.223 Brass Difficult to Decap

[Geoff B]

I'm new to rifle reloading and just got a Norinco M4 clone and a case of Korean PMC FMJ ammo. A friend gave me some Winchester brass which decaps nicely with the Lee die, but the PMC primers won't budge! The decapping pin just pushes up out of the way. I figured out that the PMC must have swaged primers, so the pockets will have to be reamed, but how in hell do I remove them in the first place? I think I must be missing something here!
Geoff

 

[Therion]

I use a Lee decapping die and it generally works well.
I just deprimed a lot of PMC and it worked fine (don't know if that PMC was from Korea, though).
There are a few .223 with crimped primers that it simply won't budge--I have tried and simply broken the decapping pins.
Good luck
Therion

 

[Geoff B]

I suspect that the PMC is crimped.

 

[gunn69]

Did you clean off the packing oil off the decaping pin and the locking nut? This happened to me when I started reloading and using lee dies. I also removed the shine on the decap pin with some fine sandpaper so locking nut can get a better grip on the pin.

 

[tiriaq]

Should be possible to look at the primers and tell if they are crimped or not.

 

[Bassmaster]

Berdan primers perhaps??..that would certainly explain the decapping pin moving

 

[gvanzeggelaar]

If your not already use a lee decapping die. The work very well. But check if they are berdan primed first

 

[iceman2]

Since you're new to reloadong, Berdan primed case are different from boxer primed. Take a flashlight or bright light and look into the case. If there are 2 flash holes they are Berdan primed. If they are gather them up and take them to your local scrap metal dealer and recycle them. If a single hole Boxer primed and really well crimped in. A decapping die may be needed. Good luck.

 

[Geoff B]

Did you clean off the packing oil off the decaping pin and the locking nut? This happened to me when I started reloading and using lee dies. I also removed the shine on the decap pin with some fine sandpaper so locking nut can get a better grip on the pin.

Bingo! How obvious. That is exactly what I didn't do.
After a wipe with varsol and a rub-down with fine steel wool, the primers are now in a mound in the garbage.

To the others who posted, yes I did check for boxer-primed brass. I'm new to rifle reloading, but have been reloading pistol ammo for several years now and I've encountered the odd "bonk" from some military 9mm that has snuck in.

Thanks for all the replies, Geoff