cases not decapping

jdeere1 · April 27, 2013, 07:40 PM

I tried decapping some very old Remington 32 spl cases and the decapping rod in the Lee die slides up. I tightened the cap clamp down very hard and still the old primers will not come out. Maybe the flash holes are smaller in these old cases? The same die works well on the newer cases. What do you think?

Fire_Moose · April 27, 2013, 11:15 PM

Did you look into the cases with a flash light?

Could be berdan primed.

Could be media/rocks stuck in the case.

Could be as you said and small flash hole.

**44 AMP** · April 28, 2013, 12:33 AM

It would be very unusual to find berdan primed .32 Special brass. Not impossible, but very uncommon. Smaller than usual flash hole, off center flash hole, debris in the flash hole, much more likely.

And since you said it was Remington brass, berdan cases are not the issue.

Look in the cases with a light, and see if it looks normal.

Get a Lee decapping set, the manual one with the rod and base. You can feel the pin enter the flash hole, and a couple taps with a mallet will decap anything, even crimped in GI primers.

chiefr · April 28, 2013, 09:15 AM

Some Lee dies require a tremendous amount of torque to keep the decapper rod from sliding in the lock nut. If more torque will not fix your problem, take a file or emery cloth and rough up the end of the rod that contacts the inside of the lock nut and retorque.

g.willikers · April 28, 2013, 09:44 AM

Just make a quickie primer remover, out of a suitable sized nail, and a piece of wood, with a hole drilled for the primers to fall through.
Flatten the point on the nail, and it'll take a mighty stubborn primer not to come out with just a couple of hammer blows.
Make sure the primers are spent, of course.

April 27, 2013, 07:40 PM	#1
jdeere1 Junior Member Join Date: February 16, 2013 Posts: 2	cases not decapping I tried decapping some very old Remington 32 spl cases and the decapping rod in the Lee die slides up. I tightened the cap clamp down very hard and still the old primers will not come out. Maybe the flash holes are smaller in these old cases? The same die works well on the newer cases. What do you think?

April 27, 2013, 11:15 PM	#2
Fire_Moose Senior Member Join Date: January 16, 2013 Posts: 211	Re: cases not decapping Did you look into the cases with a flash light? Could be berdan primed. Could be media/rocks stuck in the case. Could be as you said and small flash hole.

April 28, 2013, 12:33 AM	#3
44 AMP Staff Join Date: March 11, 2006 Location: Upper US Posts: 28,812	It would be very unusual to find berdan primed .32 Special brass. Not impossible, but very uncommon. Smaller than usual flash hole, off center flash hole, debris in the flash hole, much more likely. And since you said it was Remington brass, berdan cases are not the issue. Look in the cases with a light, and see if it looks normal. Get a Lee decapping set, the manual one with the rod and base. You can feel the pin enter the flash hole, and a couple taps with a mallet will decap anything, even crimped in GI primers. __________________ All else being equal (and it almost never is) bigger bullets tend to work better.

April 28, 2013, 09:44 AM	#5
g.willikers Senior Member Join Date: September 28, 2008 Posts: 10,442	Just make a quickie primer remover, out of a suitable sized nail, and a piece of wood, with a hole drilled for the primers to fall through. Flatten the point on the nail, and it'll take a mighty stubborn primer not to come out with just a couple of hammer blows. Make sure the primers are spent, of course. __________________ Walt Kelly, alias Pogo, sez: “Don't take life so serious, son, it ain't nohow permanent.”

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

April 28, 2013, 09:15 AM	#4
chiefr Senior Member Join Date: January 27, 2010 Location: AR Posts: 1,401	Some Lee dies require a tremendous amount of torque to keep the decapper rod from sliding in the lock nut. If more torque will not fix your problem, take a file or emery cloth and rough up the end of the rod that contacts the inside of the lock nut and retorque.