Universal decapping die

[Killing Time]

Is fifty bucks for a good tool really going to hurt anybody? Sure a lot of people here that won’t shoot anything but yellow box bullets or better.

I say absolutely not. I have relied on tools of many fashions for my livelihood my entire adult life and not one time have I ever regretted spending extra money for a good quality tool.

 

[Mark W]

How much of a smaller one do they make or have? I thought that was the smallest one?

I don’t see a size listed. They just call it undersized, but it fits Lapua small flash hole brass. I ordered a couple of these after breaking the pin that I turned down with a cordless drill and file and used for 10 years. It only broke because I ran into a berdan primed case.

USIZE UNIVERSAL DECAP

Lee Undersized flash hole universal decapping pin for our Universal Decapping Die (#90292) or Undersize Flash Hole Universal Decapping Die (# 91976). Pin diameter .055"

leeprecision.com

 

[Oso]

How is this topic 3 pages?! This isn’t who wins between Godzilla vs. King Kong… more like Mustang vs Beetle

The standard universal decapping die made by several manufacturers works fine for basic use. The average hobbyist who is doing low volume, straight forward reloading doesn’t need a self-centering, spring-loaded decapping die. However, it will not hurt having one.

If doing higher volume, progressive presses or complicated depriming (sealed primers, crimped primers, etc) then a more robust designed decapping die is a necessity. I have a bit of everything and have upgraded my equipment as needed along the way. Without a doubt the $70 for a decapping die that can handle the worst of things and not break is money well spent.

Aside from the actual mechanical advantages, what is the value of an audible confirmation that primer is successfully removed from case and cleared from your press? In most cases a spring-loaded decapping die fires that spent primer off like a Red Rider shooting a BB. This audible becomes more significant if you are picking up range brass that might have mixed primers (crimped, lacquered, resin sealed) or when encounter a Berdan primer or other obstruction (pebble or other debris) inside the case.

Irony not lost that I wrote a book over morning cup of coffee…

 

[HighlandLofts]

Whatever you do, DO NOT get the LEE. I bought one a few weeks ago, decapped 100 rounds of 6 BRA and it already bent the pin. Which is whatever I guess. Get what you pay for in life. But the really crappy part is that when I emailed LEE, I could not believe their response. They told me it's very common for them to break and they'd sell me new pins, or the alternative would be to DRILL out my Lapua cases to accept a larger pin! I said wow, no warranty on something less than a month old that decapped 100 cases? NOPE. And you recomend I drill out my Lapua cases? Unbelievable. I'll NEVER buy anything LEE or recomend them to anyone for anything. How about you just make a better product and or stand behind it...

I do like a few Lee products, but very few.
I use the Lee universal recapping die, the Lee hand held priming tools, the Lee bench priming tool and Lee factory crimp dies.

Several years ago I use to have a lot of Lee products and had an issue with a die.
I called Lee and she said to mail it in. I did mail it and they sent me a catalog. Then n after a while they wanted $11.
I email them back and told them to throw that die in the garbage.
A few days later I recieves a gift certificate for $11.
Well that went in the garbage along with their catalog.
I gave the other two dies away.
I like their bench prime tools. I have four of them all set up,
One set up for small pistol
One set up for small rifle
One set up for large pistol
One set up for large rifle.
Same with the hand priming tools.
I picked up a few of the Lee Universal recapping dies pretty cheap and bought squirrel daddy pins.
They work OK for me, I use mostly range brass for 99% of my shooting.
380, 9mm, 38spl, 357mag, 40 cal, 45acp, 223, 308. Hardly and problems. Occasionally I will get a case with a small flash hole or with burden primer.
If it feels different I squeeze the neck and it goes into the scrap bucket.

If you go cowboy with the Lee bench prime tools you will screw up the plastic prime piece that attaches to the prime tool.
I let some one borrow the two small bench primer tools and they screwed both of them pieces up.
I called Lee a couple of weeks ago
and it cost me $16 for two new ones so I will not let anyone borrow them again.
I dont mind paying for my mistakes.


I use my Hornady Lock n Load press the most so if I deprime on the press I have my Lee recapping dies set up in the bushings.

But I use the Frankford hand held depriming tools, three of them all set up with the three different size little plastic case inserts.
So I grab which one I need and deprime.