Flash hole diameter/decapping pin question

[SteveOak]

I am processing the now once fired brass for my first BR chambered rifle, 6BR. The brass was NIB blue box 6mmBR Norma made by Lapua.

I talked to the Lapua reps at the Cactus Classic yesterday and they confirmed what I had read online, that the flash hole on their 6BR Norma brass is 1.5mm = .059" diameter.

I have a Wilson neck die which has a rod to push the case back out with a decapping pin on the end. I measured the decapping pin diameter at 0.062".

This would seem to be an issue.

Are the Wilson decapping pins all like that?

 

[JimSC]

you will need a die that has a .55 decapping pin. I know Redding offers them and not sure who else. The alternative is use a universal depinning die that has pins for a small flash hole such as Mighty Armory then full length with the decapping pin removed or cut off from the Wilson.

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[SteveOak]

Thanks for the suggestions Jim, either would give me a means to punch out the primers but neither would make the Wilson Neck Die usable.

I talked to Wilson tech support. According to them the decapping pin in that die should be .057".

 

[JimSC]

Thanks for the suggestions Jim, either would give me a means to punch out the primers but neither would make the Wilson Neck Die usable.

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Just checked the Wilson site and the 6BR die should have the .057 pin. Have you used your calipers on the Wilson dies decapping pin to verify? The wrong punch could have been installed at the factory. The only other alternative is the brass has bad flash holes

 

[SteveOak]

Just checked the Wilson site and the 6BR die should have the .057 pin. Have you used your calipers on the Wilson dies decapping pin to verify? The wrong punch could have been installed at the factory. The only other alternative is the brass has bad flash holes

I measured the pin with my calipers, Digital Mitutoyo SC-6. I am not immune to mistakes so I measured several other things and they all measured what they should.

According the the Tech service person I talked to this morning they make a punch with a .057" pin for small primer brass and another for brass with a large primer so it wouldn't be the 'wrong' punch as in I ordered a 'red' and received a 'blue' something. To the best of my knowledge Wilson has no die for which a punch with a 0.062" pin would be correct. It is a manufacturing defect. Someone ordered the wrong size pin or made the pins the wrong size. I'm wondering how a .062" pin would be successfully be in pressed into a hole intended for a .057" pin. My machining skills are pretty rusty but that seems like a lot.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

looks like wilson put the wrong pin in there. everybody makes mistakes. wilson is a great company so call them and talk to tarina and you'll have the right pin very soon.

 

[rjtfroggy]

Why not take a .063 drill and open up the hole a little? Probably wouldn't take but 15 minutes time and everything will still go boom.

 

[rockable]

You can chuck the pin up in a drill press and, using a fine tooth file and some fine sandpaper, polish it down in minutes. The file trick works great. Just make sure you are spinning the pin fast and in the direction of the file cut.

It doesn't work now. What have you got to lose? I did this with my Lee collet dies.

 

[DRNewcomb]

Forster sells "special" pins for small flash holes. Online orders have a fairly high minimum shipping cost but if you call them, they may ship you a pack at actual shipping costs.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Forster sells "special" pins for small flash holes. Online orders have a fairly high minimum shipping cost but if you call them, they may ship you a pack at actual shipping costs.

I dont think that will help out this particular problem with his wilson neck die.

 

[perry42]

I called Redding for a replacement pin for my 6br dies. They sent me 5 small diameter pins at no cost to me. GREAT service from a quality manufacturer.

perry42

 

[hikfromstik]

I'm a fan of the lee universal decapper . I didn't have to sand mine for lapua small primer creedmoor . Cost about $15 total and Lee sent me a spare replacement pin free with the order .

 

[DRNewcomb]

I dont think that will help out this particular problem with his wilson neck die.

While I don't know about Wilson dies, the Forster pins do fit my RCBS dies. I just threw it out there.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

While I don't know about Wilson dies, the Forster pins do fit my RCBS dies. I just threw it out there.

this is what a wilson punch looks like:
https://lewilson.com/stainless-replacement-neck-die-punch/

 

[ratbuster]

If you do the above, you need to go further and harden the steel again because the friction from the file has softened. All you need to do is get the pin red hot and immediately quench it in water. That will make last for years, if you don't it will break before you can decap 50 cases. Ask me how I know that?

I've sanded several Lee pins, some to as small as .045 dia. and none have ever broken despite depriming many thousands of cases.

 

[SteveOak]

Why not take a .063 drill and open up the hole a little? Probably wouldn't take but 15 minutes time and everything will still go boom.

The "small flash hole" was proven to improve accuracy. Of course that was going from 0.080" for a large flash hole to 1.5mm = 0.059" for a small flash hole in a Lapua case.

Granted, opening up the hole to from 0.059" to 0.062" is not a major change and I don't claim to know how much change is required to affect accuracy. It was just not a change I was looking to make.

I unintentionally swaged, at least partially, 130 out of 250 cases before I realized that the pin was wrong. In order to have all the cases the same I got a 21st Century 0.062" flash hole reaming tool and will open them all up. It will take a bit longer than 15 minutes to process 250 cases.

 

[rockable]

I've sanded several Lee pins, some to as small as .045 dia. and none have ever broken despite depriming many thousands of cases.

Me, either.