And if you use a Lee Universal decapping die on Lapua brass with a smaller than normal flash hole, just buy a few spare pins (you'll bend one eventually, so you need them anyway), chuck one in a drill, and file down the diameter of the tip. Cheap and works good.
Decapping W/O Full Length Sizing?
- Thread starter TheBig1
- Start date
And if you use a Lee Universal decapping die on Lapua brass with a smaller than normal flash hole, just buy a few spare pins (you'll bend one eventually, so you need them anyway), chuck one in a drill, and file down the diameter of the tip. Cheap and works good.
I have been reloading many years. Don't understand why you would neck size only. Short range bench shooters FL size only to the best of my knowledge. You cannot over cold work the case body brass. Whether you FL or neck size it's the neck that will fail from cold working of the brass. If you want to increase the brass life anneal the necks every 5 firings or more often. I have been shooting the same 200 Lapua cases for 7 years and only two failed necks.
Wow, the same brass! I thought that there was some sort of benefit to neck sizing? It's for my 22-250.
Just did the math. I fire about 500 shots a year. It works out to 18 firings per case. The first 5 years I didn't anneal. Two years ago I started annealing after about 5 firings. It's a 6BR for 95% casual bench rest and 5% for groundhogs. I need to reverse the % but I cannot find GH like I used to. I had 1 Lapua case neck crack on the first firing (brown box). Recently a case had a big crack in the middle of the neck, not near the mouth. Never saw this before. Must be the result of a defect during case swaging at the factory.
For smaller flash holes, I have simply turned the decapping pin with it in its spindle , against my grinder, thinned it down until it will slide in easily, then fine polish it with emery paper.
BTW, if you want to keep your FL die unchanged while neck sizing, get a set of Skip's shims from Sinclair. Presto, instant neck sizing only.
The Wilson sizer dies that many BR shooters use, only size the necks down about two thirds.
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CaptainMal
Silver $$ Contributor
Another thing you can do with most any die is to just screw the decaying rod farther down into the die. Then just push up the case enough to see the old primer fall out. You can do it way before the next even gets touched.
Then, if you just want to do the neck later, pull the decapping rod out and remove the pin. Then just set the die at any length you want - up for neck and down for full. To keep things square I have a bunch of metal plates with die holes in marked at their thickness. that way I can back out a die any dimension I want.
Then, if you just want to do the neck later, pull the decapping rod out and remove the pin. Then just set the die at any length you want - up for neck and down for full. To keep things square I have a bunch of metal plates with die holes in marked at their thickness. that way I can back out a die any dimension I want.
dmoran
Donovan Moran
My favorite decapping dies are the type S <> bushing neck dies, with the busing removed for decapping only.
The case is guided and aligned into the die, but without any sizing, just decapping.
Put a bushing back in and we have a neck die. Dual purpose sort to speak !.!.!
Donovan
The case is guided and aligned into the die, but without any sizing, just decapping.
Put a bushing back in and we have a neck die. Dual purpose sort to speak !.!.!
Donovan
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In retrospect of my reloading time, reloading is a natural progression of what works the best for you. Go slow and keep a notebook of good written notes of your work. Read as much as you can in the loading books and places like this. With that said a de-capping die is inexpensive, I have been de-capping in a separate operation for a long time. Even if the stuff goes to the Dillon.
I use a hand decapper: http://www.neiljones.com/html/decapping_tool.html
Soon as I get back from the range, I deprime, wipe carbon from necks, crud from pockets, and drop em in a tumbler.
It's very fast, which makes carbon removal way easier(ever notice that?).
By the time my guns are cleaned & put away, I shut down the tumbler, brass is ready for reloading.
Soon as I get back from the range, I deprime, wipe carbon from necks, crud from pockets, and drop em in a tumbler.
It's very fast, which makes carbon removal way easier(ever notice that?).
By the time my guns are cleaned & put away, I shut down the tumbler, brass is ready for reloading.
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