Why do I keep breaking decapping pins and bending the shafts on my .223 dies?

I have bent both RCBS and Lee.

I am using the Lee C Press and the Lee O Press.

Also the neck on some of the brass was crushed down into the body on some.

RugerNiner, I assume from your description you are breaking/bending, having problems with the decapping when full length sizing your fired brass, not when decapping in a seperated operation.

My guesses would be that

1. perhaps you have some berdan (common in military surplus ammo) primed brass, which has no conventional hole for the decapping pin to penetrate. Thus your problem.

2. With some of the necks being crushed into the body of the brass, it sounds as if your die is adjusted improperly, which could include your die being screwed to far in, and or your expanding/decapping assembly being either very high--too near the shoulder neck junction and pinching/crushing the shoulder, or too low, and penetrating all the way to the bottom of the case, which I doubt.

I would try adjusting my die further out--back it out a turn or two-- and confirm the brass I was sizing is conventionally primed.

Good Luck--Don

In trying to decap 6,000 rounds of mixed .223 [much of it swaged military primer pockets], I found that RCBS and Redding are too weak. Lee just keeps going.

But even Lee will bend a pin before the press breaks, so I give up on some primers.

I adjust the decapper in the press so the stroke is short and I do not have as much leverage. That way I can feel a really stuck primer. If 20 pounds of force on the handle won't pop the primer out, I give up.

Just throw the case and it's stuck primer in the trash, and move on.
I've got 6,000 rounds to load before the squirrels finish hibernation

Shaft not centered= bent shaft +broke pin + case crushed on edge.

Make sure shaft is centered and it would help if you can grind a little taper on the expander ball to help guide in neck. Dont ruin expander ball

I'd say the decapper isn't centered in the die. There is enough slop in the threads that if you just stick it in and tighten it, the decapper may not hit the hole in the case. You can pick up the die and turn it slowly in your hand and see if the decapping pin moves like a bent pool cue stick. The only time I bent or broke those was when I started reloading and didn't pay attention to this. I also like to stick the die in the press loose and run a case part way in before I tighten the ring on the die, this way the case and the die are not misaligned causing runout. Same principle.

I guess I should have mentioned I am trying to deprime Lake City Brass.

Does that make a Big Difference?

LC is military. From the factaory it had the primer crimped in. (Look at ring crimp around primer.) The first time reloading it is really tuff to get primer out without breaking a few pins. Then the case should be swaged to elimnate the crimp before reprime. If not swaged the primer will go in hard and seat but be lose in case because it was deformed going in deformed hole.
One thing that might help is to grind down pin until they are just long enough to get primer out of case (about 5/16 sticking out of x ball) but dont get hot and take temper out of pin. RCBS style pins are stronger than lyman style IMO.
also look and see if any of them were berdan??
I dont know if a universal depriming dies has a stronger pin? Maybe some one know.

For what it's worth, I knock all crimed primers out by hand using a hammer a punch and home made case nests.An added benefit is that the punch tends to crush any inside burrs around the flash hole and leaves a champher to make further decapping easier. A hand ground phillips maakes a good punch. roger

RugerNiner, I feel your pain! Now about depriming, two things work well for me: a universal decapping die, and slowing down to a crawl with regular dies. Military brass is notorious for having off-center flash holes, so a person is bound to bend/break something somewhere when working with it. A good old-fashioned Wilson punch & base set (Lee makes one too) can help if you're willing to take the extra time.

Thanks for this discussion. I will stay away from military brass since it sounds like a real pain in the yazoo. I haven't broken anything in over 20 years and don't want to start now.

Spend $15 and buy you some new brass, then reload.

I'm Brand New to Reloading.
I thought Lake City Brass was the way to go for my AR-15.
Guess I had to learn the Hard Way.

You might try to drill a hole in the used primer with a small bit and pry it out. See what is left. i had a similer problem and discovered my brass had berdan primers instead of boxers. I threw it all away.

Call rcbs and they'll send you new pins FREE!

I use RCBS equipment!
I cleaned up around 2,500 LC, 5.56 mm back around 1977/78 and the first 2, each bent the decapping pin!
To correct the problem, I removed the decapping pin and left the expander ball on it, (loosely)!

I then put the decapping rod in a padded vice and drilled through the expander ball and up into the rod itself, with a drill bit the same size as the large diameter decapping pins! I put a large diameter pin in it and haven't had a problem since!

That same decapping pin is still in my 223 sizer die!

quote:

Originally posted by RugerNiner:
I'm Brand New to Reloading.
I thought Lake City Brass was the way to go for my AR-15.
Guess I had to learn the Hard Way.

LC brass is tough, and the small steps necissary to make it reloadable are things you only need to do ONCE.

you need to drive out the crimped in primer

Use a Lee universal decapping die.

Then you need to eliminate the crimp, I suggest an RCBS primer pocker swager.

After that treat it as normal brass.

AllanD

quote:

Originally posted by Allan DeGroot:
LC brass is tough, and the small steps necissary to make it reloadable are things you only need to do ONCE.

you need to drive out the crimped in primer

Use a Lee universal decapping die.

Then you need to eliminate the crimp, I suggest an RCBS primer pocker swager.

After that treat it as normal brass.

AllanD

I do the same basic thing Allan is suggesting here. Only I use the RCBS heavy duty decapping die. RCBS will replace it for free if something breaks on one of these.

Heavy duty decapper.

Primer pocket Swager.

As soon as Scharch gets thier priming machine fixed, I will quit my .223 de priming ways.
http://secure.cartsvr.net/catalogs/catalog.asp?prodid=2317386&showprevnext=1

If they can get once fired, cleaned, sized, trimmed, and primed .223 brass to my door for 7 cents, I am going to take the lazy way out.

I will still reload most other calibers, but not shotguns or .223.

BTW, resist strongly the temptation to use a Reamer on brass with crimped primer pockets.

I consider cases with reamed pockets garbage.

Or more precisely "scrap yellow brass" which is last I checked worth about $0.60/lb

I have a bunch of FA brass in lots dating back to the late teens. it all has reamed pockets.
I'm expecting to use it pig hunting, where it's impractical to collect fired brass.


AllanD

As others have already mentioned, the crimped primers are your problem. They are tough to remove. The universal depriming die is a good solution, I understand. But I have never used one.

I use a Wilson base and punch set for depriming military brass in 30-06. They also make the set in 22 cal for the 223. This set is very inexpensive.

I have had pretty good success using my deburring tool to remove the crimp from my 30-06 brass after depriming. I also have an RCBS Primer Pocket Swaging Die which will reform the primer pocket in the reloading press. This is preferred to the deburring tool as it leaves the primer pocket more like new brass.

I'll put in another vote for the Lee universal decapping die. I just did over 1,000 LC 92 brass - not a hiccup anywhere.