decapping pin problem

snyguy

snyguy

New member
I've been working on a batch of 500 .223 cases that I got recently. The other night I broke my decapping pin in my rcbs die. Yesterday I was in town and bought another package of pins. Last night I managed to break all 5 of the new pins as well. Most of the cases came out of the die just fine. The ones that broke the pins felt like I could have stood on the press handle and the old primers wouldn't have come out. Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong?
 
Is the brass Lake City? Since you are pressing out 500 rounds I assume you have been reloading for a bit. If not, make sure you lube your cases before you decap and resize. Sorry if this information is elementary to you. I dont know how advanced you are at reloading.
 
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Make sure you are -

using the correct shellholder

the primer flash hole is located in the center of the case and not offset

the cases you are depriming are not military with crimped in primers

you let RCBS know that there is a problem with their pins and you want "free" ones to replace all the broken ones

In 38 years of handloading I have broken a grand total of 2 decapping pins. One Lee and one RCBS.
 
One thing that I have been seeing a lot of is Winchester cases with their flash hole way off center. That will destroy some pins!

Quick and easy solution is to go out and spend $10 and pick up a Lee universal decapping die. They will never break a pin, and Lee warranties that 100%.
 
I'm still fairly new to reloading. I go one step at a time on a single stage press and process everything by hand.

Cases were lubed and the correct shell holder was being used. None of the batch was berdan primed. I kept the shells that broke the pins separate. One Winchester, one R&P, and the rest were PMC. I looked around and found out that both Winchester and PMC have problems with offset primer hole as mentioned, but none of these were offset.

There were military crimp brass mixed in, but I had no problem with any of them(LC and FC.) What do you guys do to deprime crimped primers? I was told it was the same process except that you had to remove the crimp of course.

I think that I will try the Lee Universal decapping die. That should be cheaper than replacing pins.
 
I've poked out a bunch of FC and Lake City crimped primers on regular sizing dies and never had a single one cause a broken pin.
There's gotta be another problem somewhere.
 
Just a thopught, take a look at the inside of your shell holder and make sure there isn't anything lodged in it to stop the downward movement of the primer that is getting decapped. Any obstruction leads to broken pins. And make sure your casings are able to go all the way into the shell holder and that nothing is causing your casings to be off center when you decap. I've found little pieces of who knows what that prevented me from setting the casings in the correct alignment and hence, busted a few pins.
 
Originally Posted By: fw707I've poked out a bunch of FC and Lake City crimped primers on regular sizing dies and never had a single one cause a broken pin.
There's gotta be another problem somewhere.

+1. The only time I've broken a pin was on a berdan case that was picked up.

Coyote 204, yes there are brass cases out there that are berdan primed.

 
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I recommend the Lee Decapper Die. I think they make the pins from recycled Abrams M1 tank parts. Toughest stuff I've ever seen.
 
I found the easiest way to deal with military crimps was to trash the brass and buy new. I was dealing with a bunch a while ago. Some decapped fine and primed fine. Others decapped fine and wouldn't prime correctly, others trashed my pin.

To do it correctly you have to swage them out, trim the primer pocket etc etc. Way more time to do that it's worth imo. Brass is cheap and once you have the good stuff its easy.

Same as when I started with 25-06 and using 270 brass. Did 100 or so and then bought new brass for future loads. My right arm still hurts.
 
What kind of media are you tumbling with? I've had pieces of cob and walnut shell stuck in the case and would have broken my pin if I'd kept on going. You should be able to feel that something isn't right and back off before you break anything. The rod could be bent a little and cause the pin to miss the hole, check it out too. I'd go slower and if it doesn't feel right scrap that piece of brass.

peace.
unloaded
 
Originally Posted By: fw707I've poked out a bunch of FC and Lake City crimped primers on regular sizing dies and never had a single one cause a broken pin.
There's gotta be another problem somewhere.


+1
 
Originally Posted By: chefpierreOriginally Posted By: fw707I've poked out a bunch of FC and Lake City crimped primers on regular sizing dies and never had a single one cause a broken pin.
There's gotta be another problem somewhere.


++1
 
The brass was purchased as once fired, and already tumbled. I don't know what it was tumbled in. I've got some more pins coming and will look for the universal decapping die the next time I'm at Cabelas. I'll slow down a little. Thanks for the ideas.
 


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