Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles Favorite stuck case remover

I'm looking for suggestions on a stuck case remover as I am getting tired of the RCBS version I currently use. It is the one which you drill and tap the stuck die then pull out with a bolt. The time and effort it takes is more than I want to put into things at the moment. Of course, it also seems the drill is at the far end of the house whenever I need it.

I've been having a tough time resizing 223/5.56 brass lately, they seem to stick in the die all too easily. I've used Lyman and Hornady sprays as well as the pad with RCBS lube with equally poor results in recent times. I don't think dirty cases are the problem as I clean the cases in a vibratory cleaner from a few hours to over night depending on how dirty the worst cases are. Some of the cases are once fired while others are on their third reload and are of varying brands which adds to the confounding.

The sprays worked well in the beginning but cases began sticking after the first 100 or so. I thought I might have been getting too little spray on the cases but I had a couple stuck that also had dented shoulders from too much lube. I switched back to the pad with good results until last night where I had 4 stuck cases, two in a row.

I'm not sure what is going on, I have used the dies for thousands of rounds in the past with much better luck. I even cleaned the dies but that seemed to not help. They are RCBS small base so aren't of poor quality. I'm wondering if annealing the necks before makes a difference.

The other headache is a bunch of brass head stamped 223 Rem that have crimped primer pockets. I have broken a handful of decapping pins on them. I'm going to have to sort through the mess to find the rest of them. There should be fewer than 50 left but they are mixed in with a couple thousand others. Vent over.

How often do you stick one? I’ve never stuck one with Imperial sizing wax.

I stuck 4, maybe 5 last night including two in a row. I stuck one this morning using Imperial. I've stuck a couple of cases using Imperial but those were forming 401 WSL or 22 High Power or 219 Zipper.

That said, I think I solved my problems. After taking everything apart and cleaning it, I got the bright idea to measure the expander size. It was .223" at its widest point which isn't far from the Savage HP. I figure some of the cases were slightly thicker in the neck which is why they stuck. This was a replacement decapping unit as I bent the first one the last time I used it. I replaced the expander button with an older one and things have gone better for a couple hundred rounds.

Looks like I'll be running the previous brass through again to get the necks right. I even figured out the problem with the tightly crimped primers- they are off center. I finally noticed that when looking for the first fired ones.

I'm still interested in stuck case removers, the one I'm using is a pain and requires more tools than I like. It is also hard on hands becoming wracked with arthritis.

That would make me mad to stick that many. I’m sorry you have arthritis!

As far as I know all of the commercially available stuck case removers are of the same design.

Forster makes one that pushes it out from the top, might work but only if you are not using an expander ball.
Frank ford Arsenal makes one that is supposed to bite on to the rim and connects to the ram, but looks questionable if there isn’t much case head left.
I have only stuck a case twice, and both times it was with Hornady one shot. Now it’s Imperial or Hornady Unique.
If it happened that often, I would just keep my small Dewalt drill on the bench.

Hornady One Shot = stuck cases, it's Imperial for me too!

I don't really know of a better stuck case remover than the RCBS. I think you can remove a stuck case with both Dillon and Lee dies with the die. I have stuck cases with oneshot. And yes, I follow the directions. I use the Dillon spray now and I'm much happier.

Goodness!!! With that many stuck cases I'd sure be doing as you've already done, be checking the dimensions of some things and certainly changing lubes. I've only stuck two cases in 50 plus years of handloading and both of those in the last year. Having been blessed with being rather handy I drilled and tapped the primer pocket, ran the die in from the bottom of the press and turned the case out pretty easy. It was a heck of a lot more of an annoyance than a problem but I darn sure wouldn't want to do it very often.

If you are having such a problem with stuck cases your die(s) could be contributing to the problem. Periodically I remove the decapping rod and treat the inside of my dies to a cleaning with acetone or similar. You'd be surprised at the gunk that can accumulate there, a light polish with 0000 steel wool may help smooth out any roughness. Shine your bore light inside to inspect before re-assembling to be sure things look O.K..

