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Lee Decapping Pin


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Ran into something new today. Working the press and on one round the decapping pin slid up in my decapping/sizing die. Lee dies are designed to do this if they hit an obstruction, like a case-within-a-case situation, instead of bending over or snapping off. Checked the case ... all clear, primer only pushed part way out.

 

Reset the pin, snugged down the collet ... happens again. Dang it. Removed the die from the turret, took out the collet, gave everything a good cleaning, reassembled and reinstalled, checked the depth with an unprimed case, torqued the collet down good and tight ... and it happened again. Phooey!

 

Any pards ever run into this? What's a good fix?

 

Thanx in advance.

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Ran into something new today. Working the press and on one round the decapping pin slid up in my decapping/sizing die. Lee dies are designed to do this if they hit an obstruction, like a case-within-a-case situation, instead of bending over or snapping off. Checked the case ... all clear, primer only pushed part way out.

 

Reset the pin, snugged down the collet ... happens again. Dang it. Removed the die from the turret, took out the collet, gave everything a good cleaning, reassembled and reinstalled, checked the depth with an unprimed case, torqued the collet down good and tight ... and it happened again. Phooey!

 

Any pards ever run into this? What's a good fix?

 

Thanx in advance.

add to the collet a small dab of fine lapping compound, then re-fit and test...it will cause more friction to the shaft and collet.. workx for me...

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Ran into something new today. Working the press and on one round the decapping pin slid up in my decapping/sizing die. Lee dies are designed to do this if they hit an obstruction, like a case-within-a-case situation, instead of bending over or snapping off. Checked the case ... all clear, primer only pushed part way out.

 

Reset the pin, snugged down the collet ... happens again. Dang it. Removed the die from the turret, took out the collet, gave everything a good cleaning, reassembled and reinstalled, checked the depth with an unprimed case, torqued the collet down good and tight ... and it happened again. Phooey!

 

Any pards ever run into this? What's a good fix?

 

Thanx in advance.

Chalk and a stronger bit of wrenching

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Howdy Pulp - no old milsurp brass. Just the same ol' Starline 357 I've been shooting.

 

I will try the other hints about lapping compound and/or chalk. Thanx Pards. Just one of those situations where you wouldn't think about something like that. We spend a lot of our time trying to reduce & eliminate friction and mentally shifting gears to increase it just isn't a part of the usual thought process.

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Lee's instructions say: Considerable torque may be necessary...

 

Check the primer holes. I have used Lee dies for more years than I can count and this is a great design. Works well. I just had a 45acp push up the decapper....make sure holes are lined up...

 

curley

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Had this problem several times, one thing that I havent seen addressed that I once found was a small quantity of media had gotten lodged in the cartrage. It would let the pin pass partially through and then stop the travel when the larger diameter of the pin contacted it. Check it out.

Good luck

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Get a 200 grit emery cloth or sand paper and score the decapper shaft. Score around the shaft, not along the shaft. Just roughen it across, do not polish. This will give a rough surface for the collet to grab onto, then tighten it good.

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if all else fails send die back to lee they will usually send you new die no questions asked

 

 

gabby

 

Don’t bet on it. I broke a decaping pin last week, called Lee and for a mere $7 they sent me a new one. From now on I’ll stick with Dillon with their no questions asked warranty. For $7 Lee lost a customer

 

HTH

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Lee will probably fix it 4 U if you send it to them. Lee has always been great with me. Their priming/resizing dies are strong and hold up forever in my experience adn their specific deprimers are REALL Ystrong. Hmmm- send it to Lee if you are having this much trouble trying to fix it so they can make it right

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I've been a supporter of Lee for a bunch of years, but here goes. Several weeks ago using a 3 week old set of Lee 45-70 Dies I broke the decapping rod. Certainly not a GI crimped primer. I called Lee and for $12.00 they sent me 4 replacements. I am using the dies in a Bonanza Co-Ax press, never ever in over 15 years broke a depriming pin. The dies were all RCBS, go figure.............

LB

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Don’t bet on it. I broke a decaping pin last week, called Lee and for a mere $7 they sent me a new one. From now on I’ll stick with Dillon with their no questions asked warranty. For $7 Lee lost a customer

 

HTH

 

 

I know this is going to start a "discussion", but needs to be said. I have been using Lee products (Lee hand loader, Lee "pound em in" loaders, Lee dies,priming tools,Lee presses, and even a Lee Load All. I could total up the cost of all my Lee products (current and past)and they wouldn't total the cost of even the cheapest dillon...AND I have NEVER broken anything....but even so if I did have to replace an item at $7 I think I have gotten my moneys worth. I have been reloading since 1970, and the Lee products have served me well.

