Good grief! Is it me or is it Lee?

[wilecoyote]

the undersized hole of some .308 Win. Hirtenberger cases, pin well centered an primer not crimped, was enough to break the Lee pin, in my case.
sure not Lee's fault.
said that, I like and I trust in my Lee univ. decapping die for every case I have.

[ddeck22]

I had this happen on some Berdan primed cases. I've learned to put only so much force on the handle. If I feel some resistance, I will push a little more to see if it is a heavily crimped primer. If nothing, I pull it out and look to see the flash hole. Sometimes it's Berdan and other times it is a small flash hole. For 223 and 9 mm, those go in the scrap bucket. No need to potentially break a pin for a ubiquitous cartridge.

[jmorris]

That ones on you, if you don’t tighten the collet so tight the pin will slide up before you can mangle the steel like that.

[bedbugbilly]

I have been using my Lee universal de-priming die for probably 20 years - have de-primed thousands of casings and still the original pin.

I personally think that a lot of the pins get damaged like shown because a person hand places the casing in the shell holder and doesn't make sure the casing is fully seated in the shell holder - this causes the primer hole to be off center so when the ram is raised, there pin hits the casing and not the priming hole. Easy to do because the process is repetitive and your mind can wander.

I have the same die in AZ, and out there, I've deprived a lot of 223/5.56 range brass - I have found that with the small casing, if I am not seated all the way into the shell holder, the pin can reallyy find resistance very easily - regardless of if the primers are crimped or not.

Solution? Keep your mind on what you are doing and make sure the casing is fully in the shell holder so the primer hole is centered inline with the pin. Then order 2 or 3 replacement pins to have on hand - they aren't that expensive.

Think of the mechanical advantage you have in a loading press when you pull the handle down and raise the ram - doesn't matter what brand of dies you have - the pin hits the brass instead of the primer hole - it's going to bend. When de-priming crimped primers - you have to be even more careful - coax them out - it's not a case where "brut force" is the answer because something is going to have to :give" - either the primer or the pin.

[Stopsign32v]

That ones on you, if you don’t tighten the collet so tight the pin will slide up before you can mangle the steel like that.

Yep, you're right. I had been getting the pin push up so I locked her down with Gorilla force. Lesson learned

[skeet1]

On occasion, you will find Berdan primed .223 brass. That decapping pin looks like mine when I discover one.

[Stopsign32v]

Like said by someone above, Lee is sending a new one free of charge. That is some pretty good customer service.

[45 long]

Another vote for Squirrel Daddy pins. Heat treating makes all the difference.

[45 long]

Anothe vote for Squirrel Daddy pins. Heat treating makes all the difference.

[1hole]

This is a less than month old Universal Depriming die, maybe 150 9mm through it and 100 .223 through it. Was depriming some crimped .223/5.56 and then this stopped me in my tracks. I can't win for losing!

Does anyone make good replacement pins for Lee? I'd rather not replace crap with more crap.

Crap or no crap, and I don't care what brand of die it is or how many times it hasn't been used, it's misuse of the tool to expect anyone's decap pin to punch a new flash hole. If the decapping pin doesn't align with the flash hole but we ram it home anyway that little pin is going to get broken or bent every time it's tried.

Or .... maybe it is all Lee's fault. ???

[Driz]

On occasion, you will find Berdan primed .223 brass. That decapping pin looks like mine when I discover one.

I just found one today. Yea I broke a brand new RCBS pin


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[lightman]

I've deprimed thousands of cases with my Lee die and I've broken one pin. This was a case with a piece of pea gravel in it. The pin rode down the side of the gravel much like a flash hole out of alignment and broke. I don't feel that this was Lee's fault. I emailed Lee, mostly because I didn't get anyone to answer the phone, and was told to mail the broken pin to them and they would send me another if I paid the postage. For about what that would have cost I just ordered 3 from Midway. I wish I had known about Squirrel Daddy then! My die has remained rust free.

[deces]

I wonder how long this video could go before some from Lee breaks in it?

[popper]

Most don't clean the case holder - junk accumulates. Light pressure to 'find' the flash hole, then punch it out.

[DurangoDave]

That pin did not hit the primer. If it did it wouldn't be able to jump out of the primer hole and bend to the side like that. It must have just missed the primer flash hole and then bend as you continued to push.

I think that depriming pin was loose and the pin was off-center. You didn't notice and pressed harder on the lever.

[derek45]

I process 1000 round batches of 5.56 Lake City brass with a LEE decapper. it works fine.

I keep spare pins on hand, …..but typically,…if something feels wrong,… don’t force it

when you find berdan prime’ed brass, crush it with malice and pitch it



https://youtube.com/shorts/_uBjoIuvAQQ?feature=share

[414gates]

The swaging rod in my new Lee Ram Swage looks like steel but bends like toffee.

I replaced it with an old Lee decapping rod that was missing the pin, set into a dome nut with epoxy.

The old decapping rods are hardened steel.

I may have used the tool incorrectly, but maybe that part should not be so soft.

[mikeatl]

I like to use a 223 decapping pin as it helps line up the case.

[Soundguy]

I'm surprised it just didn't slip like it's designed to instead of bending

[jmorris]

I'm surprised it just didn't slip like it's designed to instead of bending

The collet is 1/8 NPT threads, the more you tighten it the harder it locks the pin in place. Unless you have an inch pounds torque wrench it’s more of a “feel” kind of thing, setting it.

As much as I don’t like having to back the collet off and tap the pin back with a tiny brass hammer, it beats destroying a pin.

I have used them for years, even in my projects because, if set right, will slip vs being mangled.