Difficulty decapping federal 303

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Jessegreenwood

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I am starting reloading, having difficulty deprimi g federal 303.
How much force should it take? They look lacured in,but I didn’t think that would be a difficulty.
Could it be the flash hole is too small?
I just don’t want to power through, but like I said, I am new at this, so I don’t know how much it should take.

Thank you for any advice.

I have a lee 4 hole turret, and hornady dies
 
I am not familiar with Fed retail store-bought .303 British (I don't own a rifle in that caliber), but in my experience military calibers have the potential to have a military primer crimp, even if it is sold in a civilian lot and box.

I once bought a 20 round box of Hornady 30-06 ammo in a civilian box, at the local sporting good store. I can't recall if it was a hunting bullet or target bullet, but in any case it was in a civilian sporting ammo box of 20.

After firing I always use the hand-held Frankford-Arsenal decapping tool. Well I could not decap these cases with the FA hand tool which is normally very easy, and the decapping pin bent!

Upon closer inspection I saw that the primers were crimped in with the circular crimp around the edge of the primer. 30-06 is also a military cartridge and I am guessing Hornady must have mixed up a production run of military crimps into their civilian ammo and not noticed.

I was able to easily decap the crimped primers using my Lee decapping die on the press. Then I learned the lesson that crimped primer pockets have to be swaged or reamed out in order to seat a new primer. I had to purchase a reamer, and later a swager, to be able to seat new primers in the 30-06 cases from that box.

Now that I reload for all my needs I never buy loaded ammo any more and its not an issue, but I am prepared for it having learned the lessons. The Lee decapping die and a primer pocket reamer or swager is a good addition to the reloading kit.
 
To my knowledge, Federal has never crimped their 303 Brit primer pockets nor loaded any of it for the military, or used lacquer for anything but primer sealant.

One fellow told me they did this to stop the primers from backing out in rifles with headspace issues.

I did have some that had red lacquer in the primer pocket and that can take a bit more force to push out the primer.

I haven't seen any Federal cases with small flash holes either, so a regular pin should do just fine.

One issue I have had with Federal cases is that they harden very quickly.

OP, are you sure it's the primer that is causing your issues or could it be the neck resizing, which happens at approximately the same time giving you some resistance.

I like to set my decapping pin/sizer ball far enough down, so that I can push out the primer before the neck starts to resize.

Another issue I've had with some batches of Federal brass is that the flash holes are off center. This usually stops the pin before it gets into the flash hole.

One of the first lessons a newbie hand loader needs to be taught is to have "spare" decapping pin on hand. SH!T happens to all of us and pins will get broken or bent, which is better than bending or breaking the stem.

If the lacquer is only around the edges of the primer pocket, it's actually a sealant and will leave unwanted residue behind. So, you need to get a primer pocket uniforming tool to clean it up.

If your primer pockets are to tight, they will just keep giving you grief and at the cost of components today, a $10 primer pocket tool and flash hole tool are well worth the money.

The flash hole tool is good as well to have, because it will debur the flash hole on the inside of the case. Whether this actually helps anything is anyone's guess but if you purchase Premium ammunition, the flash holes are uniformed and deburred before being loaded at the factory.

Speaking of which, I just saw that Canadian Tire wants close to $68 per box of 20, 150grn, 303 Brit Blue Box.
 
With a good light behind you, look down the empty case from the front and check that you see just one primer hole in the middle and not two of them.

Everything nowadays SHOULD be Boxer-primed, but I've found Berdan-primed in Canada this century. Always the chance of it showing up somewhere unexpected, and the wise reloader has that in mind. If it is Berdan then it's generally easier to just toss out in the brass recycling bin at the range.

If you've reloaded before you know how much push depriming should take, but if you're on your first-ever batch then being cautious and asking is good.
 
OP - Just like your reloading post for shotgun shells, you need to give more info for people to help you. Are you using full length sizing dies, neck sizer or just a decapping die?
 
old303 said:
With a good light behind you, look down the empty case from the front and check that you see just one primer hole in the middle and not two of them.

Everything nowadays SHOULD be Boxer-primed, but I've found Berdan-primed in Canada this century. Always the chance of it showing up somewhere unexpected, and the wise reloader has that in mind. If it is Berdan then it's generally easier to just toss out in the brass recycling bin at the range.

If you've reloaded before you know how much push depriming should take, but if you're on your first-ever batch then being cautious and asking is good.
Click to expand...


Not if the cases are FEDERAL.
 
bearhunter said:
Not if the cases are FEDERAL.
Click to expand...

Like I said, the brass SHOULD be Boxer-primed, but if you're running into an inexplicable depriming problem then a quick check for Berdan priming has to be somewhere on your checklist. If it was Lapua brass I might also suggest checking for tiny primer holes that don't fit the standard pin.

