Removing decapping pin

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One of my shooting buddies loaded up some 38 specials and only after about 100 finished realized he was not using the correct amount of powder. Since he has arthritis pretty bad in his right hand I told him I would pull all the bullets and reload them for him. Only problem is that there are good primers in there and I would hate to have to decap them while resizing the cases. So I thought that maybe I could remove the decapping pin from the sizing die and would save him about a 100 primers. Is that doable or does that decapping pin have to be in the die to work properly? BTW it is a Lee die.

 

[guidom]

heat it and it should pop right out.

 

[tenring]

With most sizer dies, you can adjust the decap rod and pin high enough that the primer will not be moved.

 

[jonbearman]

Since it is a straight walled case doesn't have an expander you can remove the pin with no worries. Then the expanding is done with the next die so you can seat the bullets.So you are good.

 

[Thumb]

Thanks everyone, I figured it was OK but wanted to make sure.

 

[artbosco]

One of my shooting buddies loaded up some 38 specials and only after about 100 finished realized he was not using the correct amount of powder. Since he has arthritis pretty bad in his right hand I told him I would pull all the bullets and reload them for him. Only problem is that there are good primers in there and I would hate to have to decap them while resizing the cases. So I thought that maybe I could remove the decapping pin from the sizing die and would save him about a 100 primers. Is that doable or does that decapping pin have to be in the die to work properly? BTW it is a Lee die.

Remove the decapping pin, resize, replace it when done. Adjust the protrusion.

 

[amlevin]

Just remove the entire assembly for straight walled cases.

For rifle or bottle-necked cases where the decapping rod is also the expander on Lee a lee die, just buy another "rod". They're real inexpensive. Grind off the de-capping pin and keep it in the tool box for when you want to resize without removing primers. Lee de-capping pins aren't all that easy to remove without leaving some serious marks on the "expander".

 

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I'll keep that in mind amlevin, an extra rod without a pin would be an easy one to do.