Lee Decapping die

Mine came with I think 2 extra pins. I use it on every case I reload, knock the primers out and into the tumbler they go. Ive done quite a few military 5.56 cases with crimped primers and as of yet, I'm still on the original pin.
 
I use my lee decapper for military 5.56 and if I don't crank the collet down tight, I will never get anywhere. As a consequence, I keep a few spare pins around. The are tough but they have their limits.
 
the should be adjusted to push out the primer and not contact the webbing of the cartridge. I see them bent by new reloaders and adjusted too far down. berdan primers are another good reason for breakage.
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You are missing the whole point about how the Lee decapper works! They cannot be broken by misadjusting or hitting the base of a berdan primed case - the pin just SLIDES UP in the collet! Hell, even the Lee die instructions prominately state in bold italics that it is a "Guaranteed unbreakable decapper".

Theoretically, the ONLY way someone could break one of these pins is if they somehow messed up the collet by using some type of glue in it, welded it to the pin, or got out a HUGE wrench to magilla the damned thing beyond all reason. And THAT's why I asked the question - what the heck are they doing to break an unbreakable decapper???? The obvious (and only reasonable) answer is that the collets are being over tightened. But in my experience, that really is surprising. It does take considerable force to properly secure the pin so that it will push out a crimped primer, so going beyond that is not something one can do "accidentally".
 
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Not all primers get knocked out with the same force. Just as Economist pointed out with military crimped primers. If you don't crank it down you are resetting the pin all the time. The pins are super cheap and easy to change. The hardened pins I posted are much much better than stock.
 
If you don't crank it down you are resetting the pin all the time.
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That pretty much sums it up for me. I'm not going to spend even one evening finding the perfect torque setting for my decapping pin collet, I've got much better things to concern myself with. For all I know the collet isn't 100% true. I can surely justify spending a few bucks on pins once a year, if that, and carry on with life.:)
 
Gadawg - it was not a problem with the decapping rod slipping out of the collet, it was a problem with the pin coming out of the decapping rod.

They may have changed since then, the only Lee die I own is for 7.62X25, and I have had it more than 15 years.

It been so long since I broke a decapper that I don't remember when that was.
Do keep a good supply of spares on hand just in case, but never seem to use them.
 
the Lee Universal decapper pin is one piece.
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That's what I thought too. But, it is not. After 8ball67's post I went and looked at my spare pin hanging on the peg board under high magnification. It was clearly two pieces. The pin is inserted into the bottom of the rod. I assume it is just a very tight press fit, but not sure. Still, I have never had one, bend, break or slip out, but obviously it can and does happen.
 
Take a picture of the broken part. Go to the Lee website and email them the picture, and tell what happened, and what part it is. They will mail you the replacement for free. If you set it up with them you can pay for a couple of extras to ship with the waranty part.
 
Gadawg88, yeah I looked closer at a stock pin and can see where it could be pressed in. I have never had one fall out but I have bent and broke a number of them. I am running a autodrive 1050 at 1,800 per hour though. Sometimes I miss some dented necks and some flash holes are out of whack.
 
Thanks Xfire68, I went ahead and ordered some hardened pins from your eBay link. $10 for 3, that ought to be a lifetime supply - or until we switch from gunpowder and lead to laser beams.
 
Interesting, in 53 years of handloading using Lyman, Lachmeyer, RCBS, Redding and Lee dies, including Lyman's venerable 310 Tong Tool, I'd estimate I've broken less than a half dozen pins, probably half of them that skinny one for the Tong Tool, and that includes thousands of military .308, .30-06, and .223.

Rod
 
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