Universal Decapping dies

06 April 2006, 19:06

Is there any real difference in durability, quality between the manufacturers?

Or should I just take an ice pick and go at it myself??

Don't worry, I'll be sure to hold my pinkies out when pushing on the live ones....

Thanks for any info.

06 April 2006, 19:41

poletax

quote:
when pushing on the live ones....

Spray the live primers with WD-40 to deactivate them.
All major brands of Uni decappers work well.
I use RCBS and if ya break a pin,it is easy and cheap to replace.

06 April 2006, 19:48

craigster

The WD40 may or may not deactivate the primers. As far which die is best, I think the universal decappers are all about the same. I've used a Lee for years and it works just fine.

06 April 2006, 21:03

mho

I use an RCBS universal decapper. But to be honest to you, the way the die works, I can't see much difference from brand to brand. There would probably be more difference in the quality of the different die lock rings, than in how well the die itself works...

FWIW - mike

07 April 2006, 00:22

cewe

Anyone tried the decapper-lubing dies?

07 April 2006, 00:34

Fjold

All I know is that the Lyman model is not tall enough to deprime a 375 H&H case.

Frank

"I don't know what there is about buffalo that frightens me so.....He looks like he hates you personally. He looks like you owe him money."
- Robert Ruark, Horn of the Hunter, 1953

NRA Life, SAF Life, CRPA Life, DRSS lite

07 April 2006, 00:53

belaw

quote:
Originally posted by poletax:
quote:
when pushing on the live ones....

Spray the live primers with WD-40 to deactivate them.
All major brands of Uni decappers work well.
I use RCBS and if ya break a pin,it is easy and cheap to replace.

This may be a dumb question, but why bother deactivating the primer- why not just "dry fire" them in your rifle?

07 April 2006, 02:03

Trouble

I will not spray a primer with anything to "de-activate it". I learned that lesson last year.

I had 2 cases of different calibers that had live primers in them. Instead of just putting them in a gun and firing off the primers, I decided to submerse them in water. Later, after I was pretty sure they had to be dead I took one and began to cut the case. The primer exploded and embedded itself in the side of my index finger.

I stood there looking at my finger with the primer cup literally buried in it. The primer was forced into my finger blunt side first. (ever been stabbed with a spoon??)

The fun part was grabbing the edge of that primer cup and pulling the whole primer out of my finger. I hurts just to think about it.

Primers get all kinds of respect around here....

08 April 2006, 08:45

BigJakeJ1s

quote:
Originally posted by cewe:
Anyone tried the decapper-lubing dies?

I haven't seen one, but the only reason I use a universal depriming die instead of depriming while sizing is so I can dump the deprimed case in the tumbler for cleaning. So lubricating the case before I tumble it does not accomplish anything for me.

08 April 2006, 20:16

jpb

I have the Lee universal decap die.

It works perfectly well (although I hate the Lee lock rings, so I replaced it with a nice Hornady one).

It is quite robust. I was depriming some brass I picked up on the range, and after about a dozen, happened to look at the primer pocket after decapping.

The brass was Berdan primed! The Lee was punching a nice central hole right between the 2 smaller Berdan flash holes. No damage to the decapping die either.

I think I spend almost $US 8.00 for the die. What more could you ask for 8 bucks?

John

09 April 2006, 18:06

jwb72

quote:
Originally posted by Trouble:
I will not spray a primer with anything to "de-activate it". I learned that lesson last year.

I had 2 cases of different calibers that had live primers in them. Instead of just putting them in a gun and firing off the primers, I decided to submerse them in water. Later, after I was pretty sure they had to be dead I took one and began to cut the case. The primer exploded and embedded itself in the side of my index finger.

I stood there looking at my finger with the primer cup literally buried in it. The primer was forced into my finger blunt side first. (ever been stabbed with a spoon??)

The fun part was grabbing the edge of that primer cup and pulling the whole primer out of my finger. I hurts just to think about it.

Primers get all kinds of respect around here....

Water and powder don't go well together for desensitizing. When the water dries, the powder is even more sensitive. Brake fluid works, at least that's one thing we use in the military.