Lee Universal decapper pin made it almost 1000 rounds...

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Hobobiker

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Toolhead #1 for my Dillon 223 reloading project only contains a Lee Universal decapper and a Redding small base FL sizing die. Everything has been going great so far. I have my headspace pushback where I want it, every round is being passed through my sizing gauge with very few fallouts, etc. Then, as I'm finishing up the 1000 rounds last night I notice a difference when pulling the lever. !@#$#@!!! Decapping pin busted. Could've been my fault - who knows. I hit fleabay this morning and bought three replacements for about $7 with free shipping.

So...I'll move to the swaging stage tonight for the 980+ that I finished before the pin broke.

Moving from .45 brass to .223 brass has been a learning experience - especially having invested hours into the effort without having a single bullet reloaded yet. That said, I still get a kick outta working at my reloading bench.

Thanks everyone for the help and advice getting started with 223/556!
 
Rule3 said:
Get them for free from LEE.

How one can break it is a mystery?
Click to expand...
I've broken several of the set from lee that has the holder and punch pin you use a hammer with. I think they call it unbreakable...I broke 3 of them in a row, stopped asking for replacements. Broke one in the Lee .223 sizing and decapping die, no trouble after its replacement. The universal de capping die I bent 1 bought some replacement pins, no further problems.

All my pin failures had a few things in common. Always .223 crimped in primer military brass. I was going a mile a minute when it happened. Pins only broke in the 2 piece unit, with the universal decapper and the .223 sizing die they bent.

Now, when doing .223, I hit it once without pressing all the way through, to get a feel. If it budged, I follow through. If not, I bounce it again to see if it budges or the pin starts to rise up on top of the die. Usually, it budges on the next and I follow through. If pin rises, you have to go through that retightening protocol.

Once in a while, a flash hole may not be true and you are bottoming out on brass.

Russellc
 
It happens. When I first started decapping my brass before cleaning it I would get going 100mph and break one occasionally. Now I just slow down a bit and haven't had the problem in a couple of years.
 
I bent one, but it was my fault for not having the case correctly in the shell holder. Well OK, so it was a little worse than that. It turns out , the primer flash hole doesn't automatically line up worth beans when the case sits on top of the shell holder. Then I added more value to the situation by breaking the tip off trying to straighten it out :).

I addressed the root cause of the problem by stopping what I was doing and finding where my old guy glasses had run off to. When doing actual reloading, the geezer goggles are always in place. I thought I could get away without them for the mundane operation of decapping some brass. Maybe not.
 
Take a photo of the broken one and email it to them, they will send a new one to you for free.
 
I've broken several of the Lee manual decapper rods.
I'm speaking of the one that uses a base, and a rod, and the user supplies his own hammer and patience.
I've given up on that product.

Yes, Lee will send you a replacement, but that just gets old.
Replacement tool, less than 100 rounds of 30-06, and it broken again - even after I tried REALLY HARD to strike carefully.

At this point if I run into a batch of brass that is breaking (replaceable) decapping pins on my RCBS resizing die, the offending brass just goes in the recycle bucket, and I move on to a better lot of brass.

I scarcely have time to de-cap as a separate operation, and I sure don't have the time or the patience for brass that continually breaks pins, or tools that just break because they are such a crummy tool.
 
If u will round the end it helps alot!! When new and the end is square they will catch and bend if the flash hole is off center at all but if you round the tip u will solve this issue. They make one with a rounded tip for a few more dollars but a file will do the job for free.
 
In the thousands of rounds I've loaded, I have never broken a decapping pin in any die or caliber.
Click to expand...

I haven't either. Even crimped in primers don't feel different to me while decapping. I have only ever loaded single stage, relatively methodically I guess. Even some crimped .223 with off center flash holes I've run and they haven't given me any trouble. Now that I've said that, I'm likely to break one tonight of course :uhoh:
 
Send Lee a picture and they will send you a new one for free. Open a ticket on their web site.
I sent a pic and told them it was my fault I mangled the end of it on brass with way off center flash holes (edge of primer pocket) and they sent me a new one anyway.:)
I also bought spares and have discovered nothing seems to happen to it as long as you have spares on hand. Murphys Law....
 
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I have broken a couple when a berdan case slips in and I and on a roll. I probably shouldn't put 80 ft/lbs. on it when I set it.
 
Thanks for the input and advice everyone. Yep, this was on crimped 223s and it probably wasn't lined up correctly. I'm snapping a pic and Lee will send me another for free. I also bought some extras so Murphy's Law can apply. I also read about the rounding-the-tip advice, so I'll do that as well.

Lookin forward to trying a small batch out at the range to see how they fly. I've been enjoying shooting my reloaded .45s for years now.
 
Some .223 brass has undersized flash holes that pulled the pin out of the rod on my Lee 300 blk dies. No problems with my Dillon .223 dies though.
 
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