Thread: Die problem

Usually the decapping rod will ride up, to strip the thread it must have be really tightened, also suspect you have broken the decapping pin.
There is a lot of South African mil fmj ammo that is hot, meant for machine guns, a mate had heaps of it, don’t shoot well , anyway it is Berdan primed. Came across 556 mil ammo recently the primers were full circle heavily crimped, some came out, a lot I binned.

Ive done that with a 6.5x55 die that was set incorrectly, nice ring around the base of the neck, the decapping pin ride up though, as they should.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

Ive done that with a 6.5x55 die that was set incorrectly, nice ring around the base of the neck, the decapping pin ride up though, as they should.

So, possibly the basic problem here is just that the die is screwed too far into the press ... ??

Good effort on stripping the thread! Most of the lee stuff is built to be idiot proof. Obviously a faulty unit, contact Lee for a replacement.
I once split an RCBS trim die when resizing mil surp .308, i sent them a photo and they sent me a new one. Not bad for a second hand die i bought off here that was maybe 20 years old.

Originally Posted by johnd

Good effort on stripping the thread! Most of the lee stuff is built to be idiot proof. Obviously a faulty unit, contact Lee for a replacement.
I once split an RCBS trim die when resizing mil surp .308, i sent them a photo and they sent me a new one. Not bad for a second hand die i bought off here that was maybe 20 years old.

I have seen one where the whole top of the collet nut was broken off by over zealous tightening leaving the threaded section stuck in the die. The decapping rod never moved again.
GPM.

I got them second hand, no idea how old they are and have sourced a replacement die the one that I need. Hoping that the main body can be retapped will know later. When double checking I found out of 80 cases 5 were 7.62 and had smaller flash holes than the 308 ones. Certainly not something I expected to find. None of those 5 were able to fit the decapping pin.

Will be very carefull when I get around to actually loading these. I don't use Hot loads anyway.

Do you trim your necks if they get too long?

well youve found your issue then...drill them out if want to use them..the last lot of .44magnum I did,PMC brass had half dozen primer flash holes off centre...had me stumped as the primers wouldnt come out and die jammed.... took a red neck solution to fix it.

If the cases are military and have been fired in something other than a bolt action rifle, perhaps a machine gun, wouldn't they come out extra long/over sized?

Is the solution to measure the case length, then trim to the correct trim (or maximum) length, then put the case through the (new) full length resizing die?

I know that is arse about face, but if the cases are massively over length, the top of the die will donut them every time.

I had a little adventure with some second hand Hornet brass a while ago which was hugely long, like 2.125 (or 2.225 I can't remember exactly), for a case with a trim length of 1.393 and max of 2.014. This is all from memory, I'm in the whare at the moment with no reference material. Sure the Hornet is a milk bottle shape with no real shoulder, so it's prone to stretching, but I couldn't work out how they could grow that much inside th chamber???

Yep the 5 7.62 are Berdan, brass was actually a though smaller to the neck than ones fired in my rifle. Been to see another member this evening and have a much better grasp. Thanks for everyone's input you never stop learning

Originally Posted by Happy Jack

Yep the 5 7.62 are Berdan, brass was actually a though smaller to the neck than ones fired in my rifle. Been to see another member this evening and have a much better grasp. Thanks for everyone's input you never stop learning

Nearly been caught myself with Berdan primed brass. If you suspect any like that in future shine torch down the case neck first to check the flash hole / s in the bottom of the case. Two holes is Berdan, as you probably learnt today.

Sorry about that, I didn't know they were Berdan primed

Originally Posted by 308

Sorry about that, I didn't know they were Berdan primed

No worries mate, I think we all learnt something from the exercise, and it was only 5 so all good.

Originally Posted by Happy Jack

Yep the 5 7.62 are Berdan, brass was actually a though smaller to the neck than ones fired in my rifle. Been to see another member this evening and have a much better grasp. Thanks for everyone's input you never stop learning

Greetings,
Older handloaders tend to forget that there was a time when most military cases encountered in NZ were Berdan primed. With .303 the difference was obvious with a larger primer dia. With 7.62 and 5.56 cases it was not so obvious and we would automatically peek inside the case to check if it was Berdan primed. These can often be reloaded but you need the correct primers. I have a batch of Berdan cases I deprimed hydraulically and some Berdan primers but have never got around to loading any.
In one of those quirks of history Boxer primers were developed by the English and Berdan primers in the US. The existence of Berdan primers and the need to clean rifle bores with boiling water after firing old military ammo seem to be two things that each generation needs to learn often the hard way.
Regards Grandpamac,

I had the task of making some 7.62 berdan primed ammo inert so that the owner could display it in linked belt. I pulled it all, reconfigured the charge added a 155 match bullet and shot it.
Then I ran the now "inert" cases through a lee collet die (it had no pin on the tip) and put the old military projectiles back in. The ES and SD were brilliant as was the accuracy due in large part to the consistant ignition of the twin hole brass.
It was a sad day when I ran out.