This is a lesson to all newbies. No matter how many years you reload, you always experience something new.
I reload .300 WSM. One day I thought I'd load up a bunch of new trials using a Hornady 165gr bullet. Did everything and got to the bullet seating position. Damn, these bullets seem to take more force to seat than I've ever experienced. Got a split neck on one case. Well, must have been an old case. But after loading 20 and getting 3 split necks, that amber-to-red light went off. Something's not right.
Turns out I was loading the 165gr .308's into a batch of .270 WSM, which I also load. Cases are exactly the same, all max at 2.1 inch. I just did look at the head stamp.
So - knock all the bullets out, dump the powder. I should fire all the primers in the .300 rifle and resize everything. Hell, why dirty the rifle? I'll just remove the decapping affair from the .270 WSM die and resize these cases. So I lubed them all, including the inside of the necks, and off I went. Number 19 did not want to become a .270 anymore. About 40% of the rim pulled away from the shell holder and I now have my first stuck case in the die, after 30 years of reloading.
Well, I DO have a RCBS stuck case remover. Opened it up for the first time and off I went to the garage, the vise and my tools. I had a live primer in there, remember? Put the die in the vise (without the decapping pin) and punched the primer with a nail punch and hammer. Made a BIG black mark on the towel I used as a buffer. Then I drilled the primer and pocket out with the drill supplied, tapped the hole as directed. I put the little cap over the case and die, threaded the bolt and started to screw the thing using the allen wrench supplied. I have NO idea how this thing is supposed to work. If anything, it set the case further into the die.
OK, back to square one. Put the die into the vise the other end up and used
a phillips head screwdriver to hammer the case out. No good. Brass too soft and the screwdriver was just advancing. Next, got an aluminum nail, sawed off the point and hammered the case out with that. Nope. Bent the nail. Found a piece of steel rod of sufficient diameter, cut it to a length less than the nail, and hammered away. Pop! Out comes the case.
Damn. All this because I didn't put those cases where they belonged in the first place, and I didn't look at the headstamp before I started. Good thing it's Saturday and my wife is off somewhere, not wanting me to do anything else. It struck me that I should have just thrown them all away, but it was too late by the time I thought of that time-saving move.
So the question to you all: How do you use the RCBS stuck case tool?
I reload .300 WSM. One day I thought I'd load up a bunch of new trials using a Hornady 165gr bullet. Did everything and got to the bullet seating position. Damn, these bullets seem to take more force to seat than I've ever experienced. Got a split neck on one case. Well, must have been an old case. But after loading 20 and getting 3 split necks, that amber-to-red light went off. Something's not right.
Turns out I was loading the 165gr .308's into a batch of .270 WSM, which I also load. Cases are exactly the same, all max at 2.1 inch. I just did look at the head stamp.
So - knock all the bullets out, dump the powder. I should fire all the primers in the .300 rifle and resize everything. Hell, why dirty the rifle? I'll just remove the decapping affair from the .270 WSM die and resize these cases. So I lubed them all, including the inside of the necks, and off I went. Number 19 did not want to become a .270 anymore. About 40% of the rim pulled away from the shell holder and I now have my first stuck case in the die, after 30 years of reloading.
Well, I DO have a RCBS stuck case remover. Opened it up for the first time and off I went to the garage, the vise and my tools. I had a live primer in there, remember? Put the die in the vise (without the decapping pin) and punched the primer with a nail punch and hammer. Made a BIG black mark on the towel I used as a buffer. Then I drilled the primer and pocket out with the drill supplied, tapped the hole as directed. I put the little cap over the case and die, threaded the bolt and started to screw the thing using the allen wrench supplied. I have NO idea how this thing is supposed to work. If anything, it set the case further into the die.
OK, back to square one. Put the die into the vise the other end up and used
a phillips head screwdriver to hammer the case out. No good. Brass too soft and the screwdriver was just advancing. Next, got an aluminum nail, sawed off the point and hammered the case out with that. Nope. Bent the nail. Found a piece of steel rod of sufficient diameter, cut it to a length less than the nail, and hammered away. Pop! Out comes the case.
Damn. All this because I didn't put those cases where they belonged in the first place, and I didn't look at the headstamp before I started. Good thing it's Saturday and my wife is off somewhere, not wanting me to do anything else. It struck me that I should have just thrown them all away, but it was too late by the time I thought of that time-saving move.
So the question to you all: How do you use the RCBS stuck case tool?