 

When I got the LeeLoadAll shotshell loader, I got it cuz it waz cheap and I wasn't sure I wanted to load shotshells. I figured if I liked it I would get a better loader, well, hell, 5 years later I am still loading just fine shotshells and it is still going strong. So see no need to spend a couple of C notes for something that is still working.

 

that is just my opinion, so, good loading and good shooting

 

curley

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I agree with Curley - Lee products are all I use, they work great, and this is the first "failure" I've had. But back to the matter at hand ...

 

Following the good advice here, I gave everything another real good cleaning, scuffed the daylights out of the pin shank with some 120 grit paper, and added a pinch of chalk dust. While I had it apart, I also used the Dremel emery wheel to widen the compression slots in the collet so it could grip down a bit snugger.

 

Got the die back in the turret, got it and the pin depth adjusted, and torqued the collet down so tight the famous Uberti Screw Gorilla would be proud.

 

I'm back in business. Thanx to all for your help.

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If I had paid $62.95 for a set of Lee dies, they would probably send me a free decapping pin when I need it. Since I only paid 27.99 for Lee dies I don't mind paying $1.99 for a new pin if I ever need one.

 

Blackfoot

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If I had paid $62.95 for a set of Lee dies, they would probably send me a free decapping pin when I need it. Since I only paid 27.99 for Lee dies I don't mind paying $1.99 for a new pin if I ever need one.

 

Blackfoot

 

It wasn’t the $2.00 cost I was objecting to, I would have paid my dealer that in a minute. It was the $5.00 Shipping and handling fee I didn’t like. They made a fair profit on the pin, and then double dipped on the “handling and insurance”.

If I would have lied and said the dies were less than 2 years old the pin would have been covered under the two year warranty.

I have 13 sets of Lee dies because I always thought they were the best but now I am very disappointed in their customer service

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I kept having this problem with a Lee .45 ACP Carbide sizing/decapping die on a Dillon 450 press years ago, around 1982/3. I almost welded it in.

But I finally cut the decapping pin/shaft off and then tapped the collet to ¼” x 20 tpi and put a ¼” set screw in it and locked it down with a ¼” jam nut. Haven’t broken a pin yet.

It’s worked ever since; still use it when I load .45 ACP.

 

Ringo

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It wasn’t the $2.00 cost I was objecting to, I would have paid my dealer that in a minute. It was the $5.00 Shipping and handling fee I didn’t like. They made a fair profit on the pin, and then double dipped on the “handling and insurance”.

 

I've puzzled over the shipping charges vendors charge too. Amazes me how I can order something from Brownells and the fee is a flat $9, and if I ordered the same merchandise from Midway it can be double that or more. It doesn't cost any more to pick a $10 item off the shelf than it does a $100 item.

 

And then some vendors ship for free. Wages for the warehousers & drivers and fuel costs are the same for all of them, so what gives?

 

But as to Lee, don't let this one experience sour you on them. With 13 sets of dies, you're obviously pretty happy with their products. I am too. Sometimes mechanical things just break. As a preacher friend of mine once said: "If it's been touched by the hand of man, someday it's gonna bust".

 

They were probably getting ripped off by the Post Office anyway.

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I've puzzled over the shipping charges vendors charge too. Amazes me how I can order something from Brownells and the fee is a flat $9, and if I ordered the same merchandise from Midway it can be double that or more. It doesn't cost any more to pick a $10 item off the shelf than it does a $100 item.

 

And then some vendors ship for free. Wages for the warehousers & drivers and fuel costs are the same for all of them, so what gives?

 

But as to Lee, don't let this one experience sour you on them. With 13 sets of dies, you're obviously pretty happy with their products. I am too. Sometimes mechanical things just break. As a preacher friend of mine once said: "If it's been touched by the hand of man, someday it's gonna bust".

 

They were probably getting ripped off by the Post Office anyway.

 

You are usually not charged the actual shipping cost, since this is hard to calculate during the ordering process. Companies have different ways to estimate the shipping cost that they charge the customer. The easiest is just charging a flat rate. Your actual shipping cost might be more or less than what you are being charged depending on your order. A more accurate way is for each item to have a shipping cost associated with it and they just get added up (possibly with a discount for multipack).

 

It probably doesn't cost Midway any more to ship than Brownells, it is just the system that they use to estimate shipping charges are different.

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I had a different experience with Lee. I called about a broken pin and was told to return my old pin in an envelope and it would be replaced. I asked about spares and was told I had to buy them but they could all be shipped back to me in a first class envelope. It worked. I got my broken pin replaced and bought 3 or so replacements in case this happened again. I also started sorting my .223 cases by Mfg and the odd ones got a visual inspection as to Berdan primers and I haven't broken a pin since. Just saying I had a good experience with Lee and wouldn't consider doing without their products.

Rolling Stone

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