Broke two Lee 9mm decappers

[GLOOB]

There are a lot of good posts, here. But what gets me is that your pin backed out and you retightened it. When the pin backed out, it was probably a sign something was wrong. Then the fact that the broken pin got stuck in the case makes me think of an experience I had.

Some european ammo uses a smaller flash hole. IIRC, it's either German or Swiss that use this different standard. I have some with a headstamp DAG. It just backs the pin out when I try to decap this brass. I enlarged the flash holes with a drill, cuz the brass is really good. But if you tightened the pin enough to punch through this hole, I can see it eventually breaking.

 

[jcwit]

IIRC Fiocchi flash holes are tight.

 

[billybob44]

My System..

ALL of my fired brass gets de-primed with a Lee Universal De-cap Die as the first stage of case prep.
They then go into the tumbler for a good clean before they ever hit my dies. This system also keeps primer grit/chunkies away from my press+dies.
If I miss a Berdan case, it shows up in the first-de-cap stage.
I am on my second de-cap stem in my Lee Universal De-cap Die, and that die has de-primed K after K after K of cases.
Just MY system--each Hand Loader has their own..Bill.

 

[1SOW]

fishslayer:

Give the PMC brass a go. It's one of my favorite commercial brass to load in 9mm, .45ACP & .38/.357. In .45ACP at least it has robust, thick walls & grips a .451 bullet really well.

I have well over 19K 9mm range brass "ready to load" stored in coffee containers labelled by headstamp.
I only tried W.C/WCC cases a few times and damaged primers (no bevel-tight for FED primers), so I quit using them. Never loaded an S&B. Never loaded a crimped primer case. Never loaded a mil or nato case. Never loaded a case with a headstamp I didn't recognize. I want to check my cases anyway, so I don't use cases I don't need.

If I shot a caliber with less available range brass, I'd reload what's available.

That doesn't make me right, but it does make my reloading easy and doesn't test my press, pistols or patience.

 

[16in50calNavalRifle]

Well the second free replacement decapper arrived from Lee today (would like to again praise Lee for their friendly and responsive customer care).

GLOOB, yours plus another comment here got me to thinking - I probably do have a handful of odd-ball cases in my pile. Nothing Berdan, but definitely a few Swiss cases (RWS), and maybe a few NATO as well. I've decided that on my next run of 9mm I will screen the brass, removing anything other than the mainstream stuff that makes up the bulk of it (Federal, Winchester, Magtech). I already segregate the S&B, so there won't be a big drag on the process - plus it's one-time only.

billybob, I've thought about various versions of a "separate stage" (as opposed to single stage) process, where one does the decapping first and then the other three steps in order on the press. I have loaded my work-up loads single stage.

1SOW, I like your system. Since my only predictable issue has been with S&B primer pockets, which I hope to fix, I think if I cull out the few oddball cases I have I should be good (and of course scrap any non-mainstream brass I get from factory ammo in the future).

Of course, now whenever the decapper pin gets pushed up in the die, I will cease operations and convene the full board of inquiry to investigate before proceeding .....