223/5.56 have been my greatest problem children and the absolute worst has been in the last couple of days. I stuck a couple of cases a few years back when I first started loading for it but that came from not reading the directions and cleaning the die before using as doing so stopped the problem right then. It was my first set of new dies for a rifle cartridge. Now I clean all dies new to me before use- even used ones.

I have had a problem with soft rims in some U.A.E. brass, the shellholder would pull out of the rim with little effort. If I could finagle the case back into the holder the case would extract normally otherwise I would have to pull it with the remover. Of two 50 cal ammo boxes full of ammo I had this happen maybe two dozen times and had to use the case remover on about half of them. The remainder have given me no problems, not even in the last couple of days.

I've occasionally stuck a case when forming one case to another but that has mainly been when cutting corners or becoming impatient. Even so, I don't think it has totaled what I went through the last couple of days. I might have to buy another drill but batteries seem to die quickly and extension cords for corded drills seem to be borrowed and not returned on a regular basis. And I can't always blame my wife for that.

You just need a good drill. Bought one of these a month ago, used 4 or 5 times and battery still hasn’t needed to be changed or charged.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/DEWALT-20-Volt-Max-1-2-in-Cordless-Brushless-Drill/1000135807

Stuck cases really chap my ass.

I kept a jar of that in my locker that I would pull out and give to a coworker who was griping too much. I lost it when I gave it to my chief when he was incessantly complaining about overtime. Strangely, I was passed over for promotion twice after that...

I think the expander ball was the problem, I ran through a couple hundred cases without a hitch. Thanks everyone for their suggestions, commiserations, and advice.

As for the drill, I have a Dewalt except in 18v. I use the drill a lot and it seems a year or so is all I get for longevity. They seem to be sensitive to overcharging, at least with the supplied charger which is supposed to switch from full charge to trickle automatically. Replacing the batteries is ~$100 and rebuilding them is ~$55 each.

For the price of drill and batteries I'm thinking to go back to Black & Decker as it would be cheaper in the long run as the drill with 2 batteries is ~$70 and extra batteries run ~$40 each. As long as I don't drop the drill on a hard surface it should be fine. The drill before the Dewalt was B&D which was used hard and met its demise falling 12' onto a cement floor.

You must be doing something very wrong. The only reason I bought that small one is that my wife hates using my 18v too big. 7-8 years old, original batteries still hold a charge. Been used hard more than once.

Want to make your life easier?
I run batches of "new" 223/5.56 brass by depriming only first, removing the crimp (if any) then tumbling aggressively second, and then, laying down lube and sizing them DOWN ONLY, no expander. So, if a rim rips off, I can pull the die and stuff in a drill rod (I think mine is .215 or something), bash it out with a hammer. No drilling BS, just brute force. One, maybe two "I mean it, darn you" whacks and pop.
Then, another tumble to get the lube off the brass, then either just the expander ball or a necker with ball.

Keep in mind, that's for "fired brass I've never shot before." But I have stuck enough cases that I'd rather have an extra couple of steps in "initial process" than wasted all that time getting a dead case out of its coffin, especially with a sequential press (I refuse any more to call my 650 a progressive)..

If I had a favorite stuck case remover, I'd be taking a long hard look at how I'm doing things.

Your mileage might vary....

My stuck case remover consists of a drill bit, tap, socket head cap screw and an assortment of washers. It's been so long since I've used it I'm not sure where it's at. Imperial sizing wax is perfection personified, IMO.

Neck expanding for accurate ammo, (which is the only ammo I am interested in), is an important enough step that it deserves a separate operation in my process..

And for a person in your situation, since you tend to have a big problem with stuck cases, if you size with the expander stem removed using just the die body only, that would make it easier to get a stuck case out.

Then you could just tap the case out.

But a stuck case represents a big error on your part. It doesn't just happen. Sizing should be smooth and relatively easy, so I would give some thought and pay more attention to the lubing process.

For rifle brass, I apply the lube to each case with my fingers...it just takes a second and is very uniform...no sprays or pads for me, although I know those are popular and work fine.

Consider that I've been reloading for going on ... let's say several decades...

But anyway, I've never had a stuck case.