Primers wont come out of the case.

[Rollins]

Ok I thought I would try to do a bit of reloading today. I set up the dies following directions from Lee's instructions that came with them.

However I cant decap the primers from my fired hornady black cases. I put on the press and pull down. Case goes up into the sizing decapper die and then the decap pin rises out like it is supposed to if there is a problem so it doesnt break.

I did not notice at fist and screwed the die in a bit more thinking i didn't get it low enough but it got stuck. So then I had to take the die appart and unstick the case.

I set the die all back together and tried again. Case goes up, then instead of pushing the primer out, the decap rod just goes up out the die.

I have tightened it as far as i can without breaking it I think.
Is there something i am missing? Is hornandy black ammo using a different primer that wont come out normally?

[Hoot]

Lower the decapping stem back down where it belongs and tighten the piss out of the collet that holds it. You need two wrenches to do that. one on the collet and one on the die body flat. Don't use the press as a substitute for the wrench on the flat. As a matter of fact, loosen the die in the press a couple of turns before wrenching it.

PS make sure you lube the cases before resizing. I like Imperial Wax over One Shot. Much more slippery

Hoot

[Al in Mi]

I've had this happen before, it's also possible that the decapping rod isn't centered in the die and bottoming out on one side or the other of the flash hole.

Take the rod out of the die and manually decap a case with a light tap of a hammer. You can do this without the die body in the press, or on your bench or vise.

Screw die body back in press, lube a case and run up into die. Now take and thread that collet and decapping rod back in so the decapping pin is in the flash hole and tighten as Hoot suggested.

[Rollins]

Ok thanks guys. I will look closer at the die. I did ise the 2 wrenches that lee said to use to tighten the decapper pin.
I tightened them as much as i could withou breaking it.

I just thought I would ask before i broke something. Like maybe hornady used a different primer system or something. In the past i reloaded 308 and never had a problem with caps not popping out.

I will check and see if the rod is bent.

[Rollins]

Ok I did what was suggested and popped the primer out by hand and then used the shell to hold the decapper pin while I screwed it back in. Seems to work now. I think maybe you guys were right that it had a slight bend in it.

Now the question is for load data hodgden doesn't have a 230gr fmj or hp listed. Just 225 ftx and 250 ftx.
My lee does list 230 fmj but not with lil gun powder , that is at 250 grains and higher. have seen some posts here with people using 40-45 grns lil gun and 230 grn bullets.

I loaded a few up with 40 grns lil gun as that was a mid load for a 225 ftx(hodgen site), and put col according to my lee sheet for 225 fmjs.i can pull them or throw away if it would be dangerous. How do you guys do COL if it is not exact bullet weight listed? Do you just go for the cartridge max col? Do you go to the next weight up or down? Or Do you do the custom COL for each rifle?


Ok and a question about the crimping die.
I followed directions to set the die and then ran a bullet into it to check crimp. Set bullet in and pulled lever, felt a bit of resistance but nothing bad. The darn bullet was pushed into the case, like inside it. I thought ok I messed up and I backed the die out and tried again. I only pulled lever until I felt first sign of resistance and stopped. The bullet was still shoved into the case. No sign of crimp on the brass in either shells. I thought the crimp would taper the brass around the bullet to tighten it, not push the bullet deeper.

I think so far this 450 bushy is more of a pain to reload than my 308.

[plant_one]

if its just a little out of center you can straighten it up.


if its really bent - contact lee, they'll send you replacement out. you just have to pay for shipping at worst.

[Al in Mi]

That die set have the collet crimper?

[Rollins]

It says the die is the lee factory crimp die.
I set it up according to the directions and then when it did not work, I followed hoots guide.

I am confused as the bullet should not move and the case should be squeezed tight around it.

[Al in Mi]

Yes it should just squeeze the mouth of the bullet.

About the only way I can see it pushing the bullet deeper in the case, would be if the inside collet is smaller then the bullet diameter.

Try this, take a case upside down and see if it fits thru the top of that die.

[Rollins]

Ok reset the die again and redid a reload. This time it works. So will play with it more later to set the crimp.

Now the question is a load. On hodgen site they dont list a 230 grain hp buller, the closest is 230.

On the lee inseet they list specs for a 230 grain bullet but not for lil gun powder.

So trying to find more info. I see some loads here by texas sheep dog and aome others who are experts so i might try those. But I dont understand how theu fogured out the COL.

Some guides say that as long as you load them so that half thr bullet diameter is how far in the case the bulletbis seated, and under the listed Max for the round it will be ok. Even safer to go to the max length that will fit in mag.

Does that sound about right? It seems you gotta have like 4 relaoding books becouse one only deals with their bullets, one only deals with their powder etc