Universal de cappers

[ulen mn]

In trying to controll my run out I checked my fired cases before decapping with the RCBS universal de capper and found that it causes conciderable runout... What are you guys using for decapping before you run your cases in the tumblers?? Or do ya'll just tumble with spent primers and eject them when you neck or full size your cases.

[LeeC]

Tumble first the run through the neck/full length sizer. Saves scarfing up the dies, and picking media out of the primer pocket.

[WrzWaldo]

I use a Lee de-capper. the only thing the die should touch is the primer.

[Lee C.]

ulen mn, can you tell us how your useing that universal decapping die? I've got the same one and and it works pretty good for me. But one thing I did do was take the decapping stem out of it. And put it in a drill and used a file to make it smaller to work in my 204 case's. Befor i did that it wouldn't work in the 204 case's the stem was to big for the case. Hope this will help you out some.

[ulen mn]

Lee C. I have been using the decapping die in my rock chucker press but after reading that you did a little revamping to your stem I called RCBS and found out one peice of information that I was not aware of it is not for the .204. The friction that I have been feeling is acually the case neck being streched as the stem enters the case thus causing my runout, uneven case mouths and enlarged case necks. I had a lenthy conversation with RCBS about their choice in naming it a universal decapping die and told them that they should reconcider something like .22 cal. and up decapping die, she agreed and said that in their next meeting that she would bring up the idea of making their products more .20 cal. freindly. Thanks for pointing this rework on the stem out to me it accually took care of three problems I have had in the past in one swipe.

[skipper]

I made this die from an RCBS Full Length Bushing Neck Sizing die. I cut it off with a friction cutting disk and a Dremmel drill. Then I filed it down so that the only thing left is the shoulder up portion. I can screw my decapping stem into this die and decap without the die ever touching the case. I can also decap and neck size at the same time but I prefer to make them two separate operations because of the expander ball. If I decap without sizing the necks, the expander ball never touches the case neck due to the fact that the neck is expanded from firing. After decapping, I tumble for about four hours in RCBS walnut media. Now when I'm ready to size the necks, I simply take the whole decapping stem out of the die. The bushing sizes the neck down to the right diameter and there isn't any effect from the expander ball. If you look closely in the second picture, you can see the bushing.

This is one of the ways I keep the runout to a minimum.

[scootertrash]

Skipper,

While I admire your handiwork, I'm a bit confused. Why not just use the decapping pin without the expander ball? My Redding dies came with the option of whether to use the expander or not. Maybe this wasn't an option in your case?

Mike

[Silverfox]

ulen mn--I use a universal decapping die from CH Tool & Die. Here's a link to their Web site: http://www.ch4d.com/ To access the universal decapping dies, just look down the list of Products in the left margin of the Web page and click on the + (plus sign) in front of the Reloading Dies folder. Then, waaaay down at the bottom of the list that pops open, you'll see the Universal Decapping Die listed. Click on that and you'll get to the listing of their available dies. If you don't know exactly which one you should order, just click on the Contact Us link up on the top left side of the page and tell them what caliber/calibers you are interested in. The universal decapping die I got from them works just great for my .17 Remington AND my .204 Ruger casings.

I have NEVER had my CH universal decapping die affect my runout one iota.

[WHISTLEPIG]

Skipper, If you are useing the Redding neck sizing die, you can install a .17 expander and it will not touch the neck. Recommended to me by the Redding tech staff. I used to use a dedicated press and a decapping die untill I solved the mess problem with a Forster press. Now back to the Redding die and neck size and decap in one opperation.