On a new press, a pin set too short won't decap, but too long and the collet holding the pin or next part of the die's central spindle may bottom out into the case there and not let the rest of the die come to its full stroke. Generally the pin should be sticking out a bit more than a quarter inch past the rest of the die, maybe 3/16ths.
 
I deprime them with a Lee Universal Decapping Pin on a shell holder on the bench with a little hammer.
The ones I have a b!tch of a time tippity-tapping out, and wiggly waggling the stuck pin out, I set aside.
Those I clean out with a #48 drill bit. Good to go.
 
More info, full length sizing die, (hornady) it is sizing half way down the neck, so it isn’t the sholder, and judging from where the case is, it is about where it would be for the depriving pin to hit the primer, or bottom out on the bottom of the case.
So from what I gather, I need to make sure the pin is going strait down the Center, probably stick it as far down as I can set it an make sure it isn’t loose and missing the hole.
They have one hole, not 2, checked that befor I even started
 
Jessegreenwood said:
More info, full length sizing die, (hornady) it is sizing half way down the neck, so it isn’t the sholder, and judging from where the case is, it is about where it would be for the depriving pin to hit the primer, or bottom out on the bottom of the case.
So from what I gather, I need to make sure the pin is going strait down the Center, probably stick it as far down as I can set it an make sure it isn’t loose and missing the hole.
They have one hole, not 2, checked that befor I even started
Click to expand...

Just make sure you are using enough lube on the case, and you will be alright.
I have hand loaded 100's of rounds of 303Brit using all different brands including federal, with no issues.
if you have an overly large chamber in your rifle, it may take a little more force than normal
Cat
 
I have bent and broken a number of the de-capping pins in full and neck sizing dies - various brands, various reasons (mostly all being in a rush and not setting it up correctly). So, I have bags of spare pins on hand. I bought a Universal de-capping die - knock out most primers with that, in a press - actually will set up a little RCBS Partner Press with that die, just for de-capping. Still have the "bits and pieces" from my original Lee Loaders, and most always use that punch with hammer and holder to de-cap "crimped in" primers, on cases that I know that I will be swaging the primer pockets (mil-surp brass)
 
Jessegreenwood said:
More info, full length sizing die, (hornady) it is sizing half way down the neck, so it isn’t the sholder, and judging from where the case is, it is about where it would be for the depriving pin to hit the primer, or bottom out on the bottom of the case.
So from what I gather, I need to make sure the pin is going strait down the Center, probably stick it as far down as I can set it an make sure it isn’t loose and missing the hole.
They have one hole, not 2, checked that befor I even started
Click to expand...

OK - You should be able to visually ascertain if the pin and neck expander are off centre in the die. The die instructions should tell you how far the pin should protrude below the bottom of the die. The decapping rod is held by a collet within the die, and can often shift when decapping.
If set too high, the die will bottom out against the shell holder before decapping the primer. Finally, if you want to ascertain if the primers are very snug, you can remove the decapping pin rod and manually insert it into the case mouth, centre it, and give it few taps with a hammer.
 
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My Federal 303 British Ammo has a primer sealant that you can see (blue around the primer). I do all my depriming on a secondary press with a Lee Universal Decapping Die to keep my good press clean, and that way if I have any issues its just a $20 die
 
Flash holes of some cases are a smaller diameter. I recall that I have two sizes of decapping pins for one of my die brands.
Take a deprimed case and check that your decap pin isn't tight going in, I've encountered that on occasion in the past.
 
Jessegreenwood said:
More info, full length sizing die, (hornady) it is sizing half way down the neck, so it isn’t the sholder, and judging from where the case is, it is about where it would be for the depriving pin to hit the primer, or bottom out on the bottom of the case.
So from what I gather, I need to make sure the pin is going strait down the Center, probably stick it as far down as I can set it an make sure it isn’t loose and missing the hole.
They have one hole, not 2, checked that befor I even started
Click to expand...


I've gotten into the habit of not locking down the decapping/sizing ball stem to tightly. Just snug saves a lot of decapping pins when some of the flash holes are not on center.

The stem isn't just wobbling around in there though.

That would be as bad as a flash hole being off center.

There is just enough give, finger snug, so that the decapping pin will usually track smoothly into the flash holes.


Usually, Federal brass doesn't have an issue with off center flash holes, but it often has issues with burrs sticking up around the edge of them.

I don't bother doing this with handgun brass but with rifle brass cases, I always use a flash hole uniforming drill, down through the case mouth to beburr and chamfer the inside edges of the flash holes, which will also make sure the holes are of uniform size.

The Lee or RCBS hand tool can easily be chucked up in a hand drill and the stop collar can be set for consistent depth of cut.

When I started doing this, most of my depriming issues went away and not setting the decapping pin stem rock solid cleared up most of the rest.

Not much you can do about severely offset flash holes though, so I just discard them when they appear.
 
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