I am using a Lee Classic Turret Press, Lee carbide die sets, to load .38 and .45 ACP. I loaded around 700 .45 without any problems. Mixed brass, all large primer. I am reloading brass I shot myself, so I know no Berdan primers.

Last week, loading .45's, while sizing/depriming a case, the pin on the decapper broke off. I had enough cartridges reloaded, so rather than rob the decapper from the .38 die I just stopped. Called Lee. (Both the dies sets and the CTP are new, supplementing or replacing my old RCBS Rock Chucker.) Lee sent me one pistol decapping pin free, and I bought two extras.

Today I reloaded a little over 100 rounds of .45. The pin broke off the first replacement decapper, within the first couple dozen rounds. In the ensuing rounds, the second replacement pin bent three times. I have straightened it, but suspect it won't last long now having been bent and straightened three times.

I called Lee, and the tech guy suggested it's the brass. He said if it was the die, it should be happening on every piece of brass, not just on a few. Can't disagree. But after our call I looked at the brass each time it bent and saw no commonality.

Replacement decapper rods are only $2, so I ordered five, but I need to figure out what's wrong.

It appears, to my naked eye, as if the pin is not perfectly centered in the die.

Also, Lee says "considerable torque" may be necessary when you tighten down the nuts holding the decapper in the die. I can apply considerable torque. Just happened to have hands and arms much stronger than normal. I'm thinking I am putting too much torque. It seems to me you want that sweet spot that holds the decapper pin securely, yet not so tight it won't slide up in the die rather than bend or break if it misses the primer. But I don't know how to hit that sweet spot.

Suggestions? I am thinking of sending the die to Lee, and ask them to inspect it. I am confident they will replace if that decapper is not centered, although I didn't think to ask on the phone.

I don't know if it's relevant, but I loaded at least 500 rounds of .38 Special without any problem before switching over to the .45.

Thank you.

In my experience with Lee dies, I would have to say I agree with the Lee literature regarding the pin nut being very tight. It sounds like you de-capping bolt or pin is not mounted solidly and is moving. I have broken pins because of that problem in the past, including Lee, RCBS and others. If that pincanshift from dead center, it's going to bend or break.

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Dave Frost

In every decapping pin I have broken the culprit has been a fired primer inside the case.

I keep my fired brass in containers under my bench. I hang a plastic container under the press to catch the expended primers, but sometimes a primer will fall past it into a container of cases. Once inside those cases they are hard to find.

The best method I have found not to break pins is that if there is any hangup in the process with normal pressure on the handle I stop, remove the case and have a look inside. I don't force the handle hoping that the pin will slide up the nut before breaking.

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View from down under

Gee whiz, I thought Lee always bragged in their literature about their "unbreakable" decapper pins?

I reload at an indoor range as an employee. There are brands of 45 ACP brass out there that have a smaller than normal flash hole in the primer pocket and there is brass that has the flash hole off-center in the primer pocket. We have not had any problems with 38 Spl brass.

Your experience is the primary reason I use RCBS carbide dies with less expensive replaceable pins.

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S&WHF 366

I have broken several Lee pins reloading military brass. The primers are crimped in and hard to push out. Never broke one on normal brass?

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Daniel
SWHF 616

Most all decapping dies don't self center the rod / pin .
Install the die and set the pin for proper pin protrusion to knock out the fired primer but don't tighten the nut fully .
Carefully remove the die and while looking at the pin carefully move it to dead center of the die opening , after it's centered carefully tighten the nut.
You may have to do it a couple times to get the pin centered but it does help.
Keep a supply of pins on hand...I usually buy 10 or 12 , that also seems to help ...If you have replacements the pins act better .
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

I bought these a couple years back and never broke another pin. The ball end makes it so it kind if finds center and for me at least it works wonderfully

3 Ball end decapping pin upgrade for Lee 90783 / 90292

The Lee dies are designed not to break. The collet is supposed to allow the pin to slip up and not break under excessive pressure. I have a feeling you are tightening the but we'll past it's intended torque. I have never had a Lee pin break but several have slipped. I was a truck mechanic for 27 years so my hand strength is probably above the "normal" so it's not that I can't tighten the collet properly.

