.223 depriming problem

[kennyb]

i have been reloading .223 for about a year...suddenly i am snapping the headed decapping pins,bending the shaft etc.anyone else having this problem?

 

[snw19_357]

Have to ask. They are boxer primed and not Berdan?

 

[kennyb]

yes....

 

[John R]

Once you have bent the decapping pin shaft, it's all down hill from there.
Unless you get it straightened back to center, it'll keep breaking your pins.

 

[kennyb]

john...very true...i simply cannot see why these rounds are being so difficult

 

[Amici]

Sounds like a SERIOUS military primer crimp or Berdan-primed cases.

And a new decapping rod would seem to be a small, yet prudent, investment. Once bent, they are quite difficult to get true and will continue to break pins off.

 

[torrejon224]

Is your die screwed down too far? Might want to back off a bit and see what happens! Went thru a similar issue a few years back, backed off a 1/4 turn and all was well.

 

[Skip Sackett]

Slow down one a few. If you move the ram slowly you should be able to tell if the primer is going to punch or not. You don't get any premiums for going faster do you?

The others have the right idea for fixing your problem, mine is to help keep you from it in the future.

I'll be honest, .223 has been the biggest pain in the drain to reload for me. Stuck cases and yada, yada, yada.

It is a rewarding cartridge to load though. Especially when I get MOA groups from my AR15!

Where are you getting the brass from? Is it a gravel pit? Has it got crimped primers? One forum member mentioned to me about the universal decapping die. I never got one. It may come in handy though.

 

[240grJHP]

Buy a Lee RGB .223 set. The depriming pin will back up on hitting the bottom of a berdan case. Loosen the nut, readjust the pin and re-tighten the nut. A set should be about than $20.00 from Midway. I have Lyman and RCBS dies and Lee beats the heck out of them.

 

[kennyb]

Originally posted by Amici:
Sounds like a SERIOUS military primer crimp or Berdan-primed cases.

And a new decapping rod would seem to be a small, yet prudent, investment. Once bent, they are quite difficult to get true and will continue to break pins off.

yep..i replaced the decapping rod...it bent again

 

[kennyb]

Originally posted by torrejon224:
Is your die screwed down too far? Might want to back off a bit and see what happens! Went thru a similar issue a few years back, backed off a 1/4 turn and all was well.

i can certainly check that again...seems to be ok...no dented necks or shoulders

 

[kennyb]

Originally posted by smith crazy:
Slow down one a few. If you move the ram slowly you should be able to tell if the primer is going to punch or not. You don't get any premiums for going faster do you?

The others have the right idea for fixing your problem, mine is to help keep you from it in the future.

I'll be honest, .223 has been the biggest pain in the drain to reload for me. Stuck cases and yada, yada, yada.

It is a rewarding cartridge to load though. Especially when I get MOA groups from my AR15!

Where are you getting the brass from? Is it a gravel pit? Has it got crimped primers? One forum member mentioned to me about the universal decapping die. I never got one. It may come in handy though.

i have reloaded this particular brass before...no issues....and yes i have several thousand range pickups as well...guess i'll back the die up a quarter turn and see what happens

 

[orion1]

I went through a period where I had difficulty decapping .223. After replacing several bent and broken pins on my RCBS universal decapping die, I switched to a punch and anvil system made by Lee. I sit on the floor while I am watching TV. Put the anvil on a block of wood, slide the pin in the cartridge and hit it with a tack driving hammer. It was about $8.00 as I recall.

 

[H Richard]

If you're using range pickup's you are probably getting Berdan primed cases mixed in with your Boxer primed cases. Check the inside of the cases, and if there are two small holes either side of center in the base, it is Berdan, and your decapping pin will most likely bend or break trying to punch through the brass at the bottom of the case. Stick to only Boxer primed cases.

 

[Bruce Bannister]

I've been having the same exact problem, and NO, the cases are NOT Berdan-style.

My previous set of RCBS .223 dies, about 1970 vintage, were sold off years ago when I found myself without any rifles in that caliber. Recently a new Whitworth .223 came to live with us along with the necessary new RCBS die set.

I broke at least four pins and two decapping rods in my Dillon 550. I finally solved the difficulty be tightening-down all the locking nuts while the decapping pin was actually in the flash-hole of a case in the press.....and I mean TIGHT, as in "pipe-wrench" tight. I have a six-inch pipe wrench on my bench just for such jobs.

No problems since then, but as suggested I do keep a couple of extra decapping-rod assemblies on hand. In over forty years of using RCBS dies, this was the first such problem. It had me bumfoozled for a while!

 

[cptdco]

I discovered (the hard way) that here is some brass around that has smaller then normal primer holes. I think its from Guatamala (spelling?) and was available in battle packs a while ago. I found that the Lee deprimer has a slimmer pin and would deprime it OK but the regular resizing dye had a thicker pin and it ws a problem.

 

[harry carey]

why do you not have a universal decapping die and a primer pocket swager ??? why do you not sort your brass ? a primer pocket uniformer ? flashhole uniformer ? you need a Sinclair Intl catalog and Handloading for Competition by Zediker.

 

[Bat Guano]

A long time ago I went to a Lee decapper for all .30 and .223 caliber brass. We're talking 20+ years and a lot of brass...It's fast and not much can go wrong. After about 5000 decaps the pin might break and I get out a spare decapper (they're cheap) and keep going.

These days I use a Dillon Trim/Size unit and just go to that next.

 

[GSS]

When you have one that was challenging to deprime, but succeeded, check the decapper pin fit to the primer flashhole...something weird could have occurred wher the metal flowed, reducing flashhole diameter. It's happened before!