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Hand de-priming tool?

8K views 46 replies 28 participants last post by  Chickenthief 
#1 ·
Does such a thing exist and where would I acquire one? Google was no help at all.

I use a stainless steel media wet system to clean my brass. Therefore, I have to knock the primers out before I tumble them. I currently use a cheap single stage press and a Lee universal decapper to do that. I'm looking for a way to not be stuck at my reloading bench for that basically mindless operation.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
#2 · (Edited)
You can get a "Lee Hand Press & a decapping die" OR "decapping rod & a tub". But you'll need a hammer/mallet for the rod & tub option.
I use the "Lee the hand press" for mine. It's very easy to use & portable enough to do anywhere even while watching TV.
They're both on amazon or most online stores.
 
#16 ·
Interesting idea. However all of the "crud" that falls out on the press will now fall out in your recliner! :eek:

If someone wants to hand deprime more power to them. As they say, "To each their own".

Lets us know which tool/method you decide to go with and how well it works out for you.

Grumpy
 
#6 ·
If you insist on depriming before cleaning (not everyone does that, personal choice).

This is what most experienced handloaders do:

Get a decapping die and put it on your press. Run the brass through the press to deprime only. Then you clean in your wet cleaner.

Decapping die is generally 10 to 20 bucks. Same thread as any other standard die. You can set up a separate toolhead for a progressive, or use a single stage press for that task.
 
#7 ·
Here's what I said one of the many times this has come up
I have used a finishing nail and a hammer, a Pope style decapper, and a variety of other tools. A hand tool like the Pope style or Neil Jones Plier style works fine but worries me with lead dust from loose primers. I've got a Harrell's turret press clamped to the desk next to my monitor with a sizing die in it for convenient doing busy work use that at least dumps the primers with some control.

My preferred method is a single die in a progressive with a case feeder but I let the cases ride all the way around and fall into an Akro bin.
Meachum's Load Anywhere Press is IMHO a little nicer and also more money than the Lee hand press. A google on Pope style decapper will give myriad of hits some of them useful.
 
#8 ·
I do all my depriming and swaging in front of the TV. I repurposed my grinder stand to allow me to do this:


That's all the single stage is used for. Not as compact as a hand held device but works for me. I put the coffee bucket on its side right next to the press and another one between my legs for the brass after depriming. Then it's off to the garage for stainless cleaning.
 
#9 ·
Does such a thing exist and where would I acquire one? Google was no help at all.

I use a stainless steel media wet system to clean my brass. Therefore, I have to knock the primers out before I tumble them. I currently use a cheap single stage press and a Lee universal decapper to do that. I'm looking for a way to not be stuck at my reloading bench for that basically mindless operation.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Your SOL buddy...There are only a few ways to remove primers and they all require your mindless participation...:)

The problem is that everybody is reloading sideways these dayZ so that they can have Super Shiny Brass AND Primer Pockets.
Your going to have to live with it if YOU CHOOSE to reload out of sequence.

Sorry
Don2
 
#17 ·
So they can get the primer pockets shiny for their Tactical/Precision pistol reloads. Plus after a warm shower/ bath, it's a good idea to have the spent primer removed so the pockets air dry, or some put the wet brass into a food dehumidifier to remove any moisture. Some use a kitchen oven on low.

Seems to me to be a lot of work for someone not wanting to do a lot of work???:eek:


Don2
 
#15 ·
it generally doesn't... but drying out the pocket area with the primer installed can be a pain in the butt. without primers brass dries out easily. some people believe that leaving primers in and wet tumbling leads to a bigger risk of shearing the primer cup off from the walls....

This is why for all my non high precision loading, I dry tumble. For low volume high precision loads, I do wet tumble.
 
#19 ·
Let me explain a little further. When I started using the SS media wet system, I expected to deprime my brass before tumbling. It dries faster and keeps all the crud out of my 550B. I currently use a cheap Lee single stage press ($35) and a Lee Universal Decapper, which is covered in crud. That works fine, but I'm stuck in my basement, at my reloading bench doing it. I reload anywhere from 1000-2000 .45s every month and smaller numbers of 10mm, .38, and .44mags. Just thought it might be nice to sit outside on a nice night, or in front of the tv, and perform that mindless task. I have no distractions in my reloading room as I'm always focused on what I'm doing when I'm reloading.

I'll definitely look into the options suggested and post the outcome. Thanks to all that replied.
 
