Hi,
I have a huge bag of fired .38 caliber brass, left from my father in law. I'm guessing this stuff is thirty years old.
A lot of these primers are really, really tough to punch out on a normal die.
In fact, I found a scrap of paper in the bag, where he wrote "burdan primers" on it.
These are NOT Berdan, but seem like they are glued in, as well. I think he struggled, and threw in the towel.

So, I took a spare RCBS depriming die and set it up on my old Rock Chucker, and having pretty good luck punching them out.

I'm concerned about eventually breaking the depriming pin, though.

Question: What is the difference in my normal depriming die, and a universal decapping die?
Or are the terms interchangable?

What is the best way to knock out stubborn primers? I'd gladly buy an additional die, as I really want to take advantage of this much brass.

Thoughts?

Same thing, decapping and depriming.

I don't have advice on getting them any easier to pop out, but If you have access to a wet tumbler, that may soften the grime in there a bit. Boiling them may even do that.
Also, you can buy replacement pins cheap if you bend one.

As far as I know, the terms "depriving" and "decapping" are interchangeable. "Decapping" is a holdover from the old percussion caps.

As long as your depriming pin and the rod holding it are straight and are aligned with the case flash holes, there is little danger in breaking the depriming pin.

I normally deprime my rifle brass with a Lee Universal recapped, mainly because I wash, dry, then vibratory clean those cases and they dry easier without a primer.

I clean my pistol cases the same way, but being smaller, they dry easily with the old primers in. I use carbide sizing/decapping dies for all of my pistol cases. In 50 some years of reloading tens of thousands of pistol cases, I've bent a few pins, but that was probably from the pins not completely aligning with the flash hotels.

Thank you, guys, appreciate it.

I use the de-priming rod from a really, really, REALLY old Lee "hammer" style from the early 60's for de-priming just about any case with a neck ID large enough for the rod to enter...you might look around at the 2nd hand shops for the old Lee reloading tools...I still use the ones I have for reloading a few rounds now and then. You just might still find then as "parts" on the Lee site. They also work just as well as decappers for military "crimped/sealed" brass.

Good Hunting

Obtain( buy or make) an adequate punch, drill a hole in a 2x4 that will accommodate your shell holder, a fair size large outside diameter washerher between the shell holder and the 2x4, get a hammer and go to work.That punch and 2x4 has benefited me for many years. roger

Lee military deprime tool

https://www.midwayusa.com/prod...ee-decapper-and-base

If you break a decapping pin, you simply replace it. You do have a supply of extra ones don't you? They are an expendable commodity for reloaders.
Lee ones? I use a lot of them and actually managed to break one; not sure how. They are very stout.

they might have an undersize flash hole making things seem super tight.
I have run into cases that would pull the pin out of the de-capper rod.
I just gently ground down the end of a pin and replaced it with a regular one after fixing the flash holes.

quote:

Originally posted by NONAGONAGIN:
I use the de-priming rod from a really, really, REALLY old Lee "hammer" style from the early 60's for de-priming just about any case with a neck ID large enough for the rod to enter...

I also have a set of these. They came with a .30 caliber decapping rod with a steel base that fits standard and magnum rifle and large pistol cases, and a .22 caliber rod with a small base that will fit .223 and other small base cases.

They work fine, even for hard to remove crimped military cases. I find that a de-priming die in my Rock chucked press is quicker.

Try getting a Lee universal decapping die. It is strong and should the resistance be too high, it will only push the decapping rod out of the die.

I have had serious issues in the past with some range brass I collected.

Heated trans fluid in a pan filled around a half inch deep. Used thermometer to keep it at 200 degrees. Stood them up in the stuff for 5 min. and the primer slipped right out.
A good tumble in corn Cobb cleaned them up nice afterwards.

And get you a half dozen or less decapping pins,I think they are a buck apiece if that..

Brass in most cases is cheap enough..I don't mess with old stuff especially if I have no history on it..I buy brass in bulk or in 200 lots new..when I get more than a few failures I toss the whole mess and buy more..I expect at least 15 loadings and some times many more than that. Im a big believer in annealing, but it is a lot of trouble..Wish I could find a commerecial annealer,

Ray,have I got a deal for you! A buddy built this rotary unit that is motor driven w/ 2 butane torches installed + as fast as you can install the brass,they make the circuit until the last stage when they drop out the bottom into the water.This a home made affair so kinda rough but it works.The price is right;you can have it for free;just have John come by + get it.Please P.M. me if this is O.K. with you. Randy.

Frankfort arsenal makes a hand deprimming tool that works pretty slick for most all sizes of brass.
I have used one off and on for a couple years now. A lot neater to use since it captures the primers in a small plastic case, instead of them going all over with the reloading press. I have a plastic bin rigged up to catch primers from the press, but they still occasionally find a way to pop out and on the floor.
It's nice to have the hand deprimming tool when a decapping pin breaks off and you don't have a replacement on hand .

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
Brass in most cases is cheap enough..I don't mess with old stuff especially if I have no history on it..I buy brass in bulk or in 200 lots new..when I get more than a few failures I toss the whole mess and buy more..I expect at least 15 loadings and some times many more than that. Im a big believer in annealing, but it is a lot of trouble..Wish I could find a commerecial annealer,

I would agree. don't mess with old brass that you don't have a history on..

I learned that lesson many years ago (also with a 308) where I had several case head separations.. and that was old military brass.

It's $1.50 a pound at the moment... I'd say scrap it and buy some new commercial brass.

quote:

If you break a decapping pin, you simply replace it. You do have a supply of extra ones don't you?

I disagree 100% with this. The risk isn't breaking a pin it is bending the decapping rod it is attached to.

Either buy the Lee one that floats up and seem virtually indestructible or, IMHO, just buy some more surplus brass.

.38 Special fired brass used to be so cheap that if there's any doubt pre-sort what is usable and dispose of that which isn't is my advice.

To answer the original question, normal de-priming is done as part of the re=sizing, so the case walls are being squeezed (and supported) by the sizing die and then the neck is also being sized by the expander ball on the decapping rod. Universal de-priming dies don't touch the case walls at all, and the depriming rod doesn't have a neck expander on it, it just de-primes the case.
The biggest difference between using a sizing die or a universal de-priming die is that the universal de-priming die is depending on the shell holder to locate the case properly for the de-priming pin to enter the primer hole to push out the primer, where the sizing die is using the case walls matching the sizing die internal shape to locate the case. So if you don't position your case properly in the shell holder using a universal de-priming die, you can damage the de-priming pin and/or case when the end of the de-priming pin hits the solid brass of the case head instead of entering the primer hole in the case bottom.
One reason I love using my Forster Co-Ax press when de-priming my cases is the way the Co_Ax holds the cases means I don't have to worry about the case being located properly during de-priming using a universal de-priming die.