Case Prep Recommendations

[Harrier]

It's been a long time since I bought a pack of pins but IIRC the thin pins are Lyman and I put them in RCBS dies... Both have a larger diameter head like a T in section, and go inside the screw-off mouth sizer button.

[AZ_Five56]

Unfortunately you usually have to decap the case before you can enlarge the flash hole...

Different brands of dies use different pin retaining methods- one reason I don't use Lee dies is that its not replaceable on some, if you break it you have to order a whole new stem.
Some brands use a friction fit holder (which can pull out) while others use a T pin that stays put and can be replaced. I found that one brand is much thinner than another but will still work in the holder - so I can decap a smaller hole before having issues. Also watch out for off-center holes- they will break any pin setup.

With some cases that have very small holes (IIRC... PMP, DNL) I use a hand flash hole reamer to enlarge the hole-before I decap... it's harder on your hands but saves a lot of stuck/broken pins.

You mentioned off-center holes... Does that tend to be random, or is that typical on certain brands of cases?

[Harrier]

If you scrounge brass like I have you eventually find all kinds of oddball stuff.
Usually it is with foreign made brass... so if it isn't one of the big names, I give it a double take.

IIRC I only have encountered off center hole a few times and they were foreign head-stamp. If your decaping pin is rigid, the hole has to be pretty much center - if your pin has a little wiggle to it then it can move a littleif the hole isn't dead center... combine a small slightly off-center hole with a rigid pin and...

Thing to really check when sorting headstamps is that no Berdan get mixed in- I recall there is at least one brand milsurp that had both kinds so I couldn't just look at the head-stamp, I had to look inside every one. A lot of this stuff isn't imported anymore but you might run across it at some shooting site where someone is burning off old stock.

[Flash]

Different brands of dies use different pin retaining methods- one reason I don't use Lee dies is that its not replaceable on some, if you break it you have to order a whole new stem.
Some brands use a friction fit holder (which can pull out) while others use a T pin that stays put and can be replaced.

If you break a Lee decapping pin, it's because you set up the die incorrectly. They're made to slip upwards from the collet when they encounter too much resistance and therefore not break.

Some people don't set them up correctly and they break or they slip upwards, thus defeating the purpose of the design by not setting up properly.

It's one of the many reasons I use Lee dies pretty much exclusively.

[Harrier]

To each his own... It's not that the slip/friction nut adjustment has to be just right or has to be redone so often, it is that when something like a berdan case slips in and the pin breaks... everything stops until you send for a replacement- or you have to buy spares to keep on hand.

[Flash]

I repeat, if it's set right, the pin won't break when a berdan case slips in. I don't even bother looking for those cases because I've had them slip in before and I know it won't break the pin as I set them right. The adjustment doesn't have to be redone from time to time either, it just needs to be set right the first time.

Things need to be set up and used the way they were designed to be. If someone doesn't do that, he has no one but himself to blame for his problems.

[Clickoops]

I load 1000 5.56 at a time, i alluded to my process in another thread but since this thread seems more apropo i will elaborate.

First things first: Im not a clean freak with 5.56 or 9mm. I also dont care how shiny the cases are.
I dont individually "inspect" my cases beforehand, UNLESS im sorting out by headstamp for load development or personal defense loads. No appreciable difference in accuracy and precious little in reliability makes any dedicated inspection a waste of time. I let the process itself sort out the weak links....er casings.

So i get about 6.2 kilos of brass (1000ish) and start em through the dry tumbler about 200 at a time. First tub is about 30 mins per batch with a small dash of soapy water just to get em ready for the decap and size. I cannot believe people are decapping without sizing, its a whole added step i dont understand. Especially since you need them sized in order to trim.
While im working at the press the tumbler is going non stop in the back so its not like im sitting around waiting for it. I am extremely impatient so i dont have time for a wet tumbler. I have a large kitchen colander and bucket it fits nicely into and i give it a few tosses to clear 97% of the media in a matter of 30 seconds.

Once theyre clean enough to get through the sizing die without gunking it up and getting stuck cases, I get a big ass cookie sheet and throw em on there and hit em with my spray lube and roll em around. IMPORTANT: For the 1st case and any time i feel resistance in the sizing die i lube that case with Redding case wax.
I put 2 (more if i had em) sizing/decap dies on my turret plate so when a case gets stuck i can keep going. PRO TIP: Keep extra decap rods, locknuts and shell holders(turret press) on hand. Once both are jammed ill clear them and clean them and keep going. After this process youll have weeded out your weak case rims (theyll get stuck in your die) and smushed mouths (wont go into your die), and bad flash holes (decapping rod will let you know). I ruin about 20 cases per 1000 which seems like an appropriate amount that would have been discarded anyways.

Ive never used an on-press trimmer so i cant comment to that. Ive used a bench mounted trimmer with a drill attached, great for accurate sizing at low-medium volume. My go to for volume is the possum hollow drill mounted trimmer. Its inside of .005" for me which is fine.
After trimming I use a 45* HSS countersink bit in another driver to cut out the crimp and very lightly chamfer the case mouth. I believe that for bulk ammo, dicking around with the pocket or flash hole is a total waste of time. During the remaining processing youll eliminate further compromised cases as they come.

Now, instead of individually deburring or gently caressing them, they go back in the tumbler with some polish to get deburred and prettiful. About an hour seems fine, it takes about that long between the other processes going on.

Then its time to load. Any remaining case problems become readily apparent in that stage and that case goes into discard or back into a raw batch. If there are any questionable cartridges during loading they go into a "Junk" box for plinking use. Doing this process I end up with very accurate and reliable bulk ammo