I was going through some reloading stuff the other day and I found a set of .45ACP Redding dies that I picked up in a package deal a while back. I used it for a while until one day I broke the decapping pin and did not have a replacement so I grabbed a resizing die from my Lee set and swapped them. So I look at the die, it has a separate decapping pin without a shoulder or anything. It fits in to a sort of compression collet built in to the decapping rod.
So I look around for replacement pins. Most places want $1/per! Ten pins for $10+. That is highway robbery. The pins are just straight pieces of steel and the Redding replacements say they are 0.062" diameter. So it seems like a person could pick up some appropriate stock and just cut their own. Or am I missing something? I mean, you couldn't use soft wire or anything. But I cannot see those pins being made of some sort of unobtanium that we mere mortals cannot buy for under $1/inch. Any ideas on where I should look for some appropriate stock?
And while we are on the subject, this coincides with something else I have been considering. Why does everyone recommend the Lee Universal Decapping die? It uses fairly expensive decapping pins that require you to replace the entire rod due to the integrated decapping pin that is cut in to it. I have tried the Squirrel Daddy pins, and while they do last longer they are still fairly expensive. Other brands make universal decappers that have much cheaper replacement costs should you bend or break the pin. Even buying the Redding pins at what seems like a usurious price to me would still be cheaper than the Lee replacements. Lee decapping pins are $3 or more per pin. If I could make Redding pins cheaply I may pick up their decapping die and use it instead of my Lee. I am tired of spending $3-$4 every time I bend a pin on a misaligned case or hard crimped primer.
Yes, I know you can loosen up the collet so that it will slip and (hopefully) not break. But I have never been able to find the sweet spot between it being able to decap crimped primers and not breaking when one is crimped in extra well.
So I look around for replacement pins. Most places want $1/per! Ten pins for $10+. That is highway robbery. The pins are just straight pieces of steel and the Redding replacements say they are 0.062" diameter. So it seems like a person could pick up some appropriate stock and just cut their own. Or am I missing something? I mean, you couldn't use soft wire or anything. But I cannot see those pins being made of some sort of unobtanium that we mere mortals cannot buy for under $1/inch. Any ideas on where I should look for some appropriate stock?
And while we are on the subject, this coincides with something else I have been considering. Why does everyone recommend the Lee Universal Decapping die? It uses fairly expensive decapping pins that require you to replace the entire rod due to the integrated decapping pin that is cut in to it. I have tried the Squirrel Daddy pins, and while they do last longer they are still fairly expensive. Other brands make universal decappers that have much cheaper replacement costs should you bend or break the pin. Even buying the Redding pins at what seems like a usurious price to me would still be cheaper than the Lee replacements. Lee decapping pins are $3 or more per pin. If I could make Redding pins cheaply I may pick up their decapping die and use it instead of my Lee. I am tired of spending $3-$4 every time I bend a pin on a misaligned case or hard crimped primer.
Yes, I know you can loosen up the collet so that it will slip and (hopefully) not break. But I have never been able to find the sweet spot between it being able to decap crimped primers and not breaking when one is crimped in extra well.