newbie needs help please

[P0WERWAGON]

223, new hornady dies. all brass is federal once fired from a 700. cases are not deformed or damaged.

i lubed the cases, and ran them through the press. without the decapping pin they go in nice. once i use the decapping pin, i get though at most 10, then the case pulls from the shell holder (#10), stuck in the die. i have to force the shell from the holder and the neck sizer in stuck in the case.

i have now wrecked two decapping pin shafts an one resizer.

before i break the new ones i have to buy, what am i doing wrong? should i be resizing, then decapping? all at once? i have tried different cases from various makes, 223 and 556 now without neck sizing or decapping (because those tools are broken) and all seem to fit the die ok.

 

[aftermidnight]

check to see if the primers are crimped in the brass.

 

[wce323078]

sounds more like a lack of case lube then anything. How are you applying the lube?

 

[Pr589]

Sounds like the brass is crimped. The decapping pin is either getting stuck in the primer (making it hard to extract the case) or is getting bent. I would try a universal decapping die to pop out the primers before sizing.

 

[P0WERWAGON]

sorry i worded it incorreclty. it is the part of the pin that resizes the mouth of the case. the primers pop out no problem. it is the downstroke of the case. when the die moves into the necked area it gets stuck in the mouth.

am i to lube inside the case as well? i always thought the inside should be kept dry.

 

[stubblejumper]

 

[rral22]

Check the diameter of the neck sizing ball. It may be big for the job, but lubing the case mouth is a wise thing to do too. The expander ball can easily be made smaller with a drill and some emery cloth.

 

[nitro-express]

Glad to hear it was a lube issue, easy to solve.

 

[Kryogen]

lube the cases outside, and lube inside the necks.
make sure your die is clean.

 

[bsand]

yep, sounds like not enough lube. I personally just use the gandertie method. a old pale with lid and Lee lube, add a 1" long slug to pail and then put lid on tight and mix for 30 seconds. I resized about 600 IVI 556 today and not one got stuck, all crimped primer pockets too.

 

[Kryogen]

I dump the brass in a container, shake a bit so I get a lot of necks up, spray with lube, shake, spray, close lid, shake, dump. takes 30 seconds per 500 cases or so. Not one stuck, and they were mil fired 223, some requiring a lot of force to size.

 

[P0WERWAGON]

yup thanks. thats what i ended up doing. lube, shake and repeat. borrowed press parts and managed to size a couple hundred.