Decapping pin mishap

Loading some .223 j words for Mrs. Thumbcocker's AR. All going well. Then one primer would not seat. Tried again. Nope. Look at die. Decapping pin missing. Never happens on a Dillon die but this is RCBS.

Profanity. Then decide to weigh a decapping pin. 7 grains. Weigh all cartridges loaded thus far. Pull down the 6 heaviest cartridges. Nada. I have segregated all of the rounds loaded before the pin went missing. I have cursed all who were involved in making headless decapping pins. So how do I locate the missing pin? I am thinking a powerful magnet might be the solution.

Please refrain from "I told you so" regarding progressive presses.

Thanks

Powerful magnet. You can get some good ones cheap on Amazon or if you have a dead microwave tear that magnetron apart.

I’d check the spent primer tube and cup before I started working on the rounds.

If you were decapping in station 1 and priming in station 2 the pin must have gone missing and maybe be inside one of the rounds still in the shell plate, it couldn’t be in any of the finished rounds.

A magnet will work, but you are going to have to start emptying out the rounds one by one. Lucky gun powder is not attracted to magnets like in Indiana Jones.

Old school straight, headless de-cap pins snap right off and get into mischief too.

Like Jim, I'd look around first too, then probe the loaded ammo with a super powerful magnet as a last resort.
It might not 'find' the end of the pin and hold it, but you may feel its attraction when you're on the right round.

Update. I loaded a round on a dead primer with j word and powder and a decapping pin. Blackened the case. Put dead round on floor with all other rounds. Used the magnet i have yo pull clips out of ww melt. (prefer slotted spoon.) Round with decapping pin in it jumped onto the magnet. Nothing from the other rounds.

So do I trust the results or go belt and suspenders and pull them anyway. Remember if enough people are involved in a bad decision its nobody's fault.

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Originally Posted by Thumbcocker

So do I trust the results or go belt and suspenders and pull them anyway. Remember if enough people are involved in a bad decision its nobody's fault.

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Mrs. Thumbcocker may not agree. Pretty sure Mrs. Bmirs wouldn’t if things go south.

This becomes a what does a decapping pin do when it goes down the barrel question.

Nothing good. Especially if it jams into one of the lands.

Robert

I have had the pin pull out on some 6mm br brass. Its usually stuck in the flash-hole of a piece of Lapua brass

If it were me, I'd pull down all those rounds and then find the pin on the floor......[emoji849]

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I'm curious IF all the rounds had dead primers, the broken decapping pin would be in the round with a dead primer or the round before that.

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Originally Posted by Conditor22

I'm curious IF all the rounds had dead primers, the broken decapping pin would be in the round with a dead primer or the round before that.

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Best answer yet, if the pin came out it has to be the one just before the first with the spent primer or how did any of them get the dead primer out????

Wouldn't need a decapping pin if you could decap without it. Common sense.

Any loaded round with a fired primer needs to be broken down anyway.

I dump the contents of my impact bullet puller into a small coarse mesh kitchen sieve sitting in a cup. The powder falls through, the bullet stays in the sieve. I'd guess the pin'd stay there too.

If this were in my reloading room, I'd just have to know.

There'd always be that little lurking, nagging, doubt in the back of my head......what if?....and that takes the fun out of everything.

Why would you break down all the rounds? Pick the one up off the floor that stuck to the magnet and break that one down. If it has the decapping pin in it, you're done. Its not like the decapping pin can be in more than one case.

I was shooting with a friend who had a contender. When I removed a round he had loaded I heard a rattle. There was a decapping pin in the cartridge. [7TCU]. If I had not seen it I would not have believed it. His reply to my "What The" was "so that's where it went to". I no longer shoot his loads. even in his guns. Still, it stayed in the brass.

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Originally Posted by Texas by God

If it were me, I'd pull down all those rounds and then find the pin on the floor......[emoji849]

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This is how it works for me.

Another option is to accuse someone else, your wife perhaps, of stealing it. Then you will find it in the carpet.

Home Depot has neodymium magnets was looking at them yesterday. Have several that look like a push pin you wouldn't believe how powerful the little suckered are.