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Posted: 12/22/2011 9:15:02 PM EDT
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Looking for a little insight here. I'm new to reloading, finally made my first 40 rounds tonight with IMR4098 and Varget (20 per powder). My issue is I keep breaking the decapping pin on my sizing die. A while back I asked about this because a lot of the brass I was prepping had some tight primers and it was fixed by getting a LEE decapping die. So tonight I'm sizing my brass and I still killed a new decapping pin on my RCBS sizing die. How did I manage that when the primer was already removed by the Lee die? |
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If you look into the mouth of the die, is the pin centered?
How about the brass? Is the flash hole centered? I have some PMC .223 brass with off center flash holes... You may need to loosen up the decapping rod, slowly run a case up into it to get the pin centered, and then tighten the nut up while its still centered in the case.... |
All of my .223 brass is military, so it has the crimp to deal with as well. The only time I've broken a pin was when the pin came a little loose, went crooked, and wasn't actually entering the flash hole. 
So... my vote is for the pin and hole not lining up, whatever the reason. The nut that holds it may be loose, brass may be bad, press could be horribly mis-aligned, all kinds of things COULD cause it. |
| I've used a method for die setting that I think helps. I loosen the decapping stem while the case is bottomed in the die and tighten the lock ring on the stem when I have the decapping pin centered in the flash hole. I don't know how much or even if it helps, but I very seldom break decapping pins. |
| If you're using a seperate decapping die, why not remove the decap pins from your sizing dies and not worry about them being centered or adjusted? I did this years ago and have plenty of spare pins now for my universal decap die - I use RCBS dies and RCBS decap die so the pins interchange. |
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Thanks for the ideas, I'll give some a try. For those that ask why am I using another decapping pin, it's an RCBS decapping/sizing die so that's how the pin is to size the neck. My plan is to only use the Lee die for the tight brass, I know which ones they are. So when I sized these cases the pin caught on something. I'll try some of those centering tips. Thanks! |
| I doubt it's undersized flash holes since the Lee has a good sized pin and tends to open up small flash holes. If it's not media stuck in the flash hole then it's very likely that the pin on your RCBS die isn't straight. Just don't replace it next time it breaks and you won't have to worry about it again (unless you tumble between these steps and you use the sizing die to clear the flash hole). |
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Quoted:
Looking for a little insight here. I'm new to reloading, finally made my first 40 rounds tonight with IMR4098 and Varget (20 per powder). My issue is I keep breaking the decapping pin on my sizing die. A while back I asked about this because a lot of the brass I was prepping had some tight primers and it was fixed by getting a LEE decapping die. So tonight I'm sizing my brass and I still killed a new decapping pin on my RCBS sizing die. How did I manage that when the primer was already removed by the Lee die? Tell us the headstamp of your brass. Sounds like a small flashole problem. Did you mean IMR-4198? Also name the cartridge. The more info you can give, the better the answers will be. 
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