The stuck case that won. Pride hurt.

Joined
May 12, 2013
Messages
2,672
Likes
6,014
Location
Inman, SC
Feedback: 65 / 0 / 0
I purchased a Dillon 550 A few weeks ago off of CL. No pictures, price was OK for me to flip it and make a small profit. Seller said he would throw in all of his dies that he had AND would drive to me. DOUBLE EXTRA BONUS!

Press looked decent, I could tell it had been sitting for a while, but I knew most would clean up. I start the breakdown of all the stuff and the press started telling me the story of its past.

The Lee 223 dies that were in the tool head in the press were solid rust. OK, no problem. I've seen worse. Took a little elbow grease to break them free. That's when I noticed the stuck case. Lol. Someone basically said "I'm done with reloading" and left the press for years after getting it stuck. Left it in the press and all.

I soaked it in kroil for about 10 days. I messed around for about 2 hours today. Tried pressing it from the top, just to break anything loose.... o luck. RCBS case remover did nothing. Stripped the threads in the brass. Next went with an easy out. Ripped the case all up. I'm throwing in the towel! I've convinced myself the bore of the die is probably junk now anyways, (unless the brass case has served double duty as a rust inhibitor) but I doubt it.

RIP Lee Die.


20210706_140640.jpg20210706_140713.jpg20210706_140733.jpg20210706_145341.jpg20210706_145557.jpg
 
Didn’t you get a pile of dies at one point for cheap? That’s when you just huck it in the trash and move on. :)
 
The instigator in me says-

Put that picture in (several) reloading groups feed on book face.
"I just bought these dies, listed as n.i.b., off your buy/sell/trade group. This is a failure on YOUR part for not policing your members. I've never had this issue with Group X (obliviously a different reloading group). I hate all your faces and will let the internet know to avoid this group!"

Sit back and watch people stumble over themselves about how one of their members would never do this.
 
I purchased a Dillon 550 A few weeks ago off of CL. No pictures, price was OK for me to flip it and make a small profit. Seller said he would throw in all of his dies that he had AND would drive to me. DOUBLE EXTRA BONUS!

Press looked decent, I could tell it had been sitting for a while, but I knew most would clean up. I start the breakdown of all the stuff and the press started telling me the story of its past.

The Lee 223 dies that were in the tool head in the press were solid rust. OK, no problem. I've seen worse. Took a little elbow grease to break them free. That's when I noticed the stuck case. Lol. Someone basically said "I'm done with reloading" and left the press for years after getting it stuck. Left it in the press and all.

I soaked it in kroil for about 10 days. I messed around for about 2 hours today. Tried pressing it from the top, just to break anything loose.... o luck. RCBS case remover did nothing. Stripped the threads in the brass. Next went with an easy out. Ripped the case all up. I'm throwing in the towel! I've convinced myself the bore of the die is probably junk now anyways, (unless the brass case has served double duty as a rust inhibitor) but I doubt it.

RIP Lee Die.


View attachment 499630View attachment 499631View attachment 499632View attachment 499633View attachment 499634
Im a cheap , yankee scrounging , skinflint , T rex armed deep pocket guy, I would have tossed that in the scrap bucket first look.
Now that you opened it up
Either a small chisel or custom hack saw blade to split the case.
With that much rust and what ever chemicals used along with dissimilar metals that thing is stuck good.
Heat it up- ?
 
To the OP.

You do know you can get a new Lee resizing die for like $12.

Though I understand if it was a point of pride to get that thing out. Ha.

It's not a question of the OP needing anything. He was just cleaning up the press to flip it, and he thought removing the stuck case from the resizing die that came with it would be routine. He probably thought he was really good at removing stuck cases and could handle pretty much anything. The universe simply corrected a minor misunderstanding.
 
Back
Top Bottom