While depriming a bunch of 30-06 brass, I realized all the cartridges for which I reload have bases smaller than the 06. I ran a bunch of .45 brass thru the 06 sizer to deprime and it worked great. So, now I wonder if using an old 06 die could be used as a universal deprimer? I know, pistol and rifle holes are a different sizes. But, practically speaking, is it such a great difference? If I use this on all my pistol brass what does it hurt? How do dedicated universal decapping dies do it? I am not a competition shooter, I don't chase clover leafs at 5,10,15 or 25 yds.
Lee decapper - Heavy Duty Guided Decappers Use in conjunction with Universal Decapping Die product 90292, guided decapper helps align the case to reduce the chance of bending or breaking a decapper.
I've always dry tumbled, more than 32 urs. The decap pin always pokes out any media that remaines in the hole. For ghe amount of brass I process at a time, I don't think I want to start wet. (Yeah, yeah, I know....old dog and new tricks...)
My die is dedicated, but the shell holders are lazy. A proper shellholder is required on a single press. The Lee APP is my dedicated depriming unit. It uses a set of three different pass through shellholders that are mostly universal for most of the more common cartridges. And, since all I load runs through it well, I love it! I don’t know how I got on without it! If that was it’s only use, it and a depriming die are worth every tiny dime. Easily.
All my pistols are larger than 30cal so the xpander is not a player. The question is: does the larger, rifle size primer hole, made by the 06 pin, make any practical difference to pistol rounds?
https://www.starlinebrass.com/articles/small-pistol-primers-vs-large-pistol-primers/ "5 in 1 brass for blanks contains .140 diameter flash holes. . Under no circumstances, use them for smokeless powder ammo as that will almost certainly result in disaster. The powder can be over ignited causing a dangerous pressure spike." Rifle spit holes- https://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/flash-hole-size.3966076/
And then you have this- http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?364580-Flashhole-diameter-question .1405" Drill bit #28 Internet confusion. Best to not modify any spit holes.
Did you pay any attention to the flash hole in the 45 brass? I have noticed that their seems to be two different size flash holes in the 45 brass that I have processed lately. One seems to be the normal size and the other looks to be almost twice the diameter of the smaller one. I did not check the diameter of either one with a drill bit but their is a noticeable difference in the size of the two holes. Couldn't tell any difference when I shot them big vs small flash hole.
I know the NT primers were know to have a larger size to help keep them from backing out during firing. The reason some are crimped.
I've been using a 30-06 resizing die for depriming pistol rounds for 30 years. Still do. It will work for up to 40 cal. At 41mag it try's to resize the case. RCBS universal depriming dies have a spring loaded punch pin and shoot the primers all over the room unless the press it's used in has a primer disposal tube. My RCBS universal die works well in my Hornady AP but I won't use it in my Rockchucker due to it launching primers at mach II. So I use my old 30-06 die in my Rock Chucker and live is good.
