What did I screw up?

Holleyman

Holleyman

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I was decapping/resizing 308 Winchester brass, about shell 20 or so it resized the neck but the primer didn't pop out of the pocket. I had a hard time pulling the brass out of the die and when I did I saw the above, the decapping pin broken and bent, the resizing rod bent and the neck expander threads all pulled. I have been reloading with this die for less than two years. Could the neck expander being loose cause this. First failure I've seen like this in the eight or nine years I've been reloading.

Any ideas would be great.


EDIT: I did lube the case and the throat
 
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Two things pop up.

1) Piece of Berdan primed brass got in by accident
2) Loose decapping pin and slightly off center flash hole.
 
The bending and breaking I would attribute to things getting loose and not lining up. I'm not sure how the threads would get pulled unless it took undue force to pull the newly bent expander back into line on the way out.

Shouldn't be too hard to get some new parts anyway. Or a good excuse to upgrade! :)
 
Thanks for the quick reply
I checked the brass and it was indeed a boxer primed brass. I also threw it out as I didn't want the over stressed neck to be an issue in the future.

The off center flash hole is a good thought, I never really inspected the brass past checking to ensure it was boxer, I focused on the die. Hmm, wonder if that was it.

The neck expander was loose when I checked it but the threads are screwed in it, not sure if it was root cause or resultant failure.
 
The part that sucks is the nearest parts or new dies are 500 KMs away. Fort Mac has 90,000 people or so and not one gun store!!!

Guess I could call P&D tomorrow and order a replacement set and maybe some spare die parts. Then the usual 3 to 4 day wait.
 
The part that sucks is the nearest parts or new dies are 500 KMs away. Fort Mac has 90,000 people or so and not one gun store!!!
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Thank the people that wouldn't support the gun stores that we did have.They insisted on buying everything Wholesale ,Canadian Tire,and Walmart,and the gun stores couldn't make a go of it without the support of the people.
 
I bent a Redding decapping rod all to hell like that a few years ago. It turned out that a bit of fine gravel had got inside the case - probably when I ejected the case earlier at the range - and the rod had bottomed out on it. (I now spend a bit more time making sure the cases are really empty! ;) )


When I emailed Redding and asked for the cost to send me a new rod they said it would be free even though it was "operator error" that had caused the problem. I am pretty sure RCBS will take care of you in a similar fashion.
 
stubblejumper said:
Thank the people that wouldn't support the gun stores that we did have.They insisted on buying everything Wholesale ,Canadian Tire,and Walmart,and the gun stores couldn't make a go of it without the support of the people.
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Canadian tire - Maybe 5 calibers of ammo in stock
Walmat - Maybe 4 calibers of ammo in stock

They both suck
I support P&D, service is really good and I don't mind paying an additional 5 - 15% for certain items. I usually find their prices quite competitive.
I will not support a business that is consistently 20 - 100% higher than the competition. I do remember the shop in Gregoire, I remember the outrageous prices on everything, consignment firearms at 20% higher than new prices (it was worse than the EE). I also found that the owner treated everyone like they were idiots.
 
Thanks for all the help, I will order a new set tomorrow and try and have the old rod and expander die warrantied with RCBS.
I now have a couple more things to watch out for, crap in the flash hole and off center flash holes. Guess I'll be doing a through internal inspection of each brass before decapping.
 
Save yourself some future grief and buy a Lee decapping die. It is designed so the decapping pin slides upwards if it hits a berdan or off-center priming hole, thus saving the pin.
 
using a die just to deprime and not resize, adds to the steps required to reload and i don't buy into the off centre flash hole theory.....loose deprime stem will eventually cause decapping pine to contact case webbing, missing flash hole and causing an oh####, breaking pin, bending stem and even stripping threads, probably more damage if you keep givin 'er . This is similar to when i deprime a 50/90 case from the tumbler, and unbeknownest to me there is a .222 case inside the 50/90.
 
holley man, outdoor essentials is starting to stock stuff. I know you can place a order for ammo and they will bring it in. Not sure if he can bring in dies. Might be faster from P&D.
 
you mentioned "crimped primers" by any chance was the cartridge you were trying to reload a military cartridge ? If it was , your problem may have been the Darn crimp, I had some brass I bought recently at a gun show that wreaked havoc on me whilst reloading , it turned out to be a defect in the priming process (or the brass), the "crimp' somehow got over top of the primer (looked like the primer was pushed in too deep and the crimp ended being a ridge holding it in place) So that when you tried de-capping , the crimp still held it in place ,
 
The stuff I was decapping was Winchester non-crimp brass but I have done quite a bit of crimped IVI brass with this die.

Ordered a new die today and getting brought up from P&D. I will persue warranty through RCBS.


Thanks for the ideas and help.
 
Holleyman said:
Thanks for all the help, I will order a new set tomorrow and try and have the old rod and expander die warrantied with RCBS.
I now have a couple more things to watch out for, crap in the flash hole and off center flash holes. Guess I'll be doing a through internal inspection of each brass before decapping.
Click to expand...

All you have to do is call RCBS and they will send the part...............done.
 
scratch that- she's too bent-anywaym it wouldn't be the first time i've used nails as decapping pins
 
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"...call RCBS and they will send the part...............done..." Yep. No questions asked other than your mailing address.
Look like the decapper was down too far. Bottoming out, hard, on the case is the only thing that'll bend the decapping rod.
 
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