Broke decapping pin on Lee die - question

kb007

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I broke the decapping pin on my Lee .308 FL sizing die yesterday (grrr, my fault), not the rod, just the pin at the end of the rod. Was wondering if it's OK to use this approach until the replacement rod/pin assembly arrives:
Use a universal de-capper to punch the primers,
then use the FL sizing die with the rod in but no decapping pin on the end of the rod.

Seems like it should work, but hey, always prefer to ask rather than do something and mess up a bunch of cases.
 
kb007

I wet tumble my cases with stainless steel media, and I remove the primers with a universal decapping die, wet tumble and then full length resize, so your good to go.

WARNING. More reloaded ammunition is loaded with excess neck runout for the simple reason the decapping rod is locked down off center.

Look at the Forster link below and the rubber washer under the decapping rod lock nut, the rubber washer allows the rod to float and self center in the case neck. The expander button is also located high on the decapping rod, this allows the expander button to enter the neck of the case while the upper part of the case neck is still in the neck of the die. Meaning the die has the neck centered and the "floating" decapping rod is always centered as it enters the case neck.

http://www.forsterproducts.com/store.asp?pid=36244

On a standard resizing die you can raise the decapping rod and place a rubber o-ring under the lock nut and duplicate the action of the Forster die. "BUT" the cases must have the primers removed as I do before sizing for wet tumbling.

You will need to be careful when raising the decapping rod and not adjust it too high, the last 1/8 of the neck should still be inside the neck of the die as the expander button enters the base of the case neck. By doing this you will greatly reduce neck runout, and this method is mentioned many times at Accurate Shooter.com http://www.accurateshooter.com/

As a side note you broke the decapping pin and your problem is very simple, your dies have Chevy decapping pins and you need Ford truck tough decapping pins for heavy loads.

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Got another LEE die? You can use the decapping pin out of it. Or not. Decapping isn't exactly a precision operation.
 
I broke mine last year. Reloading 9 and a 380 got in the mix and it broke...I called Lee and they had it in the mail the NEXT DAY!
 
I don't think the Le de-cap pin is separate from the rod like say the Hornady is at least it ain't in the ones I have

Yes, unless they have recently changed the design their decapping rods are one piece. They are pretty tough. In 30 years of reloading I've only ever broken one Lee decapping rod. A berdan primed .223 case (didn't even know such a thing existed :eek:) got mixed in with my other .223s.
 
Guess I'll give Lee a quieck call, see if they'll send me a new one.

As a side note you broke the decapping pin and your problem is very simple, your dies have Chevy decapping pins and you need Ford truck tough decapping pins for heavy loads.

Def not the case, I have owned 5 Mustangs (currently own a 96 ragtop - my "hot rod", the body shell and transmission are original, everything else is "go fast").
Never owned any GM product, I wouldn't subject my worst enemies' ugly sister to Chevy parts ;)
 
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