How to ruin a saturday afternoon....

OUVarmintHunter

Private
Minuteman
Jan 26, 2009
58
0
Austin Texas
busteddie.JPG

Needless to say this will be headed back to Redding.
 
Re: How to ruin a saturday afternoon....

take a look at the offending case and see if the flash hole is drilled way off center. That is the only way a new case could have caused this.

BTW if this is the case it is not Redding's fault that the FH was drilled off center.

A bud just sent 1k WIN brass back to Sinclair because the FHs were so off. Sinclair accepted them and is taking it up with WIN.
 
Re: How to ruin a saturday afternoon....

I had that same thing happen to a Redding nk die. In my case, it was 100% operator headspace and timing. Sent an email to Redding explaining what happened and how and had a new decapping stem in 3 days...free of charge.

Here's to wishing you the same CS I had with Redding.
 
Re: How to ruin a saturday afternoon....

I had something similar happen once when a piece of .22 LR brass somehow lodged inside a piece of brass. Fortunately it just bent the decapping pin at a 90 degree angle! I had spares, so I just checked the rest of that brass, replaced the pin, and drove on.

I also see a lot of flash holes punched (only Lapua and a few others <span style="font-style: italic">drill</span> flash holes) off center, mostly in Winchester and LC brass. I have yet to see a discernible difference in group size, but I suppose they could effect it.
 
Re: How to ruin a saturday afternoon....

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: OUVarmintHunter</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
busteddie.JPG

Needless to say this will be headed back to Redding. </div></div>

Are you one of those gigantic Texans? That rod is big time bent!
 
Re: How to ruin a saturday afternoon....

Part of me says that's a hell of a bummer and best of luck on the company working to keep a customer.

The other part of me says that punching primers is like cleaning your ears -- when you feel resistance...it's probably a good time to stop.
 
Re: How to ruin a saturday afternoon....

Yeah, now looking at it, this was a new piece of brass. The hole is on center but it appears there is some extra globs of brass both on the inside of the case and in the primer pocket, obstructing about 50% of the hole.

You'd think you wouldn't have to look for that. Think I pony up and just buy the Norma next time.

Or I guess start drilling out my own holes. I would think that would effect my ES and SD though.
 
Re: How to ruin a saturday afternoon....

I have a RCBS 308 die that looks like that but I guiss I should not have used it as a stuck case remover!! I used another one out of a 7.62-39 die that I never use,until I get a replacement.
 
Re: How to ruin a saturday afternoon....

When you call Redding and order the replacement parts, at your expense of course, go ahead and get a spare stem and pins to have on hand in case something like this happens again. If you load other chamberings besides 308 you can ask them to see what dies you have use a common stem, that way you know you are covered for more than just your 308. Go ahead and order spares as needed for your other chamberings.

If you ever find yourself with a lot of 308 brass with crimped in primers, it is a good idea to get a Lee decapping die with the solid stem. The Redding probably won't hold up to a lot of use with crimped in primers. My Forsters did not.

Good luck getting it all sorted out. Many of us have already been down this road.
 
Re: How to ruin a saturday afternoon....

I've ran into a couple of cases with gummed up flash holes like you described. I just use me flas hole deburing tool. Cuts the holes just finethrn you can run them through a recapped if they're still primed
 
Re: How to ruin a saturday afternoon....

I can understand the pin (been there) but to bend a rod it must have been aginst the bottom of the case. I set mine to just barely punch out the primer, start short then lower it slowly until it reaches the point of push out.
 
Re: How to ruin a saturday afternoon....

I had at one time a collection of 6 cases, different calibers, without flash holes at all. Factories aren't perfect. Which is an argument for using reloads for social encounters. You KNOW there is a hole under that primer. You don't KNOW if it is a factory new loading.
 
Re: How to ruin a saturday afternoon....

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: OUVarmintHunter</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Yeah, now looking at it, this was a new piece of brass. The hole is on center but it appears there is some extra globs of brass both on the inside of the case and in the primer pocket, obstructing about 50% of the hole.

You'd think you wouldn't have to look for that. Think I pony up and just buy the Norma next time.

Or I guess start drilling out my own holes. I would think that would effect my ES and SD though. </div></div>

Only to the better, but it's a small gain. It's common benchrest practice to ream the flash holes, debur the inside of the flash hole, and also uniform the primer pocket depth with a special tool. Like you, I see some pretty crappy flash holes, especially when the holes are punched. A couple of minutes when the brass is new and you don't have to worry about it again for the life of the brass.
 
Re: How to ruin a saturday afternoon....

