Case stuck in die - help please

[Healer]

I am/was a millwright/machinist/supervisor/ superintendent for better part of 40+ years...started out working for my neighbor (a logger with all his own equipment back in Mn.) when I was about 12... besides working on snow machines, lawn mowers and the like at home. Put my way thru trade school (2) years....the rest as they say is just more history...I'm medically retired and not because I want to be the last few years but still enjoy the tinkering, reloading and build/repair of most makes of firearms and equipment. I think as DSM's we all have a tendency to do that...that's Dumb 5H!t mechanic....take a break and come back to it...

 

[JRuby]

RCBS Stuck Case Remover - MPN: 9340

Only works if the stuck case has the head still attached.

 

[Healer]

Ya that's a fact...if its doesn't have a head you get to "peel" it out piece by piece....doesn't sound like fun to me. HA

 

[ARKLITE881South]

Ya that's a fact...if its doesn't have a head you get to "peel" it out piece by piece....doesn't sound like fun to me. HA

I have done exactly as the above, if you can get a small piece of it away from the inside of the die, take some small , slim, needle nose pliers and carefully twist it out. It just takes a little patience.

 

[awshoot]

So what happened? It's like watching a great movie and then power goes off 10 minutes before the end? Did the case come out? Is he getting a new die?

 

[Papercidal]

With Lee dies I remove the top collet and use a rubber mallet to tap the decapping pin forcing the case out the bottom of the die. I then use copper cutters to cut the base off the case and remove the pin through the bottom of the case.
I've only had to do this a time or two before I discovered that one shot is not sufficient for large rifle cases.

 

[ARKLITE881South]

Its more ''challenging'' to figure out how to get it out, then you'll never do it again, well maybe not quite as often. To date, i've only done it one time, a long, long, time ago. Never forgot it.

 

[westernsky20]

I actually have it in the freezer right now; I'll try it tomorrow.

I have have a rubs stuck case remover and I live in NE Portland.

 

[Phred]

I stuck an M1 Carbine case and used the tap, bolt, hammer & punch method and it worked great +1 for that system. First I took the primmer removal pin out of the bottom of the die, drilled out the bottom of the case, (the rim had stripped off). Tapped it 5/16-24, installed the bolt , and drove it out with a punch.
Phred

 

[Healer]

Nice job...

 

[Caveman Jim]

With Lee dies I remove the top collet and use a rubber mallet to tap the decapping pin forcing the case out the bottom of the die. I then use copper cutters to cut the base off the case and remove the pin through the bottom of the case.
I've only had to do this a time or two before I discovered that one shot is not sufficient for large rifle cases.

That's why I switched all my rifle and pistol dies to Lee, havent had a problem withthe pistol cases but have had a few 223 cases get stuck. A wrench & a hammer fixes the problem lickety split....

 

[Healer]

You shouldn't have issues with the pistol or straight wall casings...provided you're using carbide dies. No lube required and you shouldn't with them....as for your bottle neck cases always lube but stay with good quality lube and pad if that's to your liking or a good quality spray lube like the Dillon hand spray...the Hornady One-shot is okay but some people have issues with it. I use all three depending on what I'm loading. If its a long case such as an '06 I like to use the lube pad...no issues and it leaves a nice protective coating on the case for a bit. The Dillon is great for 308 Win size casings and I found the One Shot better for smaller diameter cases like the .556 up to the 6.5 Grendel...I place my cases in a (dedicated) plastic container (quart size or so) spray a bit on the cases, put the cover on and shake lightly...add another 50 or so (.556) cases and spray , shake open and light spray and shake again...everything gets coated nicely... leave the cover off a few minutes let the alcohol or suspension liquid that is used to dissipate and you're good to go...clean the dies after each loading or thereabouts depending on how many rounds loaded...and spray them down inside with WD-40 or equivalent when not in use for a while. One word of caution...the need for mica powder for inside the neck sizing and seating of the Short mag family....otherwise it has a tendency to collapse the casings or bulge them..it doesn't hurt to do the Grendel type cases (6.5mm Grendel/6mm Grendel) either if you start or seem to be having issues.

