removing broken case from die

i managed to wedge one in a die and found that you can turn it out on a lathe relatively easily….just take it easy one the last few thou and the remains fold up like paper that can be tweezered out.
All well and good if you have a lathe i suppose, 👍

If it was me i would scrap the brass, all of it.
 
How about driving a sacrificial thin, flat-headed screwdriver between die and case until you can get a long nose pair of mollie grips on it?
If all else fails.
K
😁
 
How about driving a sacrificial thin, flat-headed screwdriver between die and case until you can get a long nose pair of mollie grips on it?
If all else fails.
K
😁
After cutting off the head of the cartridge that's exactly what I did when I got a case stuck for the first and only time way back when I first started reloading for rifle. I got the case stuck because I didn't appreciate the importance of the right type of lubricant in the right place at the time. I didn't know anyone else who reloaded for rifle and the internet hadn't been invented.
I was very careful and managed to achieve it without scratching the inside of the die.
 
Sounds like the OP is sorted with respect to removal of stuck case.

As others have said, I'd be suspicious of that batch of brass: may have incipient case head separation.

Worth probing brass and inspecting for Bright line. Measure the fired and the resized brass to see if excessive bumping was occurring (could have happened on a previous reload cycle, or first firing (if a "sloppy" chamber.)
 
After cutting off the head of the cartridge that's exactly what I did when I got a case stuck for the first and only time way back when I first started reloading for rifle. I got the case stuck because I didn't appreciate the importance of the right type of lubricant in the right place at the time. I didn't know anyone else who reloaded for rifle and the internet hadn't been invented.
I was very careful and managed to achieve it without scratching the inside of the die.
And if you don’t have a bench vice simple insert die upside down in your press!

K
 
Would a Rawlbolt (the expanding type used to fix cabinets to brickwork) do the job, with a dent remover slam hammer then used to tug it out of the die?
1655717882106.webp
 
I had a similar thing happen when the case head tore off when raising the press arm (note to self, lube the case first :doh:).
Luckily I had brass rods of the correct size to be able to drive the case out through the decapping pin hole (remove the pin first).
 
These will work as well on separated cases. YOu don't need the drill, just the ex-5 EZ out. Tap it lightly with a small hammer to seat it into the brass case, then use a tap wrench and turn counter clock wise. The broken case will pop out. I've used this several times on a few different rifles (none mine), it works well.

Amazon product ASIN B001NP9S68
 
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Thas right, how do I get it out?
A high tech option if all else fails:

Freeze the whole thing in liquid nitrogen (-196 celsius or colder)

Steel has a linear expansion coefficient of about 11x10^-6 per degree C. Brass about 18-19. So for example the brass might shrink by about 0.15% compared with the die

Not seriously suggesting this.

The good news is that you pulled the head away from the rest of the case in the die, rather than it separating inside the rifle when shooting it, which just might have been an even bigger problem, or danger. And much more of a worry to extract the remnants.

At the worst, if none of these ideas do it, you are down by the cost of a die.

I'm guessing that that case was already suffering from incipient case head separation. As may be some others from that batch. Maybe you've been taking your reloads too many times, and missing the signs.

AFAIK most stuck cases are due to inadequate lube, or trying to resize a badly overblown cases from a rifle with a loose chamber. Mostly just tearing off the rim rather than detaching the head from the rest of the case.

These ones are simple enough to sort, drill, tap and pull out the case (might mess up the depriming pin if you can't pull back the rod far enough), or uniquely with a Lee die, slacken off the rod, even take off the securing collet, and pound it out.

That said, I've never stuck a case yet, touch wood, though thought I nearly have a couple of times. Which I attributed to listening some (nonsense ??) idea that you should hold the case in the die for several seconds before withdrawing it. Some idea that it took a little while for the case to to settle down, BS in retrospect. But I think allowed the lube to creep away so withdrawing the case became noticeably more difficult.

So my technique is to move the ram up all the way, then down again, in one smooth motion.
 
I had a live round get stuck in my 223 many years ago, after it was neutralised the gunsmith pulled the end off and used a tap to put a thread in the case then screwed in a long bolt and pulled/tapped it out
 
I'd have thought a cleaning rod would have been an easier method. 🤷‍♂️
So did and i and the gunsmith, would not move at all, he tried, rods, dowels, gas pressure you name it, he got purchase on the primer end and virtually twisted it off, then eventually got it out, stuck solid
 
I'd have thought a cleaning rod would have been an easier method. 🤷‍♂️
Or maybe not. But we are digressing from a chap who managed to separate a head from the case, in a die. Not sure that he has actually resolved that problem yet.

So did and i and the gunsmith, would not move at all, he tried, rods, dowels, gas pressure you name it, he got purchase on the primer end and virtually twisted it off, then eventually got it out, stuck solid

Seems that if you eff up you can truly stick a live cartridge into a barrel. Even more so than into a die. Oooh, it feels a bit tight, lean on the bolt handle, nope, not going in. Nor coming out.

Or let a semi-auto do it's worst.

Grease gun method ? Maybe watch Johnny's reloading bench. over a million people have watched just this vid.

 
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