#21 ·
The Lee Universal Decapper is a $12-$13 die that works on most everything, so it's perfect for a single stage operation. My bulk reloading takes place on my progressive, 550B, and I wanted to keep as much crud out of the priming system as possible. It was getting gunked up and causing issues limiting forward travel of the primer bar during extended reloading sessions before I switched to the wet system. The priming system works flawlessly now.

What you've suggested would work, but I'd have to buy a new sizing die in each caliber and put them in my single stage, or new hand press. Since I have to run them through the first stage in my progressive to prime them, might as well size them there.
 
#22 · (Edited)
Delta:

In the same situation with the XL650 by having thousands of 9mm and 45acp brass that needs depriming prior to stainless tumbling. Easy enough to swap out a head with the universal decapper die, and run through the XL650; but, it gets the 650 absolutely filthy! Then I've got to disassemble the shellplate, etc for a thorough cleaning and re-adjust.

While I have a cheap single stage which will get the job done, it's very time consuming.

Been tossing around the idea of something like a Lee Pro 1000 set up for nothing but depriming. At least, it would offer some progressive properties over a single stage.

Having another XL650 dedicated to nothing but depriming would be ideal; but just not in the budget.....

Hmmm..... :scratch:
 
#26 ·
Delta,

Lee makes a portable stand for their press, you can use it in front of the TV or out on the porch.

But I use a Stanley Workmate. I went ahead and drilled three little quarter-inch holes for the press. It takes but minutes to unfold the Stanley, 1/4-20 bolts with wing nuts to hold the press (wing nuts on the bottom with washers) to run LOTS of brass away from the bench in the loading room.


Everything else you describe makes sense for your purpose. Keep doing what works for you! For each of us, it's a personal choice.
 
#30 ·
if you do the harvey deprimer a lot, you get in a rhythm and pretty good at centering it in the case. however, if you were only doing one or two calibers, I would probably devise a centering plug so that you don't have to search with the pin for the flash hole. With larger bottleneck cases it takes a while to get decent at it, and even then sometimes it takes a bit longer than it should.
 
#31 ·
The Pope style typically are either caliber specific or use interchangeable caliber specific punches - Neil Jones
Extra Decapping Mandrels in 22 Caliber thru 375 Caliber 15.00
I find using a flash hole deburring tool first before probing for the flash hole makes the decapping job go more quickly.

I don't bother with a pistol cases which are short enough to see what I'm doing and being processed by buckets not pieces but for the bottleneck cases operating by feel deburring the flash hole helps funnel the decapping pin to the fired primer.
 
#35 ·
I do what sparky does. Except I use a fold up workmate bench that attached a deck of plywood to. Folds up nice.

I have a nice reloading room in the garage but it's kinda lonely. So I use my little bench in the bedroom with the wife.

But..... There is no way in hell I would decap or handle dirty brass inside. Certainly not healthy and even with the primer tube catcher thingy I still end up with spent primers all over the place.
 
#36 · (Edited)
..Wayward primers? Never again...

I do what sparky does. Except I use a fold up workmate bench that attached a deck of plywood to. Folds up nice.

I have a nice reloading room in the garage but it's kinda lonely. So I use my little bench in the bedroom with the wife.

But..... There is no way in hell I would decap or handle dirty brass inside. Certainly not healthy and even with the primer tube catcher thingy I still end up with spent primers all over the place.


Hi Joe, Flying primers also happened to me when sizing/depriming on my Lee

Classic Turret 4-hole press. Then I tried inserting the lever prime insert in the

ram slot; and the result was that all the primers dropped into the primer recovery

tube. That has been over 12 thousand resizing operations ago; with absolutely

not one spent primer landing on the floor EVER again. Try it.:cool:


Tony
 
#38 ·
I've been using the Neil Jones decapper for years now. Just the thing for decapping boat-loads of brass while vegging out in front of the boob-tube.

The advantage of this one of the Harvey version is that the primer is ejected downwards while holding the tool. The Harvey version shoots the primer (and dust/debris) outward/upward while being held as designed.

http://www.neiljones.com/html/decapping_tool.html
 
#43 ·
Notice there is now - or coming at SHOT - a plier type tool with a pill bottle style primer catcher on the case head stop.
New Handheld Primer Removal Tool From Frankford Arsenal......
. Spent primers are captured in a removable spent primer catch tube.
I'll have to buy one sooner or later. I suppose the trade off is a single universal case holder which sort of funnels the case to a center coaxial with the hole rather than a variety of more specific case holders and punches. This one won't work with the big black powder size cases.
 
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