Squirrel Daddy(1) Standard Ball End Decapping Pin Upgrade for Lee Reloading Die

perfect fit

I use this in my universal de-capping die. The original was a two piece with the de-capping pin pressed into the shaft. Some of the newer brass have flash holes that are on the small size (can't really say they are undersized but they are definitely smaller than any I have ever encountered before) This single piece design eliminates the issue of the pin being pulled out of the shaft.

Nice design. But it has a couple of pros and cons to be aware of. The rounded tip makes the tip of the pin much more likely to line-up the the flash hole. Their will always be a little wiggle there. If you've never looked, flash holes vary a little bit. The tip is a little rounded so that helps with line-up. However, the rounded tip increases the likelihood of a primer getting punched-through instead of punched-out. Keep an eye on it and you'll be fine. That's still better that a busted tip though!!

Works great haven't broken one yet

I made it through probably 500+ cases before it twirled up like a pigs tail. Starting out, I loosened the collet and slowly tightened it until it was working great. It would pop up like it's supposed to when it hit one that was tight, I'd set the case to the side to do later when I wanted to be more careful, loosen the collet and reset it, tighten it back down where I had marked it and keep going. Felt it twirl right up on one and knew I was done with this pin...Not too bad and maybe I didn't quite have it in that sweet spot - however, recommendation would be to purchase multiple pins. I'll use the original that came with the decapper and I guess be a little more sensitive to it until I can get more ordered. Can't say that I can compare if this pin is any better than what came with the Lee yet but I'll find out shortly until a few replacements arrive. $5 frequent replacement might not make this worth much. The RCBS dies do great - been through tens of thousands of brass and never had to replace any pins yet - wanted to try a decapper to remove a cleaning step (I clean all brass before they go in my dies). If I can only get through 500 cases or continually reset the decapping pin I'm not sure it's worth the effort.UPDATE: I put the pin that was shipped from Lee in and finished up my military 5.56 brass to include the 3 dozen I had set aside because I didn't want to bend this Squirrel Daddy pin. I just ordered 2 Lee originals just in case but the original pin held up better than this one did and finished up the jobs this one couldn't have.

It is clearly a more finished decapping pin than the Lee product with a smooth rounded tip. I could feel the difference as this pin moved through the primer port more smoothly. I was very optimistic and after processing a few hundred cases I was very pleased. This worked very well with pistol brass but found its end while processing .223 cases. I used this over about a three day period where I processed 600-700 pistol cases, but after about 100 .223 cases it curled up in the bottom of a case. I have processed thousands of rounds with a Lee decapping pin; with so few cases actually processed I found it hard to justify the couple extra dollars to buy another one of these. So I replaced it with another Lee pin. I have already processed more brass with the replacement Lee pin than I did in total with this pin. Yes, I verified the last case was not a berdan primed case that slipped into the mix.

A great upgrade for any decapping die,

Strong pins that won't break easily. Once you bend any pin they're useless because the metal is now to weak to try and straighten out.