adjusting pin and expander ball

[mljdeckard]

Ok, I'm from southern Utah, so I'll admit I'm a little bit slow on the uptake.

In my Speer reloading manual, it says to adjust the sizing die so that the de-capping pin is 1/8" below the bottom of the die, and the expander ball is supposed to be 3/16" INSIDE the die.

First of all, I have no idea how to measure this correctly. I use a ruler and eyeball it.

Second, the pin sticks out 1/2" total from the expander ball. I am assuming that the expander ball adjustment is more important than having more than 1/8" of the decapping pin out the bottom of the die. I therefore used the math that 1/2" = 8/16", if I need 3/16" of space INSIDE the die, that means I have to dangle 5/16" of pin OUTSIDE the die. Am I in trouble yet?

I cranked through some .257 Roberts brass with my RCBS dies, and now I'm paranoid. The ring on the exterior of the brass where you can see the bulk of the reinforcement from the interior of the brass seems more....prominent. Just to the eye, not to the touch. Is this any reason to worry? How can I tell if I adjusted the expander ball incorrectly, and ruined a casing?

 

[FROGO207]

There are two key things at play here.
1 You have to have the decapping pin far enough down so the primer will pop out every time. If it does you are good to go.
2 You want the expander button up inside the die enough that the brass does not get caught between the button and the neck portion of the die and deform/pinch it. If the brass looks the same as a new brass at the end of the operation and has the same dimensions also then you are good to go.

Different brands of dies are set differently. Follow the die makers instructions for setup.

 

[rcmodel]

I like to run a deprimed case up in the die, then screw the decapping pin rod all the way down in a case till the end of the expander hits the bottom of the case.

Then unscrew it 1/2 turn or more so you don't bend the rod if you get a case lot with thicker webs.

Now, with the ram up and the pin still in the flash hole, lock the lock nut.

This insures the decapping pin is exactly centered in the flash hole.

If you just lock it down with no case flash-hole centering it, thread slop in the die, rod, and nut may end up making it off-center.

That leads to bent and broken pins.

rc

 

[mljdeckard]

Pretty sure that's what I needed RC, thanks.