Need to wipe out and clean the dies before I use them but sure saves from getting rust or residue built up inside...and reminds me to clean before using if I haven't...and check them over...and reset as needed.

 

[slickshot223]

What ownerus said!!

 

[USMC-03]

Success! Thanks for the assistance.

 

[Ownerus]

Do you know how many times that case has been reloaded? It looks like a classic case head separation in progress. The case stretches on multiple firings until it finally lets go. They don't usually stretch uniformly, the stress gets concentrated at a section change in the wall thickness and it becomes a case of "tear along the dotted line". Head space is the cause of this. Excessive head space makes it worse. There's always a bit of head space or you wouldn't be able to chamber the round. Upon firing, the firing pin drives the case forward against the shoulder and detonates the primer. Then the case expands, adheres to the chamber wall and the case head, unsupported for a few thousandth of an inch, moves until it contacts the bolt face, stretching the case wall in the process. Do this several times (or sometimes once in the case of a rifle with excessive head space) and the case can let go. If this happens forward of the rim enough, things can function normally except you only extract the case head, leaving the body in the chamber. This was common enough that the military made a tool for extracting the headless case at least in the .30-06 era and earlier.

What kind of rifle are you firing these in? Head space is not just in your rifle. It's the combined clearances of the rifle and the ammunition. If your loading dies can push back the shoulder of the case, you can create excessive head space in an otherwise correctly chambered rifle. If loading in .308 dies and firing it in a 7.62 Nato chamber, I suspect the few thousandths difference in head space dimensions between the military chamber and the commercial dimension dies MAY exacerbate this problem. I've been going to do a bit of experimenting on this but life keeps getting in the way so it's all theoretical right now.

A way to check cases for this is to take a wire or paper clip and bend a little hook on the the end. You can drag it along the inside of the case and feel for any notches. Here's a photo of a case I sectioned years ago that was showing signs of this in about the same area where the head of your case came off.

 

[Healer]

You are correct in this Ownerus...If chambered in a 7.62 chamber with .308 Win dies (ie. Small base dies) this does become a problem but the other aspect is if its an M1A/M14 or AR-10 with a match chamber do not expect 5-6 loadings from the brass regardless of the type, ie HP, max, match, hunting or mild load...the brass being fired in either of these especially in 7.62 match chambers the brass is not expected to have long life for reloading...at most I load mine sometimes to 3-4x from new but after that into the brass can they go. I too have noticed this and did a bit of research on this and found I was running too much on the use of the brass. I started seeing problems after 5x loads and had major problems after 6x...never made it to 7x...regardless of the quality of the brass.

Too much stretch inside and bases start to show as well. Match 7.62 chambers are inherently tighter dimensions and as such run higher pressures as they are supposed to and are loaded differently as per powder charge and more care taken with the brass. That is why most good load manuals differentiate this in their manuals and load pages with some of the powder manufacturers by Service loading vs. 308 Win. Should anyone want the info and loading data let me know...

 

[USMC-03]

Do you know how many times that case has been reloaded? It looks like a classic case head separation in progress.

It's Lake City Match brass; reloaded once or twice I believe. I have 400+ pieces that have been stored for a dozen years or so. I'm finally getting my bench set back up again.

Yep, it is the typical case head separation; I've had a couple of others that either cracked at the head or neck but didn't break off in the die.

What kind of rifle are you firing these in?

It was previously fired in a NM M1A and will now be loaded for my M1 in 7.62N.

 

[Mygrainman]

You can always try what this guy did when he got a squib in his rifle... So a guy walks into a gun store...
I know not helpful, but it could always be worse

 

[Healer]

Hopefully you know the actual times its been reloaded...make sure it is not to be used in an M1 match sized chamber...see above. You may not see the "classic" flat primer although it should be there but also the primer pockets themselves will start passing gas through the edges and burning the bolt face...classic signs of pressure and or loose /marginal primer pocket seating size and chamfer for the primer pocket. Too much chamfer can cause improper seating of the primer. When I mentioned care in the use and development of the these loads in match chambers the primers used are very important.

 

[cookie]

Make sure there is enough case lube being used.