Universal Decappers

How many use one?

I use my Lee decapper all the time. It is not a must, but it does come in handy.

I use the Lee sizing/decapping die in the die sets - unless I break the decapping pin. Then I use a small punch to push them out with

My decapper is the only piece of Lee equipment I still use. Lee Decapper on a Hornady LNL with case feeder gets em ready in no time.

eagle60 wrote:I use the Lee sizing/decapping die in the die sets - unless I break the decapping pin. Then I use a small punch to push them out with

But I thought the Lee decapper was supposed to NEVER break. The spindle just slides up instead. No?

LOL, yeah The only time I've had one break is when some intellegent individual crammed a BC powder wrapper down inside a 30-06 case that I picked up somewhere. I made the mistake of not checking each case for such items and I guess it moved it sideways just enough to break it. I guess it wasn't Lees fault for my oversight I would imagine that the collet was a little too tight also (don't know how that happened ) ---

They break...I have broken 3 of those "non-breakable" decapping pins. One of these days I'll learn not to mess with Berdan primed cases,LOL

EdgarEg wrote:

eagle60 wrote:I use the Lee sizing/decapping die in the die sets - unless I break the decapping pin. Then I use a small punch to push them out with

But I thought the Lee decapper was supposed to NEVER break. The spindle just slides up instead. No?

I broke one but lee replaced it.

I too have broken Lee decapping pins. But because mine are modified with a hole through the pin and the collet with a 3/32 roll pin shoved through.

It helps with decapping mil surp 5.56 and 7.62, but I snap one every now and then because of the cussed Berdan primed hulls. My wife has come to know the sound of the shattering pin by ear. I keep about 5 or so spares on hand.

I used to have a Dillon 550. Three of the tool heads I had set up for resizing mil surp 5.56 NATO, 7.62x51 NATO and 7.62x63.

Using a Lee universal decapping in position #1, and a Dillon powered carbide trimmer in position #2 I could crank through a 55 gal drum of mil surp brass in no time.

This guy has a very similar set up except on a Dillon 650:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dUI9Zx96oA&feature=colike

Expensive as all hell, and the wife hated the noise of the shop vac and the trimmer running. She hated that noise about as much as she hates the brass tumbler under the kitchen counter!

Since I had to sell most of my reloading stuff when I got laid off, I am back to single stage city, and my Lee uni decapper does not get used much now.

About the only time it gets used now is when I am forming wildcats from fired 30-30. I have custom made Lee case length gages from the Lee Custom Shop for my 30 Herrett, 357 Herrett, and 7mm International Rimmed all made from 30-30.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Lee case length gages they work through the primer pocket so you need to decap the case before they will work.

I broke one trying to decap a piece of .308 brass that turned out to have a .22LR case inside it.