New primed brass in 22hornet

[dangerranger]

Ive loaded 22 hornet before but always in used brass. I recently bought some new primed Rem nickel plated brass, and its necks are too tight to put the bullits in with out crushing the necks. Do you all think I can remove the primer pin from my Lee die and resize them without messing up the primers? or should I try belling the mouths a bit? 22 hornet has always been my most dificult to reload so I dont want to start off wrong. thanks all. DR

[sr sawyer]

Removing the the decapping pin should work just fine.  The case mouth on new brass is usally not uniform and may need a turn or two with a deburr tool also.

Ken

[JustaShooter]

The expander ball and decapping pin are not able to be separated in the Lee dies I have, so unless yours are different you won't be able to expand the case mouth without removing the primer.

Just a Shooter

[dangerranger]

Justashooter, I havent checked the hornet die but I know the pin seperates from my 223 die. I got some military surplus 223 brass that was dificult to deprime and on a couple it actually pushed the pin out the top of the die. [rather than breaking it off] if not Ill have to make an expander, maybe from a properly sized drill shank. thanks all, DR

[JustaShooter]

I think you'll find that the pin that is pushing up out of the top of the die is the rod that the expander ball is formed from and has the decapping pin pressure fitted into the tip.

But, as you say, if you have the tools and some materials to start with you can fashion an expander and replace the factory one.  Or, cut / extract the decapping pin from the tip of the one you have, and order a replacement - shouldn't cost more than a few $$.

Just a Shooter

[dieselman]

Now wait, if the neck is to tight the you need to run the decap exp down in the case but not far enough to deprime the case, if you remove it then the top of the die will only make the neck tighter and not expand it so it will only make it even tighter.