New Decapping Die

[CarbonSteel]

In my decades of reloading, I have tried every decapping die known to man--Dillon, Hornady, Lee, Lyman, RCBS, Redding, and Sinclair. They all have their strengths, but all of them have the same weakness. On a progressive press, the brass can tip just enough to enter the die mouth unevenly which causes the decapping pin to hit off center in the brass which may break it.

It certainly slows down the operation to adjust the brass and "hand guide" it into the die. It does not happen all the time, but it happens enough to be a nuisance. I have been decapping brass like a madman lately and running it through my new wet tumbler. I have brass that has both .060" and .080" flash holes. The .060" stuff is typically precision brass (.22PPC, 6MM BR, etc.), but I scarfed up a ton of Speer .357 SIG brass and they have the .060" flash holes. One has to be a little more careful with those because the decapping pins are thinner and more fragile.

I saw a new decapping system online in one of the forums and thought, what the heck--I will give it a try. It has a "follower" that auto guides the brass into the mouth of the die to prevent the aforementioned malady from occurring. It came in today and I plan to use it in the next few days and will report back on how it works.


A little .357 SIG bling:

The FW Arms (https://fwarms.com/shop/reloading/f-w-arms-auto-center-decapper/) decapper:

 

[bdcardinal]

That's pretty sweet. I want to get into reloading, but don't currently have the space.

 

[CT8]

2015, what are you using to clean/polish the brass?

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted by CT8
2015, what are you using to clean/polish the brass?


I built a wet tumbler a while back:

https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/foru...83809/home-built-wet-tumbler#Post5183809

I use 12.5# of stainless steel pins, 1/2 ounce of Lemishine, and 3 ounces of ArmorAll Ultimate Wash & Wax in hot water. I dry them in a food dehydrator.

 

[Ursatdx]

Nice brass.
I use a Frankford Arsenal vibratory tumbler and don't get those results.
The auto center decapping pin is is a great idea.
Might be fragile if you hit a berdan primer.

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted by Ursatdx
Nice brass.
I use a Frankford Arsenal vibratory tumbler and don't get those results.
The auto center decapping pin is is a great idea.
Might be fragile if you hit a berdan primer.
I have two Dillon CV-2001 tumblers--the big ones (15.5" bowls) and they never could get the brass this clean even after 12 hours of running. The primer pockets were never spotless and most times the media would stick in the flash holes.

The decapper is designed to punch through Berdan cases if encountered without breaking the pin. I will test it soon to how it works on my XL650.

 

[billt460]

That looks like a nice die. I've got around 6,000 or so cases run through my Lee decapping die. So far so good. But I've gotten into the habit of taking it easy as I get to the top of the upstroke, so I won't smash anything if there is any misalignment.

I always full length resize first. Then tumble and polish before running it through the Dillon. So my resize station wears a decapping die instead. So if any tumbling media gets stuck in the flash holes, the pin will push it out.

I'm still debating on purchasing a nice Stainless Steel pin wet tumbling set up. Right now I can't justify it because 9 MM and .45 ACP is so cheap, I don't bother reloading it. I'm just accumulating the brass in 5 gallon buckets. But if the price skyrockets, I'll spring for one of these. It's expensive, but a 8 gallon capacity drum is nice. It's built for polishing rocks, so a bunch of brass is child's play.

https://arrowheadlapidarysupply.com/products/model-65t-65-lb-heavy-duty-commercial-tumbler/4191/

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted by 2015_PSD
Originally Posted by CT8
2015, what are you using to clean/polish the brass?


I built a wet tumbler a while back:

https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/foru...83809/home-built-wet-tumbler#Post5183809

I use 12.5# of stainless steel pins, 1/2 ounce of Lemishine, and 3 ounces of ArmorAll Ultimate Wash & Wax in hot water. I dry them in a food dehydrator.

Great idea! Thanks for sharing it again.

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted by billt460
That looks like a nice die. I've got around 6,000 or so cases run through my Lee decapping die. So far so good. But I've gotten into the habit of taking it easy as I get to the top of the upstroke, so I won't smash anything if there is any misalignment.

I always full length resize first. Then tumble and polish before running it through the Dillon. So my resize station wears a decapping die instead. So if any tumbling media gets stuck in the flash holes, the pin will push it out.

I'm still debating on purchasing a nice Stainless Steel pin wet tumbling set up. Right now I can't justify it because 9 MM and .45 ACP is so cheap, I don't bother reloading it. I'm just accumulating the brass in 5 gallon buckets. But if the price skyrockets, I'll spring for one of these. It's expensive, but a 8 gallon capacity drum is nice. It's built for polishing rocks, so a bunch of brass is child's play.

https://arrowheadlapidarysupply.com/products/model-65t-65-lb-heavy-duty-commercial-tumbler/4191/
It is a nice one, but mine was about half that cost and 8 gallons is a LOT--you should build your own. My 2 gallon fills a small Dillon media separator completely full and I do not think the large Dillon media separator is 4x the size of the small.

 

[tc1446]

I've had three Dillon 550's and never had any decapping prob with either Lee, RCBS, or Dillons. Maybe because the 550 is slower and I've never loaded all that much although I've been at it for some years. Sorta comes and goes....ha.

Beautiful shine on that brass.

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted by tc1446
I've had three Dillon 550's and never had any decapping prob with either Lee, RCBS, or Dillons. Maybe because the 550 is slower and I've never loaded all that much although I've been at it for some years. Sorta comes and goes....ha.

Beautiful shine on that brass.
Yep, manually indexed presses (like the 550) rarely, if ever, have this issue. The XL650 is auto indexed with a case feeder and I decap between 50 and 55 cases per minute with it and so the speed is the culprit.

Thanks!

 

[billt460]

Originally Posted by 2015_PSD
It is a nice one, but mine was about half that cost and 8 gallons is a LOT--you should build your own. My 2 gallon fills a small Dillon media separator completely full and I do not think the large Dillon media separator is 4x the size of the small.

If I get into high volume wet tumbling with Stainless Steel media, I was thinking of one of those small portable cement mixers with the plastic, (polycarbonate) drums. They're cheaper than the rock tumbler model I linked to, (about half the price), but still have a large capacity.

I've got a long concrete RV parking pad alongside my house with power next to it that I'll never use. It would make a perfect spot for a nice sized storage shed. So I would have more than enough room to store it. There are several videos of guys using them for this purpose. And they seem to work well. It's just right now I don't see ammo prices rising enough to justify it. And for what I'm paying for fully prepped .223 / 5.56 MM, I'll just keep buying it and saving the brass, same as I do with 9 MM / .45 ACP. In the future, who knows?

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-4-cu-ft-0-5-HP-Cement-Mixer/3591096

 

[CarbonSteel]

This thing is amazing and I wish I would have had it years ago. I decapped about 4K pieces with .060" flash holes with not a single jam or issue. In fact, I had a couple with .22 rimfire cases inside and it punched right through--any other decapping die would have had a broken pin. I am not sure what it would take to break the pin, but it is tougher than anything I have ever used.

Very impressed!