Depriming and sizing die quit working

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gonoles_1980

gonoles_1980

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I have the Lee 38spl depriming set. I was depriming my brass tonight and all of a sudden, the die quit pushing out the primers. My guess is somehow it got pushed up some. I tried to losen the top bolt, but it's not moving and I don't want to apply too much pressure in fear of breaking it.

Any ideas on what I need to do?
 
They really crank that nut tight. Get good fitting wrenches and put as much pressure on it as it takes to loosen it. When reassembling, crank it back down hellava tight, so it will not move during sizing.
 
If it quit working one of three things happened.

1. The pin broke off of the decapper, or

2. The decapping pin moved up in its locking nut.

3. Your die adjustment has been changed and the pin is not set deep enough.

They are extremely tight and I have to put mine in a vise to loosen it. I have to tighten mine up more than I would think necessary to keep it in place.

Hope it helps
 
Thank you both

you are right, it was a bear to loosing the nut, I pushed the priming pin back down and it'll all working again. :D
 
I like Lee dies but that's the only thing that aggravates me sometimes. The one on my .45 Colt die is bad about it no matter how hard I tighten it. And I'm a pretty big boy cranking on it hard.
 
I would much rather have it slide up than snap off like rcbs owners report. It's alot more convenient to loosen, shift and tighten the pin/nut than be out of commission until rcbs sends you another pin or you find where you put your spares. Glad you got it fixed.
 
Did you have some military 38 special brass? Some of those primers are crimped tighter than any of the military rifle brass I process.
Arkansas Paul, try putting a little powdered rosin on the decap rod on your 45 Colt dies.
 
It requires two wrenches, one fits onto the die body to counter torque, and the other loosens the top crush nut that holds the stem. Loosen it just enough to allow you to push the rod back down, then tighten it back down, done. I've had some that were really snug from the factory and they can be a hassle, but it's a rather nice system cause it helps reduce the risk of breaking decapping pins.

GS
 
It wasn't military brass, I've deprimed over 1000 pieces of brass, I just think it slowly pushed it's way up far enough that it couldn't deprime anymore. When I tried to loosen at first, I couldn't do it and was concerned about breaking it. But with two wrenches and some heavy duty elbow grease, I got it done.
 
Man that thing is a booger to mess with. I agree. I have limited tools and you shoulda seen me standing on one wrench with my right foot and tugging another with my left hand, rolling around the living room. Was like a bad game of Twister.
 
I think I break about 1 RCBS decapping pin per decade, give or take a pin. At $3 per 5 pack, and after reading what some of you have to go through to reset the pin in the Lee die, I'll certainly keep using my RCBS dies. I'm not so cheap that I can't afford 60 cents every 5 to 10 years. ;)
 
Those things cross thread easier than getting it threaded properly. I've sent back 2 because if that.

Love Lee dies when a case sticks though.
 
As a technical point, the die didn't quite working; only the decapper is disabled and that due to a broken pin or the whole rod got pushed up by a pebble, etc, in a case. It's simple enough to correct but it requires some moderate effort to reset with two wrenches. Do it with the die in a press and you won't have to roll around on the floor.

Those who don't understand what Lee's design accomplishes tend to assume it's 'cheep' to make but both the rod and pin are much stronger than others and probably costs a little more to make than weaker conventional multi-piece decapper/expander systems. Specifically, Lee's design 1) allows the decap pin to survive an event that would certainly break conventional pins; 2) it prevents bending the rod body if the user has it set too far down; 3) it holds the rod/pin consistantly very well centered in the die; 4) stuck cases can usually be driven out with that very tuff decap rod. Check the usefulness of those features against any cheeper RCBS, et al, decapper/expander system. :confused:
 
I think I break about 1 RCBS decapping pin per decade, give or take a pin. At $3 per 5 pack, and after reading what some of you have to go through to reset the pin in the Lee die, I'll certainly keep using my RCBS dies. I'm not so cheap that I can't afford 60 cents every 5 to 10 years.
Click to expand...
Lee dies have a fail safe system, a broken decapping pin is only a problem if you don't have a replacement. Then it is a problem. RCBS makes some good products, as does Lee.;)
 
Centurian22 said:
I would much rather have it slide up than snap off like rcbs owners report. It's alot more convenient to loosen, shift and tighten the pin/nut than be out of commission until rcbs sends you another pin or you find where you put your spares. Glad you got it fixed.
Click to expand...
This.

When the collet is properly adjusted (honestly its too tight factory imo) this is how Lee can make the claim of unbreakable decapping pins.
 
No Lee Fan Boy..

arizona98tj said:
I think I break about 1 RCBS decapping pin per decade, give or take a pin. At $3 per 5 pack, and after reading what some of you have to go through to reset the pin in the Lee die, I'll certainly keep using my RCBS dies. I'm not so cheap that I can't afford 60 cents every 5 to 10 years. ;)
Click to expand...

You NEED to understand that the Lee Fan Club just LOVES to work on their equiptment..IMO--MORE than load ammo??HA HA...;)
 
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