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Clark</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Looks like you missed the hole. </div></div>

God, I hate it when a woman says that to me...in any context.
 
Re: How to ruin a saturday afternoon....

Had the same thing happen to me also with a redding die. the de-cap rod had worked its way down and bottomed out on the head of the case. I was running the die in a dillon press and had just loaded about 300 rounds the then crunch game over.
 
Re: How to ruin a saturday afternoon....

I've had the same thing happen on my 308 Hornady Dies. Their treaded shaft gets smaller right before the expander bulb. Basically a weak spot. Both times Hornady hooked me up, no questions asked. Actually, their automated phone system will even put a small smile on your face. Its unique.

The last time it happened they sent me a spare shaft just in case. I have since moved on to using a Lee universal decapper die and have removed the decapping pin from my dies. One time it happened with Win brass and twice with LC surplus brass.

Mike
 
Re: How to ruin a saturday afternoon....

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: OUVarmintHunter</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Yeah, now looking at it, this was a new piece of brass. The hole is on center but it appears there is some extra globs of brass both on the inside of the case and in the primer pocket, obstructing about 50% of the hole.

You'd think you wouldn't have to look for that. Think I pony up and just buy the Norma next time.

Or I guess start drilling out my own holes. I would think that would effect my ES and SD though. </div></div>

That's why I buy Lapua brass.
 
Re: How to ruin a saturday afternoon....

We had a Redding die today that shipped from factory with the wrong expander mandrel/button. The FL die was expanding the necks so wide that a bullet could drop through with about .005 clearance. It was a trip man, shaved brass was all up in it.
 
Re: How to ruin a saturday afternoon....

Same thing happened to me with a well used Redding 308Win full-length resizing die. The decapping pin didn't go through the primer hole and pushed the decapping rod off to one side. Mine was less bent, but impossible to straighten out. I called Redding and they sent me a new decapping rod for free. I tried to borrow a decapping rod from another die, but they are all different. My "incident" happened the weekend before Thanksgiving and the Redding Co. takes off the entire following week for hunting in NY.
 
Re: How to ruin a saturday afternoon....

I would think to have bent the rod like that would take quit a bit of pressure. Something that would have told me right a way that something was wrong. If it's taking that much pressure to size the brass I would find a new lube. Most of my cases size very easily with Imperial Sizing wax. Probably single handily saved my reloading bench from total destruction when loading for the 7MM Rum. Since everything pretty much glides in. Just a thought I've bent a pin or two but nothing that drastic. I've also found crap in Winchester cases but found them when weight sorting cases. Only batch of Winchester and last I'll get for the 308 I found 3 cases out of the 500 that had shaving and pieces of brass in them but it showed up quickly since they were almost 5 grs heavier than the rest of the batch.
 
Re: How to ruin a saturday afternoon....

i have a 223 that i picked up off the range, the primer was hit and i thought it was a missfire, i pulled the bullet and powder then put it in my deprimer and "snap" there went the decapping pin, looked in case, no primer hole, used my berdan decapper and pulled that sob out of there to verify there wasnt a hole, there wasnt even a mark where the hole should be, so i guess the primer hole machine broke or something
 
Re: How to ruin a saturday afternoon....

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: pacomdiver</div><div class="ubbcode-body">i have a 223 that i picked up off the range, the primer was hit and i thought it was a missfire, i pulled the bullet and powder then put it in my deprimer and "snap" there went the decapping pin, looked in case, no primer hole, used my berdan decapper and pulled that sob out of there to verify there wasnt a hole, there wasnt even a mark where the hole should be, so i guess the primer hole machine broke or something </div></div>

I think it was one of those new "Government Approved" rounds. That's the new standard tha Obambi & Pelosi (and many others) are pushing to all ammunition producting companies. Of course by being "Government Approved" these new rounds will also have a 2,000% tax rate increase.
frown.gif
 
Re: How to ruin a saturday afternoon....

I picked up a RCBS decapper last year some time, I had 2k 45 auto brass I wanted to decap before cleaning. I broke the pin on about the 10th case. Ran to Cabela's and got a 5 pack of spare pins. I broke 4 before I got through 500 of the cases. I got on the RCBS website and ordered a bag of 50 pins for only three times the cost of a five pack. I'm still using the last pin out of the 5 pack. I've decapped thousands of rounds with that pin, mostly once fired, crimped LC brass. Still have the 50 bag sealed. Awesome how things work like that sometimes.
 
Re: How to ruin a saturday afternoon....

Well, that sucks big time,....but that photo also just gave me justification to own more than one set of dies in a specific caliber.