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Thread: Decapping pin mishap

  1. #1
    Boolit Master Thumbcocker's Avatar
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    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
    Paper targets aren't your friends. They won't lie for you and they don't care if your feelings get hurt.

  2. #2
    Boolit Master
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    Powerful magnet. You can get some good ones cheap on Amazon or if you have a dead microwave tear that magnetron apart.

  3. #3
    Boolit Master
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    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.

  4. #4
    Boolit Grand Master


    GregLaROCHE's Avatar
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    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.

  5. #5
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    Winger Ed.'s Avatar
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    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.
    In school: We learn lessons, and are given tests.
    In life: We are given tests, and learn lessons.


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  6. #6
    Boolit Master Thumbcocker's Avatar
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    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.
    Paper targets aren't your friends. They won't lie for you and they don't care if your feelings get hurt.

  7. #7
    Boolit Master

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    Quote Originally Posted by Thumbcocker View Post
    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.
    Mrs. Thumbcocker may not agree. Pretty sure Mrs. Bmirs wouldn’t if things go south.

  8. #8
    Boolit Master
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    This becomes a what does a decapping pin do when it goes down the barrel question.

  9. #9
    Boolit Grand Master
    Mk42gunner's Avatar
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    Nothing good. Especially if it jams into one of the lands.

    Robert

  10. #10
    Boolit Grand Master
    rockrat's Avatar
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    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

  11. #11
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    Texas by God's Avatar
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    If it were me, I'd pull down all those rounds and then find the pin on the floor......

    Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

  12. #12
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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.

  13. #13
    Boolit Master


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    Quote Originally Posted by Conditor22 View Post
    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.
    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.

  14. #14
    Boolit Master
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    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.

  15. #15
    Boolit Master
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    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.

  16. #16
    Boolit Master
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    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.

  17. #17
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    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.
    [The Montana Gianni] Front sight and squeeze

  18. #18
    Boolit Bub gwrench's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Texas by God View Post
    If it were me, I'd pull down all those rounds and then find the pin on the floor......
    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.

  19. #19
    Boolit Master
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    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.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check