Ever Break A Resizing Die?

[RLinNH]

Last night was my first time at an attempt to bump the shoulder of my 6.5 Creedmoor brass back .003. Somewhere in the process the resizing needle bent, and in the process ruined about 20 pieces of once fired Lapua brass . I understand that this is 100% an operator issue. But what I am scratching my head at is how did it happen? The resizing needle fell out about 1/2 way through my resizing, and started to realize that the operation of my ram was way to hard. I had to muscle the ram up and down. Finally at about brass piece number 20, I had a good look see at my brass. Yup, the shoulder and neck were bent. I took the die out of the head and apart, and here's what I had the pleasure of finding. I feel like a dolt, but imho it is all part of the learning curve. I have already ordered a Forster resizing die and am anxious to receive it. But the question remains. What went wrong or what did I do wrong? All I can come up with is that a piece of brass was not aligned properly as it entered the sizing die, and I muscled it. Resulting in this situation...

 

[RLinNH]

The Carnage...

 

[nn8734]

That happens more often than you think. I keep spare de-priming rod/expander ball assemblies around for that very reason. Sucks, but the threaded rods are not the most well-made or strongest parts.

You should be able to order a replacement rod assembly without having to replace the die itself.

You may also be able to salvage the damaged brass once you replace the rod assembly so don’t throw them out just yet.

 

[BuLLet]

Pins break, but I've never gone so far to actually bend it like that. Never happened to me in over 40 years of reloading. You must have really put some muscle into it.

 

[RLinNH]

That happens more often than you think. I keep spare de-priming rod/expander ball assemblies around for that very reason. Sucks, but the threaded rods are not the most well-made or strongest parts.

You should be able to order a replacement rod assembly without having to replace the die itself.

You may also be able to salvage the damaged brass once you replace the rod assembly so don’t throw them out just yet.

Good thing you said that about the brass. I was going to take channel locks to the brass today and crimp the necks closed and throw them away. I'll wait now and see if my new die can fix them. Thanks!!!

 

[RLinNH]

Salvageable?

 

[spife7980]

Do you have the expander ball adjusted too low so that the ball bottomed out on the case head and then you forced it further?

 

[AllenOne1]

Salvageable?

I would say yes it is salvageable. It wouldn't hurt to anneal it first if you can but I think you can get it back into service.

I have switched to a mandrel setup to expand my necks but an expander adjusted correctly should provide good service as well.

 

[squishee]

Looks like it was set to deep by how much was threaded in the die .

Resize the brass with no expander and carry on .

 

[flyright]

If you're going to reload, you would be well served to pay more attention to the process and stop when things don't seem correct. It can be a semi dangerous process if you don't. Just MHO.

 

[squishee]

I agree that there is a certain FEEL for reloading. If some thing feels different stop and check.
Not criticizing but you should have FELT that issue way before 20 rounds.
We have all learned things the hard way . Some we can recover from easier than others.

 

[FCS]

Best guess is expander ball was too low, actually hit web of case and deformed.
Once deformation is there, usually only gets worse.

 

[Plinker 73]

When using bulk brass I have had the same thing happen when I have a 9mm case inside a 45 acp or something similar. Also you can find flash holes off center and bend the decapping pin and it only gets worse from there on. 5.56 brass is bad at that .
Just my .02 worth.

 

[Huskydriver]

Ya... That decapping pin was set up wrong...you only need it sticking out of the die just enough to get consistent depriming

 

[FLIGHT762]

Best guess is expander ball was too low, actually hit web of case and deformed.
Once deformation is there, usually only gets worse.

^^^^very likely this^^^^. Be sure your decapping pin doesn't extend out of the die more than .180"-.200". You can go a little shorter if you're not using crimped in primers. In my 223 and 308 dies, I have to have the decapping pin set out to .200" to be sure it knocks out the crimped primers.

Call Redding and get a new decapping rod assembly. It's an easy fix. I've had to replace a few over the years.

 

[Clark]

I broke a rockchucker press 20 years ago, and they sent me a new one.
I was max force on top dead center with an 8mm Lee collet die [should have read the instructions]

 

[supercorndogs]

My press broke the collet die. Popped the top right out of it stripping off all the threads.