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Old January 14, 2013, 11:51 AM   #1
Magnum Wheel Man
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have acumulated a couple scratched dies over the years... a universal decapper ???

have been thinking about some sort of universal decapper, to remove the primers, so I can clean the cases, before running them through the sizing die... is there any such animal out there right now, that works well ( no need to reinvent the wheel )

thoughts... solutions you guys may have come up with... my natural progression was towards bolt action rifles & revolvers in an attempt to keep the cases out of the dirt in the 1st place, but if I remember right, one of my 357 magnum dies is scratched the worst, so I'm thinking tumbling / washing before sizing is the answer ???
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Old January 14, 2013, 12:08 PM   #2
Magnum Wheel Man
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I did find this one, & may give it a try... I noticed earlier reviews commented about it not being made of steel, but the new listing, lists it as made of steel, so they must have improved it ???

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/136...-header-136543
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Old January 14, 2013, 12:20 PM   #3
TATER
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Yep,..Lee Universal de-cap die, I have an old single stage press dedicated to one. I Always clean before I size.
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Old January 14, 2013, 12:27 PM   #4
serf 'rett
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I use the Lee Universal to decap the longer brass which I couldn't decap on my drill press with a nail. When I first started using it, I broke the decappping pin in less than 30 cases (user error); therefore, I would recommend you order an additonal pin for backup.

Once I replaced the pin, I've had zero problems with the next couple of thousand+ cases. You will need to be careful with small mouth cases such as .223 and watch out for berdan primed cases (another reason to have a spare pin/rod).
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Old January 14, 2013, 12:33 PM   #5
Magnum Wheel Man
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Thanks for the suggestion on the extra pin... ( I do have spare decapping pins, if they are of standard design / size )... as a plus, I still shoot mostly revolvers & bolt actions, but am planning on switching to tumbling with stainless, & it would be nice if I had the primers out before tumble / washing... ( which I usually do before tumbling with cob anyway... which has resuled in a couple scratched dies over the years ) a universal design left set up in a single stage press, would allow me to decap & tumble / wash everything before storage, so they would be ready to size & go, when I wanted to reload them...
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Old January 14, 2013, 12:55 PM   #6
serf 'rett
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Lee Universal has a die body with a separate rod with a pin on the end of the rod. Don't think you can interchange the pin with, lets say, an RCBS pin, because it appears the Lee pin is secured in the end of the rod (at least I couldn't figure out a way to do this with my spare RCBS pins).

The Lee rod is secured in the die with a collet type arrangement, which is designed to allow the rod to slide if too much pressure is placed on the pin. Works out that way sometimes.

I decap first because I tumble with stainless steel pins.
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Old January 14, 2013, 01:50 PM   #7
William T. Watts
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Mines a lyman, never broke a decapping pin, I have no idea how long I've it.. William
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Old January 14, 2013, 03:06 PM   #8
Magnum Wheel Man
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Looked up the lyman units ( I see Redding & RCBS also make them as well )... Lymans had more 1 star reviews due to broken pins... I see some of the others have gone to large & small sizes to better fit the cases... one size appearently doesn't fit all...

I'd suspect ( since I've been doing this for a while ) the "fit" of the shell holder, & the smoothness of the operator have alot to do with making sure the pin hits the flash hole on larger mouth cases ???
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Old January 14, 2013, 05:09 PM   #9
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If you have dies that are scratching cases it more than likely the inside of the die has galling on the inside, this can easily be polished with an electric drill, crocus cloth and a split piece of dowel rod.

Think about it, if the case has a scratch on it the scratch is a depression, therefore there has to be a rise inside of the die to cause it.
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Old January 14, 2013, 06:20 PM   #10
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If one of your bad dies is a Lee Fl die then just drill it out all the way to the neck.Then sand off the mandrel to a smaller shank size.Waaam there you have it your own decapping die.If you have many dies like that then do them all and sale them for some money,for other reloading stuff.
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Old January 14, 2013, 06:22 PM   #11
Magnum Wheel Man
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now... that's thinking outside the box,

I like that
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Old January 14, 2013, 06:48 PM   #12
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Quote:
now... that's thinking outside the box,

I like that
And if in fact if galling is in fact your problem you're throwing away good equipment.
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