Full Length Resizing without Decapping with Lee dies

[orrwdd]

I plan to use a Universal Decapping Die on all my brass before cleaning and would like to do batch priming with the Lee Auto Prime before reloading.

Can I remove the decapping pin from the belling tool in the resizer die so that it will not matter if the primer is already in place? Otherwise I would have to remove the case from the shellholder each time if I want to use the Auto Prime.

Thanks
Bill

 

[fourdollarbill]

Yes you can remove the decap pin from the Lee sizer die and use it alone.
Why not use it and size at the same time? It's one less pull. Then you can clean and prime.

 

[David Wile]

Hey Bill,

My response to your question is based on RCBS, Lyman, and other dies other than Lee. I have never used Lee dies, but I would suspect they would be the same.

You can take the depriming pin out of the neck expander on all the dies I have, and when you run a case in the sizing die without the depriming pin, you will simply be sizing the case on the upstroke and then sizing the neck tension on the downstroke as the neck expander plug is pulled out of the neck. You can then use your Universal Decapping Die to deprime and your Lee Auto Prime to reprime the brass.

On most two die sets, the depriming pin is usually located in the neck sizing plug which is in the sizing die, and there would not be a "belling tool" in such a die set. Three die sets are a bit different. Usually, the depriming pin is in the sizing die which does not have any neck expander plug. In such a set, the second die would have the neck expander plug with a shoulder up a little ways to bell the mouth of the case. I have also had a couple of 3 die sets where the depriming pin was part of the 2nd die and the neck expander plug.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile

 

[orrwdd]

Thanks for your responses.

I like to clean the cases before sizing to get off any dirt and grid before running them up the carbide sizing die. I may remove the decap pin or else use the primer arm on the press for a while.

Bill

 

[Walkalong]

I tumble all my brass before sizing, then size/deprime, then tumble to remove lube which also cleans the primer pockets a little bit, then prime and load. I don't see the benefit of doing what you are suggesting. You can still run every brass through each operation.

Sure, you can remove the pin that deprimes.

 

[twice barrel]

When the drum and then later vibrating tumblers first came along every writer preached to remove the spent primers first before tumbling so the primer pockets would be cleaned along with the rest of the case. I bought into the notion and used an inexpensive single stage with universal decap die for just such purpose. But I wound up reaming primer pockets and deburing the flashholes anyway. The only benefit I ever realized was that if I washed the brass those that were decapped dried out faster. (atleast it seemed that way) But I never primed before resizing and just enjoyed the reduced effort while resizing since the decapping pin never had to press a primer out.

Regards,

TB

 

[otblue]

If you are talking about rifle FLS dies, no you can't. The Lee decapping rod is essentially a one piece rod with the neck expander. It looks like a press fit so I guess you could cut the decapper off somehow but it is then not replaceable. The other brands have removeable and replaceable pins. Lee does it different and advertises their rod system as "unbreakable".


On the other hand with Lee pistol dies, simply remove the entire decapping rod from the FLS die. Belling takes place in the second die.

 

[rcmodel]

Just tumble the danged brass before sizing & depriming.

That not only makes the brass clean enough to resize, but gets the tumbler media out of the flash holes when you deprime them in the sizing die.

Otherwise if you deprime first, you have to pick the media out of the flash-holes.

Tumbling doesn't clean the primer pockets anyway because they instantly become packed full of media and it doesn't vibrate around in them.

rc

 

[R.W.Dale]

Just tumble the danged brass before sizing & depriming.

That not only makes the brass clean enough to resize, but gets the tumbler media out of the flash holes when you deprime them in the sizing die.

Otherwise if you deprime first, you have to pick the media out of the flash-holes.

Tumbling doesn't clean the primer pockets anyway because they instantly become packed full of media and it doesn't vibrate around in them.

rc

DING! DING! DING! DING!

and we have a winner on ALL points THREAD OVER!

 

[ranger335v]

David: "I have never used Lee dies, but I would suspect they would be the same."

They are not.

 

[Noveldoc]

Maybe decap, clean and size. The reprime.

Tom

 

[WNTFW]

The only real advantage to decapping first would be if you are using some kind of liquid/chemical/ultrasonic cleaner.

A basic rule of thumb for me is handle the brass as little as possible. Not getting the brass wet is part of that. I own a universal decapping die & will probably never us it.

Once again: What RCModel said.

 

[woodsoup]

You can't totally remove the decapping rod in Lee rifle resizing dies, The final sizing operation is that lump about 1" up the stem. on the up stroke you're shrinking the od of the neck. on the down stroke you're pulling the smaller ID of the neck over that lump and making the ID of the neck the proper size. You can loosen the pin and move it up far enough to not push out a primer. Or do like I did, purchase a second deprime punch and remove the pin. Set it up in the die just like you would a punch with a pin.

 

[flashhole]

"I like to clean the cases before sizing to get off any dirt and grid before running them up the carbide sizing die. I may remove the decap pin or else use the primer arm on the press for a while. "

What I find myself doing more and more is decapping with a Lee hand tool, the decapper rod and base, and then washing the brass in hot soapy water. Ivory dish soap works really well to remove crud both inside and outside the case. I started down this path after reading about an experiment that was done to determine the things that shorten barrel life. The conclusion was barrel life is mostly degraded by the hard carbon deposits that remain from firing a round, primarily from the primer materials. Degraded barrel life occurs when reloading your brass without removing the harder-than-barrel steel deposits. It made sense to me and the little extra effort is no big deal to my reloading actitivies.