Problem with cases getting stuck in sizing/deprime die

[alingo2001]

Haven't used the press in quite a while. Started depriming/sizing some 9mm cases and a few are getting stuck in the die. Have to pull out the center and knock the case out. This is on a Lee turret press with Lee dies. Cases haven't been cleaned or lubed. Thanks in advance.

[musicman]

Any rust in the dies?

[alingo2001]

No. They are out in the garage but the die is nice and clean. Some cases go in and out but all seem pretty tight. Read the instructions again and it says touch the shell holder with the die. Then put the deprime rod flush with the deprime cap.

[Garufa]

Is the sizing die carbide?  Regardless, I would lube a case and run it up in there.

[alingo2001]

I believe they're carbide. What kind of lube?

[79troublehead]

RCBS Case sizing lube. STP works pretty good also. Clean your cases first, or you'll score your dies all to hell. Get you a good reloading manual and read up on this stuff.

Edited December 17, 2014 by 79troublehead

[Hozzie]

If you just want to deprime before you clean, then get a depriming die.  I wouldn't run dirty brass through any of my sizing dies.

Edited December 17, 2014 by Hozzie

[DWARREN123]

Probably dirty brass causing the problem. Try cleaning a few and run them thru the die to see if this clears up the problem.

[RED333]

Yep, dirty brass, do not ask how I know.

[Jonnin]

depends on what you call "dirty".

If its really dirty, like was on actual dirt outside and possibly even been out there a while, that needs to be cleaned.

If it was shot and tossed in a bag to reload, you can get away without cleaning it in many cases.  As for lube, LONG cases need lube almost every case. Shorter cases are OK without (9mm is short, 357 mag is longish, but 223 is for sure LONG).   Dirt and grit can scratch up the inside of your die, which causes 2 problems... your die is slowly being ground out of spec, and the small grooves in there are going to bite into the case and create even more friction (more stuckedness).  

 

Lube works wonders.  Period.  The amount of force needed even on small, short stuff goes down considerably and with the big stuff (30 cal rifle and up) your press goes from "exercise machine" to "easy to operate".    I really, really like hornady's  grease lube.  Its thin, does not have a powerful smell,  doubles as a good gun grease/lube, and is extremely cheap for the amount --- I bought 2 tubs when I started reloading and am still on the first one, years later, ... and I would not even be 1/2 through it except I did something stupid (I heated it to the consistency of water and mass lubed a bunch of cases by shaking them in a bag with the liquid lube... but it grossly over-lubed the cases and was generally a very big mess, including the now dried and back to grease consistency blobs inside the cases... yuck).

Edited December 18, 2014 by Jonnin

[Dolomite_supafly]

I NEVER size dirty brass. If it has EVER touched the ground it gets cleaned. It does not need to be tumbled, you can clean them using Lemishine and water. I actually initially clean my brass using acetone. It really cleans the brass up and evaporates quickly. Then I lube, size/deprime and tumble again to remove the lube before priming.

 

All it takes is a single grain of sand to ruin your dies, especially if they are steel. Once the grain of sand creates a burr on the inside of the die that burr will transfer a scratch to every piece of sized brass. There is no easy way to remove it either.

 

You need to verify that your dies are carbide. Steel dies should be used to size lubed brass. I normally lube all my brass regardless of the dies used because it makes sizing so much easier, even with carbide dies.

 

For the best lube follow this:

http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/topic/48415-case-lube-for-cheap/?hl=lube

[Grunt81]

Reloading 9mm on a turret press requires very little effort. I also use Lee dies and they are NOT carbide. My process is pretty simple. Once every six months or so, I take all 4,000 9mm cases I own, spend 2-3 hours to deprime them on a Lee universal decapping die, and in to a bucket they go. Then, I maintain a jar of about 700 cases that are deprimed and tumbled. Since they're already deprimed, just grab cases from that bucket, tumble them, and put them into a plastic container. That's your ''ready" jar. So whenever I want to load 9mm, I just grab clean brass from the jar. Since I wet tumble, I get the primer pockets dam near immaculate. When sizing, Hornady Unique case lube is a lot cheaper than practically every other case lube out there. A little goes a long way. If you reload rifle rounds, just go with Redding Imperial case wax. The only thing cheaper than Hornady Unique, is making your own with Lanolin and 100% Isopropyl achohol (I think it's isopropyl). It just takes a small, thin wipe on the case and resizing is easy. I've never gotten a 9mm case stuck.

 

Since you always have a bucket of deprimed brass ready to tumble at your leisure, it doesn't really feel like work. 

 

As a rule of thumb, I have never a put a piece of range brass through my resizing dies without tumbling them and lubing them. But since you need so little lube for 9mm, you don't have to tumble them afterward, you don't even have to wipe them off. It practically just evaporates.