Carbide expander ball "mishap"

[joker1969]

I was in the process of changing a Decapping pin on my Dillon .223 die when all of a sudden I heard Crack. Seems I tightened the pin a bit too tight and my carbide expander ball literally exploded into 4 pieces.
I'll call Dillon tomorrow and see how much a new expander ball costs. It's probably one of those things where you have to replace the whole freakin machine. Only kiddin but you know how those tiny pieces can cost an arm and a leg or better yet, it'll be back ordered. Meanwhile, my reloading has come to a sudden stop. Has anyone had this problem before? Pray for me!!!

 

[Kurastduuks]

Dillon has firearms manufacturer like customer service. They'll take care of you.

 

[horsemen61]

Yep I'm more than willing to bet big blue aka Dillion will take care of you

 

[joker1969]

Thanks for the encourage folks

 

[rodregier]

Carbide is brittle. I would guess you over-tightened the retainer. A carbide ring on a decapping rod needs to float.

 

[MtnCreek]

I've heard they can be hard to get ahold of right now, but I doubt they'll charge you anything.

 

[joker1969]

Expander ball on .223 die disintergrates

Well I called Dillon today and the good news is that they do have the part in stock but the bad news is that the pea sized carbide expander ball costs $16.95!!! It's not that I'm a cheapskate BUT---- I just cannot believe that Dillon isn't price gouging here. Well they've got me by the proverbial short hairs so ill cough up the money and get back to loading. Again, thanks for the kind words.

 

[Poper]

the pea sized carbide expander ball costs $16.95!!!

Does that include shipping? If not, I can see you total bill with shipping coming to something in the $25 - $30 neighborhood.

 

[lightman]

Thats not too bad, the Redding carbide assembly is nearly twice that much. Lightman

 

[nix4me]

Guess their dies don't have the same no BS warranty as their presses

 

[joustin]

Don't forget that carbide is a difficult material to machine, that alone drives up the cost a bit.

 

[joker1969]

POPER, your right. The $16.99 doesn't include shipping. I guess I'll chalk it up to experience and let it go at that but now I'm paranoid about installing the new expander ball. As I remember, the ball was not able to rotate on the depriming pin. AND, Dillon used RED Loctite on the threads which was a real suprise when I began loosening the pin. A little overkill if you ask me as depriming pins are made to be replaced right??? But HEY, what the heck do I know!!!

 

[joker1969]

In my last post I incorrectly called the decapping pin a deprimming pin. It's getting late. It's time to hit the rack.