[quote author=Rumbler link=topic=145.msg1077#msg1077 date=1336267931]
I'm hoping someone with some first hand experience can chime in on this and give me the low down . . .

5.56. The huge vast majority of that - thank goodness - is LC brass. No tiny flash holes to deal with, and none of those evil berdan cases. [/quote]

I don't have... never have had... probably never will have... a 5.56mm firearm and I don't hand load the caliber... but I do have "a few" deprimed cases. LC brass should never be a problem. I seem to recall that PMC is more challenging. But the real "evil-doer"/prime offender is Privi Partisan ("nny&quot, which has the softest primers in the known universe. They will stretch to more than twice their normal length and come out only at the very tippy-end of the stroke of the press handle (and sometimes only at the end of a second or third stroke), if you haven't broken the tip of the decapping pin before that point.

[quote author=Rumbler link=topic=145.msg1077#msg1077 date=1336267931]
Does anyone else around here break a lot of decapping pins pushing primers out?[/quote]

Given that I don't load the caliber I'm quite sure that I break far more decapping pins on 5.56mm than any other "caliber"... so... why do I decap it and especially why do I decap the Privi Partisan cases"? Damn if I know? Lack of good sense, I guess.

[quote author=Rumbler link=topic=145.msg1077#msg1077 date=1336267931]
Really, I've checked case alignment, flash hole size . . and for two little holes in the bottom of the case. I can go through two pins on a hundred cases. In fairness to the dies (Lee three die set) I do have the little ferule on the stem of the decapping pin so tight it will either push the primer out or break the tip off the pin.

Yes, I consider that a tip about what is going on. Some of those primers are either glued in or crimped like a . . . I dunno, something really tight! [/quote]

Primers vary from very loose to extremely tight in pockets but it's the military primer pocket crimp and/or lacquer that other than Privi Partisan's soft primers, that seem to be the prime offenders as to making removal difficult.

[quote author=Rumbler link=topic=145.msg1077#msg1077 date=1336267931]
7.62. I dunno. So far I've only broken one decapping pin. But at that point I had done a couple of hundred cases, so I'm not going to complain. But I can tell you that compared to commercial .308 - any commercial .308 - brass those military cases take a whole lot more 'umph' to process.[/quote]

Write back after you've broken a few dozen. By then, you may be an "expert" (x-unknown quantity spurt=drip under pressure) like me. :

[quote author=Rumbler link=topic=145.msg1077#msg1077 date=1336267931]
So . . . I know about the crimp removal after the primer is gone. I need to know if any of you folks have any tips for pushing that dagum primer out that's been crimped in there without the press eating decapping pins like candy. :-*
[/quote]


General comments and reccomendations: First... if you decap you SHALL break pins. That is a LAW. Buy a supply of spare pins, and IMHO decapping is a much smoother process if you do it alone as a "standalone" operation... using a Lee universal decapper. Just remember... you still have to resize, so that becomes its own separate "standalone" process as well. One reason for doing this is that universal decappers are cheap (I suggest you actually buy TWO)... and so are the straight pins they use. Combo decapper/resizers' pins vary. They have differeing lengths and some are straight... some have expanders built in... and... it's much easier and less expensive to stock one "universal" pin than many specific ones... plus sometimes the others, being low order-quantity items... are out of stock for long periods. Second... it might help to screw the decapping die into the press so that it rides higher and the decapping pin hits the primer at a lower and better controllable point in the stroke... or at least, this seems to work better for me. Also, using a universal deprimer die allows you to better feel when the pin contacts the primer... so that you have a better chance to feel if you hit a rock-solid Berdan primed case. I also try to stand the cases upright and visually inspect EVERY case with a flashlight to eliminate Berdan primed cases. But... I'll tell you for an absolute fact... you will miss a few even with that "visual inspection" step. But it also helps detect dirt clumps, spider webs... and even spiders, in range pick-up brass. Your caliber of choice has a tendency towards severely dinged case mouths. Really bad ones go in the scrap metal bucket... but it helps to stick the shaft of a broken decapping pin in and gently straighten bent case mouths before running them through the resizer.

One final note... If you think a Lee decapper is inexpensive so you should buy a "better" one. I don't know about other brands, but a RCBS universal decapper is inferior to a Lee universal decapper in many ways; but I can't think of a single way it's better!