Was a great day so I decided to catch up on some brass prep. Sized about 600 223 cases, tumbled the lube off them, now they're ready for inspection and trimming. Since I had the press set up I had about 30 cases of SS109 that was deemed too hot and given to me so I could salvage the components. Already had the bullets pulled, dumped the powder, next step was to decap the live primers, then I'd treat the brass as new and size it, decrimp the primer pockets, trim and load it up next time I do .223
Anyway, one of the cases had a real tight and slightly off centered flash hole. It grabbed the decapping pin of my RCBS Universal decapping die rod and wouldn't let go. Since the pin was protruding down in the shell holder, it prevented the case from being removed from the shell holder. This was not good.
I was able to remove the decapping rod but the pin remained stuck in the flashhole. Having a flash of insight I decided to put the decapping rod back in the case and see if I could use it to pound out the decapping pin or at least pound it down enough where I could get a pair of pliers on it and yank it out.
That didn't turn out so well, I ended up just putting the rod back on the pin and now the rod and the pin were both stuck.
So here's what I was dealing with. My mission, decapping pin and rod recovery
I decided cut the case in two using a tubing cutter. I held the case with a pair of pliers and cut away. Success! But still had a stuck pin and rod
Now that I had access to the decapping pin nut I was able to loosen the nut and remove the rod, but the pin was still stuck.
I tried to drive it out with an alignment tool, no luck other than I was able to drive the pin back up in the case enough to get it off the shell holder. Finally I held the case by the top end of the decapping pin, heated it up, then holding the case with one pair of pliers and the pin with another, I was able to twist the sucker out
I reassembled the decapping rod and pin assembly, the pin was a little bent but I straightened it out with pliers. I'm back in business!
Here's the sized and now delubed cases for your viewing pleasure
I'll finish decapping the rest of the military cases tomorrow.