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Hand deprimers?

PatMiles

PatMiles

Silver $$ Contributor
I'm toying with the purchase of a hand deprimer and know very little about them. I use Lapua small primer brass so the flash holes are the .061" variety.
Are they a PIA to use, do you have to fiddle fart helping the decapping pin find the flash hole?
Your thoughts?
 
PatMiles said:
I'm toying with the purchase of a hand deprimer and know very little about them. I use Lapua small primer brass so the flash holes are the .061" variety.
Are they a PIA to use, do you have to fiddle fart helping the decapping pin find the flash hole?
Your thoughts?
Click to expand...
I had a Harvey and had exactly that problem (fiddling around to find the flash hole). Others swore by them, however. I gave mine away.
 
I used an old Lyman 310 nut cracker tong tool recapping 308 brass between relays. The pin can be reduced in diameter to use with small flash holes.
 
Not wanting primer residue anywhere near my presses, I use a Wilson decapping punch & appropriate case base for this operation:

https://lewilson.com/punch-and-base-sets/

Only other tool needed is a light hammer; my preference is for a ball pein that’d otherwise languish unused in my toolbox.

With practice I can process 100 308 cases in 20 minutes, maybe a bit less.

Punches are available in different diameters too so the small hole PPC/Palma brass from Lapua isn’t an issue. Get the smallest they offer.

Finding flash holes takes a bit of practice though. I look on it as a kind of Zen thing, clears my mind of the day’s frustrations.
 
My brother wanted to decap before cleaning and then size. We eyeballed some universal decapping dies but they didn't look large enough for .338LM so he picked up a Frankfort Arsenal hand deprimer. We were pleasantly surprised when taking it out of the packaging that it was made of mostly metal, not plastic. Then we tried it out.

Slicker than snot!

I went back the next day and grabbed the last one of the shelf for myself.
 
Howland said:
My brother wanted to decap before cleaning and then size. We eyeballed some universal decapping dies but they didn't look large enough for .338LM so he picked up a Frankfort Arsenal hand deprimer. We were pleasantly surprised when taking it out of the packaging that it was made of mostly metal, not plastic. Then we tried it out.

Slicker than snot!

I went back the next day and grabbed the last one of the shelf for myself.
Click to expand...

Mighty armory sells one on ebay. Its very nice!!
 
Harrells bushing die with decap pin in an rcbs. screw the pin down long. go as fast as I can stick em in there.
Take it out to bump shoulders and size necks.
 
I made a simple decapper from some round Al stock turned to fit inside the neck of a fired case. Just a little undersized to allow for necks that are out of round as is often the case with rounds fired from semi-autos. The decapping pin is an RCBS replacement pin. Drill a centered hole to insert the pin into the rod using the lathe, leaving a length adequate to put out the spent primer. I then use the decapping pin in a benchtop arbor press. There is really no problem to wiggle the rod and find the flash hole.

I decap LC and WCC once-fired brass and find that the primers in some are evidently sealed with loktite in my 50BMG cases. For these cases you will find that the decapping pin pushes completely through the spent primer and fails to decap, thereby ruining the brass. To avoid this situation, I first clean the once-fired brass using ultrasonic vinegar/salt combination for 50 min. @ 30 C temperature. This allows the spent primer to be pop out without affecting the case. The decapping pin in the sizing die works fine for a reloaded, fired case; not so well however for a fired crimped military case.

After decapping I anneal and then full length size the case before reaming the flash hole interior, cleaning the primer pocket with steel wool, and of course beveling the crimp. It turns out that a #2 pencil eraser end fits and turns some steel wool into the primer pocket just fine. The cases can then be trimmed to correct 3.9" length in the usual way and are ready to load.

Preparing brass is a time consuming job, but is actually rather worthwhile work, as the result is high-quality brass at much more reasonable price, under a dollar. If only there was a source for match quality bullets less than a couple of bucks each.
 
spclark said:
Not wanting primer residue anywhere near my presses, I use a Wilson decapping punch & appropriate case base for this operation:

https://lewilson.com/punch-and-base-sets/

Only other tool needed is a light hammer; my preference is for a ball pein that’d otherwise languish unused in my toolbox.

With practice I can process 100 308 cases in 20 minutes, maybe a bit less.

Punches are available in different diameters too so the small hole PPC/Palma brass from Lapua isn’t an issue. Get the smallest they offer.

Finding flash holes takes a bit of practice though. I look on it as a kind of Zen thing, clears my mind of the day’s frustrations.
Click to expand...
This is spot on. I'm like the Dos Equis guy, I don't always deprime separately, but when I do, I use the Wilson tool.
 
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