I have an RCBS universal decapping die , that I have had for a couple of years now , that has developed a problem . It wont push the primers all the way out every time. I have to raise the case twice some times to push the spent primer completely out , or the case will hang up . I have adjusted the the height of the pin from all the way up to all the way down with no difference and have even changed the pin . It does not seem to make any difference what caliber you are running through it and I have checked the shell holders and ram to see if gunk had built up and was holding them up .Anyone have another idea? Its a pain to have to run it through the die twice.Thanks.......

Screw the die down further

Steve,
There really isnt room to lower the die much more . It is about 1/32 of an inch off the shell holder now.

Couple thoughts
Did you break the replacable little pin that pushes the primer out? (been there done that)
Have you adjusted the die all the way down until it touches the shell plate?
Have you adjusted the center pin down as far as possible (then back it off one turn)?

Does your regular decapping die do the same thing as the universal die?

Is this the die here?


Hate to sound like I am talking down to you as that is not the situation at all, but the problem can ONLY be that the pin is not pushing the primers out far enough. This can either be because the die is not close enough to the shell holder, or it does not protrude far enough. I suppose there could be something in the ram of the press that holds the primer up but that would be pretty obvious to see. Remove the die, and put an unprimed shell in it, does the decapping pin protrude out from the case the length of the primer?

One other thing it might be is the rod holding the pin could be buckled but since you replaced the pin I don't think that is the issue. This just occurred to me, if the pin sets too deep in the decapping rod it will make it a tiny bit shorter, you could try cutting a tiny piece of paper clip and putting it in the rod to bush the pin out a little further.

One other thing I haven't seen mentioned yet. Not all shellholders are compatible with all dies. Maybe try some different shellholders?

I had similar trouble with a Lyman decapper. Turned out that the pin developed a flat spot on the bottom. Spent primers would "stick" to the pin and get pulled back into the primer pocket. It has since been replaced by a RCBS decapper, and the problem went away.

Other than some hand tools and the 'ol #55 powder measure, I've given up hope on Lyman products.

Several things come to mind. As said, not all shellholders are the same thickness. A thick shellholder will cause this. I have shellholders from three different companies and measured them. Some will vary quite a bit. Secondly, make sure the shellholder makes at least light contack with bottom of the die. With most dies they should actually touch. Can you screw the sizer stem down to get the decapping pin down further? One of these items will probably be your culprit. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

one of my die sets has a pin that's replacable an if the collet that holds it comes loose it will slide up. you might check that .

Thanks for all the replies. I think I may have fixed it . I had two different length pins to use (a few of each) and had the longer pin in the punch . I even changed this pin with another long one , thinking as one poster said , that the primer might be sticking to the pin and being pulled back in the pocket . This change did not do anything . Thats when I noticed the shorter pins in the box. It did not , nor does it still for that matter , make sense that a shorter pin would push the primer out ,,,,,but it did. Live and learn I guess , but it still does not make sense to me