You might have some crimped brass that has a heavy crimp and you have tightened the pin too much.

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

What I do to set up the decapper pin is find an empty, deprimed case with a well-centered flash hole. I loosed the stem nut and carefully seat the case in the die, making sure the pin protrudes from the case. The pin is now centered. NOW tighten the stem nut to hold the decapping pin in center.

I also own the Lee universal decapping die and found that to removed crimped primers, I had to tighten the stem nut about as tight as it would go. There will be no "give" on a stuck primer or misaligned flash hole.

I am less than enthused with Lee products. They will do the job on a budget, but there is better gear for the long haul. I've managed to bend one RCBS pin in a lifetime of reloading, and that was on a 9mm case stuck inside a .45 case. Can't blame that one on cheap equipment!

The nut on the pin is too tight. Adjust it down so the nut will hold the pin but still not enough to break a pin. That requires a moderate amount of torgue. If it slips tighten a wee bit more. It's designed to slip occasionally when the pressure is too much on the pin to avoid breaking it.

Lee make a hurkin strong decapper only die. If you don't decap and size in a separate operation you will break pins no matter what the die (mfg) you use. RCBS, Hornady, Redding, etc. isn't any better than Lee when it comes to decapping pins, they all break. I usually keep several replacements for both my Lee and RCBS dies. They're cheap.

I've noticed that Winchester primers seat really tight in all brass, even in Winchester cases. For that reason I don't use them anymore. If you have crimped in primers decap in a separate operation.

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That's just somebody talkin.

never a problem with mine.

Sum Ding Wong! I have reloaded tens of thousands of rounds, decapping with Lee tools, both in sizing and universal dies, pistol and rifle, and bent one. The one I bent was my fault as there was a small piece of hard resin media stuck in the flash hole I missed...

On Lee dies the collet centers and clamps the expander tight enough to not move in normal operation.

To be safe remove the locking collet and make sure there are no burs or metal chips inside or outside the locking collet. The burs or metal chips may cause the expander to be locked down off center and can increase neck runout.

Again check the die and locking collet for metal chips and burs and clean them up.

I use a universal decapping die and clean my brass before sizing.



NOTE, as stated in other posts the biggest cause of broken decapping pins is off center flash holes. And centering the expander in any type sizing die reduces case neck runout during sizing.

Using a fired deprimed case to get the decapping pin centered is another good way to "skin that cat " , I forgot to mention that way and it's probably better than just eyeballing the center .
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

Thank you all, for taking the time to reply and offer advice. Here's what I did, for now. I removed the decapper pin that had bent three times, and replaced it with my last new one. (The five I ordered from Lee will be here in a couple days.) I selected a piece of .45 brass that appeared to have a centered flash hole, resized it, and with that brass in the die inserted the new decapper pin, so the flash hole centered the pin. I backed off significantly on the amount of torque when I tightened down the collet. Hoping if it does encounter something too immobile the pin will slide back through the collet as designed, instead of breaking or bending. Also, before I put the decapper pin in, I inspected the male threads on the collet and female threads on the die, and saw nothing amiss.

So we shall see. Probably won't be reloading for at least the next several days. If the problem persists, I'll send the die back to Lee and ask them to check it.

Thanks again.

I had the problem once and found the threads on the collet were striped and misaligned the pin. Try different collet.

i use the lee dies and have loaded over 10000 rds with them and have not broken a pin yet,,,, knock on wood,,,, now i bet i will break 1 tomorrow

Post No. 8 has the start of your solution. The other part is the centering of the pin efforts by a couple of methods outlined above. Metal doing the job of a deprimer pin only breaks if it is continually being caused to bend. ....

Media in the flash hole is probably the number one reason.

The case not being all the was in the shell holder is number 2. If the rim is chewed up or bent, it will catch in the mouth of the shell holder and rotate about 60 degrees and miss going in all the way by about 1/64" (.5mm), Hard to notice and very hard on any brand of decapper!

Ivan