De-priming military brass

Kirkster · Nov 1, 2020

Ok so I horked my Dillion .223 sizing de-priming full length die (my fault it is not compatible with my forester press). I replaced it with a whidden die and have broken 7 pins and bent 3 of the pin holder rods. Just de-priming military .223 nothing special.

Who makes a better resize/de-prime for dealing with .223. The Dillion did well with the .223 when running it through my 650 but I am not changing it all over for only 3~500 .223. I mean I may have to but the Dillion dies are unobtanium at the moment so meh.

teratos · Nov 1, 2020

I use a Lee universal decapping die on a single stage. They are cheap, I haven’t broken any pins, and have deprimed a lot of military 7.62 and 5.56. I don’t know if that’s an option.

mtlcafan79 · Nov 1, 2020

That seems awfully excessive to be bending/breaking that many. Are the flash holes off center? Just pushing out the primer shouldn't cause that. I've deprimed thousands on a RCBS 223 die and have never broken a pin. Is it bending because you missed the case mouth, or because of the actual depriming step? Maybe you have the rod adjusted too far down and you're hitting the case web with the expander.

inkd · Nov 1, 2020

Are you sure it's military brass?

I had a run of broken pins on Field and Stream brass. I culled them all and haven't had a problem since.

mtlcafan79 · Nov 1, 2020

That, or I'd be willing to bet it's Perfecta almost.

teratos · Nov 1, 2020

mtlcafan79 said:
That, or I'd be willing to bet it's Perfecta almost.

I just lost my erection.

Kirkster · Nov 1, 2020

mtlcafan79 said:
That seems awfully excessive to be bending/breaking that many. Are the flash holes off center? Just pushing out the primer shouldn't cause that. I've deprimed thousands on a RCBS 223 die and have never broken a pin. Is it bending because you missed the case mouth, or because of the actual depriming step? Maybe you have the rod adjusted too far down and you're hitting the case web with the expander.

I thought it was excessive too. Have it adjusted down just far enough for the primer to fall free. I adjusted this last one down bit by bit till the primer just came free.

I am going to pick up a Lee universal depriming die as well as an RCBS .223 die and try again...

Kirkster · Nov 1, 2020

mtlcafan79 said:
That, or I'd be willing to bet it's Perfecta almost.

Nope. Flash hole is centered.

John from MD · Nov 1, 2020

teratos said:
I use a universal decapping die on a single stage. They are cheap, I haven’t broken any pins, and have deprimed a lot of military 7.62 and 5.56. I don’t know if that’s an option.

This.

madmantrapper · Nov 1, 2020

They're not bu chance crimped are they? I had some 7.62 that were crimped and could not get the primers out for nothing.

mtlcafan79 · Nov 1, 2020

If you want really heavy duty: https://fwarms.com/shop/reloading/f-w-arms-auto-center-decapper/

John from MD · Nov 1, 2020

Talk about overkill! The Lee Universal Decapper will knock out any crimped primer (with the exception of .50 browning). One thing some folks overlook is the alignment of the die in the press. You should always leave your die loose until the ram has forced the case all the way into the die. Then you should tighten the lock nut.

In the case of a decapping die, I put an empty deprimed case in the press, run the ram up and then tighten the lock nut. This usually ensures that your die and caseholder are in alignment.

Allen65 · Nov 1, 2020

mtlcafan79 said:
If you want really heavy duty: https://fwarms.com/shop/reloading/f-w-arms-auto-center-decapper/

That's a nice decapper. Gotta love a decapper tough enough to turn a Berdan-primed case into a Boxer case:

And the resulting flash hole is better centered than the Perfecta brass.
:lol2:

Muleskinner · Nov 1, 2020

The Lee decapper is milled from one piece of steel. I have the same 223/556 sizer/decapper that I bought more than 30 years ago. I've reloaded 10s of thousands of lake city brass, as I was given an almost full 55 gallon drum of it from a marine corps range decades ago. I have used the RCBS and broken pins and even bent the whole rod a couple times.

The Lee universal decapper is good too, but it adds a step since you still have to size afterwards

Rockzilla · Nov 2, 2020

FWarms are great in progressive presses and that is the primary use for me
Mighty Arms Decapping dies work great use it in anything not quite as expensive
as the Fwarms one.
With that said have bent / broke a many of the others, found that the TAA headstamp
stuff is the hardest to deprime.Of course throw off center primer holes, berdan primers,
most will feel the difference in a single stage presses.
So.. FWarms first for mainly progressive work, then Mighty Armory, then the others after
that, Do you really need the FW die not really unless you do a lot of processing. Or just
Plain "want" one. Just an opinion... thats all..

-Rock

Oswaldo87 · Nov 2, 2020

I use a Harvey hand deprimer. Might not be good for old hands but gives me a chance to pre-inspect brass and sort my range bring-backs. Doesn’t allow you to miss the flash hole either.

Kirkster · Nov 5, 2020

Got the Lee decapper die today. Ran 100 cases through it and there were a couple tough ones but it did the job on all of them.

Thanks guys.

John from MD · Nov 5, 2020

Glad it worked out for you.

Kirkster · Nov 9, 2020

And then...

85E02352-43A7-4EDB-9B9C-1FEFE06BB645-scaled-e1604976479336.jpeg

John from MD · Nov 9, 2020

Dang, you don't have no luck do you? :sad20:

De-priming military brass

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