Broken decapping pins

Status
Not open for further replies.
C

cbmax

Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2006
Messages
314
Location
IL
Hi,

So I decided I'd better get going and reload a bunch of .223 ammo. I started just before Christmas and after just a few cases, I managed to break a decapping pin from my resizing die. Unfortunately I did not have a spare. Dillon precision sent me two spare pins which arrived today. I started reloading again and within a few cases, I broke another pin:(. It looks like the culprit is PPU brass with glued in primers. There is a red material in the primer pocket. I won't be reloading that stuff any more. I never broke a decapping pin before, and now I have broken two in a week!

CB
 
Are you sure the cases are not berdan primed, thats the only time I have broke a decapping pin when using milatary brass.
 
The red sealer on the PPU brass should not break decapping pins. As mentioned, you need to inspect your brass for berdan primers, as they have no center primer flashhole like boxer primed brass.


NCsmitty
 
I have broken one decapping pin in all these years. It was due to carelessness.
 
I've only broken pins on berdan brass that made its way into the mix. And I decap a lot of PPU because people don't like the stuff. Just like Ford vs. Chevy debate. Certain guys like certain headstamp brass. Me, I'm not pickey one bit.

I hate it when I get brass and its head stamped differently and its verdant.

If your downward stroke gets hard to push primer out, don't slam down on it, your stem could be bent now as well.
 
There is a red material in the primer pocket.
Click to expand...
That is red lacquer primer sealer to keep water out of the primer.
It couldn't cause a primer pin to break on the best day in it's life.

You are either:
1. Running some Berdan primed cases through without knowing it and breaking them.

2. Or your expander decapper rod is already bent and hitting the flash holes off center?

First, check to make sure your expander rod isn't already bent.

Then, try depriming a case, then loosen the lock-nuts on the die and expander stem with the ram still up and the pin still in a flash hole.

Then wiggle everything around in the press to center the threads.
Then tighten the lock-nuts again.

That will center the deprime pin in the center of the flash hole so you won't ever break one again.

Until you try to deprime a Berdan case, or a Boxer primed case with range gravel in it.

I think I probably broke the last de-priming pin on military crimped primers in 1970 something.
It's not the primer sealer, or the crimp doing it.

The pin is not hitting the flash hole centered for whatever reason.

rc
 
How fast are you going?

I've only broken one decapping pin in almost 20 years of reloading and that was when I turned a turret once with the ram up. :(

Berdan cases usually let you know something's wrong before the pin breaks unless you really slam into them.
 
I broke a decapping pin and bent the spindle on my 30-06 die with crimped primer milsurp brass (70s Korean stuff). Hornady sent me free replacement parts, but they also said to use a dedicated decapping die for crimped brass. Using the dedicated die made a world of difference for me.
 
Odd that this thread was started tonight. I just broke one in my carbide RCBS 38/357 die.

I'd like to order another. I believe that I need a headed, small pin. Can anyone confirm? Thanks

Edit, I broke it because a .22 shell was in there and I cranked down on it.
 
I know the pins are cheap and RCBS will send them for free, but for an expediant fix, a 4penny finish nail will work, may need a bit of file work tho.
 
One other possibility is some poor QC allowed some cases with off center flash holes to get by.
 
Hi,

Up until this past weekend I only broke a depriming pin once before after hundreds of thoushands of .45 acp reloading.

RC, you are correct in that decapping rod was previously bent. I replaced that yesterday as well. I did make sure that the new decapping pin is centered by the method you described.

The PPU brass with the red sealant was definitely boxer primed!

So what I learned is that if seems like it is taking too much pressure to deprime the case, I don't exert extra force. I just throw the case out and move on to another.

Maybe the PPU brass was out of spec, as each time I broke a pin (twice), that was the brass in question.

I've been reloading for a while, but I still learn new things as I perfect my skills!

Thanks for all the feed back. Now it's time to get back to the reloading bench and pump out more rounds!

CB
 
First day I started to reload .223 ammo I broke a decapping pin. I bought brass from a guy and he said they were all boxer primed. Guess I should inspect them anyway.

Called Lee up, showed them a picture and they sent me a new one free of charge. Now, I lay out all of my .223 brass I am decapping to inspect inside the case to see if they are boxer or berdan.
 
I've had excellent luck with Lee dies, never breaking or bending a single decapper pin ever. But RCBS is another story. Just yesterday I broke three in a row on 7.62x54R Boxer primed shells. Before that I broke another three on 7.62 NATO Boxer primed. They're just not very strong, and seem to get hung up much more easily than Lee esp. on military rounds. The Lee universal is the fallback.
 
I have used the pins out of pop rivets to get by in an emergency. I have broken more from foreign objects like 22lr cases and pea gravel than anything else. So many ranges have pea gravel around the bench area:evil:. Lightman
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

R
  • Locked
Bad luck with decapping pins
2
Replies
34
Views
2K
bob4
bob4
tcoz
  • Locked
Lee decapping die question
Replies
15
Views
1K
Doublehelix
Doublehelix
J
  • Locked
Broke my Hornady decapping pin.....Bummer.
Replies
14
Views
4K
Josh45
J
P
  • Locked
breaking decappings
Replies
5
Views
333
Scimmia
S
D
  • Locked
Breaking Decapping Pins After 20 Years!
Replies
16
Views
2K
dgod
dgod
Back
Top