell off of the pin. The plastic guides center the case for priming or depriming. If it used the pass through shell holder like the APP I don't think there would be a problem. With a shell holder the priming part wouldn't work however.

[rockshooter]

Foesgth-
an easy and cheap fix for the Mini-14 propensity to launch brass is a different gas bushing. Accuracy Systems sells a set of bushings with different size holes and they are simple to change.
Loren

[foesgth]

Foesgth-
an easy and cheap fix for the Mini-14 propensity to launch brass is a different gas bushing. Accuracy Systems sells a set of bushings with different size holes and they are simple to change.
Loren

I have thought about doing that, however doing that raises another problem. My wife thinks picking up brass and digging lead out of the berm is more fun than an Easter egg hunt. I just keep my mouth shut and reap the benefits.

[rockshooter]

if the brass is closer she has more time to mine lead!
Loren

[Handloader109]

I did over 500 .223 cases with my APP and the lee universal decapper. It wouldn't hit the primer all the time correctly, yes the x shell holder, I changed to a larger pin and while it worked it would hang up on any case with mouth bent. Finally broke it and went back to the original and will stay with it.