universal depriming die

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The first thing I do is deprime with my Lee depriming die. Using the resizing die to deprime means a dirty primer pocket. I don't own a tumbler and I wash all my brass after depriming. May seem like an extra step but it goes very quickly. I find brass prep to be therapeutic, except for trimming. I hate trimming.
 
I've never bent or broken a Lee Universal de-capping pin....can't say the same for Redding, RCBS or Dillon.
 
irishlad said:
I use my Lee Universal deprime die and then dry tumble all my rifle brass. I'm curious as to what value you think would be wasted. Thanks
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I've not found any appreciable difference in the cleanliness of the primer pocket when dry tumbling. Just my experience. Dirt and stuff on the brass comes off, but the carbon or whatever moon rocks develop in the primer pocket don't seem to be affected by the walnut.
 
Yeehaw! Another UDD on the way! This one goes in the Lee Hand Press kit so I don't have to mess with the quick-change thingy when I want to swap the one I have between presses. :)
 
Back when you could buy once fired 7.62n brass , it was useful to deprime the crimped primer first, as you needed quite a bit of leverage by the time the decapping pin went (if) into the flashhole. You simply wont feel the added resistance of being off center or a berdan type case found its way into your brass. You would either break the pin or bend the stem. Was a real PITA. You could back the sizer off & use it the same way, but a tough primer crimp could easily bend the stem. The universal decapper solves all of that. Its great because it is not caliber specific.
 
Never bothered to decap first when tumbling with walnut. Then I got a Thumlers and SS pins. Wanted the primer pockets clean when going through all that effort. First I used a 45-70 sizing die as a universal decapper, then when I got a 300WSM used that die. Then found the Lee universal on sale and added it to a shipment to hit the free shipping amount. Has worked great for years. Everyone has a process and mine works well for me. Just sayi'n.
 
Well, I tried out my new RCBS UDD and got really annoyed. I'm not sure what the spring in the decapping rod is meant to do, but one thing it actually does is fire the spent primer out of the pocket at high velocity so it can ricochet off the press frame in all sorts of random directions and land in all sorts of unreachable spots. Removed the spring, and all's well.
 
WeekendReloader said:
It is nice when you decap before cleaning. I decap before I wet tumble with SS pins. Then I run clean brass through my press.
I took the decapping pin out of my sizing dies.
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This is my method as well. I’ve eaten up dies with dirty brass, so I don’t size without cleaning any longer. I’ve had a press on the corner of my bench as a dedicated decapping station for over 15yrs, which was a cheap Lee Anniversary press previously, but which was replaced last year with a Lee APP (now it sees use swaging too). No decapping pins in any of my sizing dies - all decap on the universal.
 
Charlie98 said:
Mostly I use it to pop good primers out of brass at the bench... SNAFU brass, brass damaged during the loading process, something like that. It's easy to spin into the single-stage press and pop the primer(s) out without having to jack with a sizing die. In the old days, I would normally just discard the odd primers, but these days... waste not, whatnot.

I do not use it in my normal reloading cycle, however. I dry tumble, so any value of taking the time to decap brass before tumbling would be wasted.
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This is probably the most frequent use I have for universal depriming dies. But, any instance where I wish to remove a primer, spent or new, where I do not wish to run the case through the sizing die, I use the depriming dies in my old, original single stage press.

It is one of those tools that seem to be difficult to justify when you do not have it but can't live without once you get one.

I have RCBS and Redding depriming dies. Their caliber range are from 17-22 caliber and 22 caliber and up. I load 17 Remington and 204 Ruger so the small die is a must for me.
 
barnfrog said:
Well, I tried out my new RCBS UDD and got really annoyed. I'm not sure what the spring in the decapping rod is meant to do, but one thing it actually does is fire the spent primer out of the pocket at high velocity so it can ricochet off the press frame in all sorts of random directions and land in all sorts of unreachable spots. Removed the spring, and all's well.
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If it's like mine the spring will collapse if you get a hold of some hard crimped primers. RCBS sent me replacements but they are the same weak quality. I went through my gun spring collection and found a spring the right dia (AR) but heavier to use. Cut it down and have not had another issue. The spring keeps the primmer from sticking to the pin. It does launches it with authority. My presses have tubing that feeds a bottle attached to it. I use old screw top med bottles, drill hole in lid, then secure with a ty-rap. That way I doesn't come off, spilling primers.
 
I end up reiterating this in most universal decapping die threads:

Don’t overthink it. We’re really just talking about a pointy stick here. The process of decapping to allow cleaning before sizing is valid for most reloaders, but we’re not talking about a bushing sizing die or a micrometer seating die, this is just a pointy stick which has to be sufficiently long and sufficiently thin to pass through the flash hole. Over-engineering or over-thinking here isn’t a benefit.
 
Varminterror said:
I end up reiterating this in most universal decapping die threads:

Don’t overthink it. We’re really just talking about a pointy stick here. The process of decapping to allow cleaning before sizing is valid for most reloaders, but we’re not talking about a bushing sizing die or a micrometer seating die, this is just a pointy stick which has to be sufficiently long and sufficiently thin to pass through the flash hole. Over-engineering or over-thinking here isn’t a benefit.
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I also think "die" is an overstatement. It's really just a threaded holder for the pointy stick that fits in your press. It is not a die in any way, shape, or form.
 
WeekendReloader said:
I also think "die" is an overstatement. It's really just a threaded holder for the pointy stick that fits in your press. It is not a die in any way, shape, or form.
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A "die" in manufacturing terms is just a fixture used in some machine process. It's a fixed piece, possibly with or without moving parts, as opposed to a rotating or sliding piece - which would then be called a "tool." It's just terminology but it is properly applied in this context. :)
 
AJC1 said:
The purpose of a universal decaping die is to deprime range brass before wet tumbling. Most of the stuff I find is in no condition for a sizing die and why end up with dirty pockets when I go through all the effort.

If your just reloading your own clean brass the value is highly deminished.
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Or cleaning primer pockets with a tool when tumbling with corn cob, or using a uniformer on primer pockets before tumbling on cob like I do with my Dasher.

I have everything for wet tumbling, just haven’t done it yet, dragging by tail on that one.
 
Varminterror said:
I end up reiterating this in most universal decapping die threads:

Don’t overthink it. We’re really just talking about a pointy stick here. The process of decapping to allow cleaning before sizing is valid for most reloaders, but we’re not talking about a bushing sizing die or a micrometer seating die, this is just a pointy stick which has to be sufficiently long and sufficiently thin to pass through the flash hole. Over-engineering or over-thinking here isn’t a benefit.
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I have to heartily agree here. I've never had a spent primer stick to the decapping pin on a resizing die. I can only hope that for some reason they were sticking to the pins of universal decappers, because I hate it when people create solutions to non-existent problems.
 
Walkalong said:
Or cleaning primer pockets with a tool when tumbling with corn cob, or using a uniformer on primer pockets before tumbling on cob like I do with my Dasher.

I have everything for wet tumbling, just haven’t done it yet, dragging by tail on that one.
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If you like some sparkling brite brass you should jump in. You won't regret it!! It helps me see imperfections/splits lots easier as well.
 
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