Lee decapping pin breaking??

I don't think they snap.. pretty much. They are designed to slide into the collet that holds them before snapping/breaking.. the collet tension is adjustable.

I've snapped 2 Lee Decapping pins so far, but I've deprimed a *lot* of mixed brass which probably has the occasional stone or berdan primer mixed in. (100K+).

Certaindeaf is correct about the collet. I found that when dealing with mil-spec crimp primers you have to really torque down the collet, which would remove a lot of the safety margin against breakage.

If you're using them inside a resizing die, normally they'll centre properly with the flash hole.

An rcbs universal decapping die will save you a lot of headache...
if you can find one
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/37...iming-and-decapping-die-22-through-25-caliber

I use mine (27 caliber and up) to deprime ring-crimped GI M2 brass and those primers are is REALLY in there. It pops them out with zero drama.

Then you can use your sizing die to size (and neck expand if applicable) only.

Just a thought.

Lellier & Bellot stuff

Click to expand...

S&B?
It could if they are Berdan primed.

I doubt they are, but anything is possible.

Look inside them and see if they have one centrally located flash hole for Boxer primers.

Or two or more off-set flash holes for Berdan primers.

Quite frankly, I can think of no good reason for breaking a pin in a Lee die.

The pin & rod are held in the die by the collet nut.

And it should be set loose enough the rod can slip back in the die before the pin should break, even on a Berdan case.

It is also possible your Lee shell holder doesn't fit the case rim properly, and the pin is not hitting the flash hole centered.
That side loads the pen and it will break before it will bend.

rc

I'm going out on a limb to say a brass problem, something with the flash holes. Are you reaming them? Might be required in this case. (edit) Meaning you might need to decap with a different method.

The Lee neck sizing dies don't use the same sliding collet set-up as their FL sizing dies, that pin won't slide(It is a captured pin/mandrel), so it will break if something else is off.

I think that if I were you, I would loosen the collet at the top of the die alittle bit, so that if the pin runs into an obstruction, the pin will just slip up in the die,

Here is an e-mail I received from Lee.

"We are sorry for the inconvenience. We will send you a replacement Decapping Rod in today's mail for you.
It has come to our attention that some cartridge cases have a flash hole of .050" or less. This is smaller than the diameter of our standard depriming pin, and consequently, if one tries to deprime/resize these cartridge cases, the depriming pin will get stuck and/or get pulled out of the expander. Our recommendation is to drill the flash holes to a uniform diameter with a 1/16" or a #52 drill. Most domestically manufactured cartridges are made with the SAAMI standard flash hole diameter of .062" and are not a problem."

I'm thinkin the same as rcmodel.
Is it possible that the Sellier & Bellot stuff maybe Berdan primered???????

I've deprimed well over 20,000 cases over the last 2+ years.
95% of that done with Lee dies.
I've snapped 1 depriming pin (and that wanted even a Lee die).

So other than berdan primed, I can't think of any reason to break one.

I buy the RCBS pins by the battlepack. One guy sourced the proper sized needle bearings to match RCBS pins.. like $4 per 500. The Lee is pretty elegant and works very well.

Never managed to snap a Lee pin (snapped plenty of Lyman ones - particularly on Igman brand brass). The collet has always worked even on brass with under-sized flash holes it just pushes the pin up. You may just have the collet too tight. If the force for the pin to slip up in the collet is greater than the force required to snap the pin then naturally it'll break.

Our recommendation is to drill the flash holes to a uniform diameter with a 1/16" or a #52 drill.

Click to expand...

Did they say how to get the primer out the first time so you can drill the hole bigger??

rc

Loosen your collet so that the assembly can slide up instead of breaking. Make sure you pin is hitting center i.e. not slightly bent and off center so it isn't hitting the flash hole. Except for trying to de-prime a berdan case this should take care of any problems.

I've snapped a couple, mainly when the spent primers back up in my hand press and I'm not paying attention to how full it's getting.

Doh! hulk out!

i have run 100's of 22 Hornets threw my lee die and have never broke a pin....have you checked to see if the pin is in the die straight?......maybe the collet was drilled crooked?....

What hasn't a man broke? you first

Used both Lee and RCBS decapper - the decapper is much better than the Lee but you have to use the press which is slow and labor intensive.

Then.... I read about this http://www.harveydeprimer.com/ and it is the answer!!! The thing is awesome and so much quicker than the full stroke of using the press. I keep it on the bench and can pop primers at will.
Waay faster and easy as pie. Works with all calibers and won't close if you don't get the pin in the primer hole.

Added benefit is you can deprime at the kitchen counter.

FWIW - I have no interest in the company or product but could not be happier with a well designed and useful product.
Spend the $50 bucks if your a serious reloader and you won't regret it!!!!

chris in va said:

I've snapped a couple, mainly when the spent primers back up in my hand press and I'm not paying attention to how full it's getting.

Click to expand...

I bent one the same way

rcmodel said:

Did they say how to get the primer out the first time so you can drill the hole bigger??

rc

Click to expand...

use a long-length drill and go through from the mouth end..

http://www.sloanswoodshop.com/drill_bits.htm

AND SOME should never own a screw driver

I've broken 3.

2 broke when I tried to straighten them after they bent trying to deprime berdan cases (30 carb and 9mm. sneaky berdan devils.) and the 3rd broke when I was in the process of removing a stuck 223 case from the die (aaaaand that was the end of hornady one shot for rifle cases)

as far as I can tell the collet is often too night on the lee dies and will bend the pin before sliding up like it's supposed to. simple fix: stop serving wheaties in the lee cafeteria. or loosen and reset the collet right out of the box.

Hahaha!

It is really bad when the OP gets answers to a question he never asked, over and over again.

His Lee FL sizing die works fine, the problem is the neck sizing die. If anyone bothered to read the first post in whole they would have seen that important bit of info.

Lee neck sizing dies don't have sliding pins. They are captive(they don't move.)

Back the pin all the way up until it will not decapp the brass.

Set it slowly to where it will decap the brass and stick out no further.

If the expander ball leaves the neck case and the flash holes are off center it weakens my pins to thee breaking point quickly.

Hope this helps.