At least, I think it's two independent problems. After citric acid washing all the fired brass I could find and lubing sparingly with lanoliin, I started sizing/decapping last night, and fairly casually inspecting the cases as I put them in the loading block. Only the fifth had a small but clear-through or nearly so crack in the neck, which I discarded. Over the next few, I found a couple with an even smaller crack or nick on the shoulder (first photo below). Since these seemed be in a consistent place, I thought it might be something in the die, so I pulled out the decapping pin and wiped the die out with a swab. Inspection showed nothing on the shoulder, but a gouge in the side of the die (second photo). Looking back at the cases, they have a longitudinal scratch below the shoulder from this, not deep but enough to feel with a fingernail. Not great news. Apparently my previously cavalier brass cleaning put something gritty in there.
Since the little shoulder cracks look transverse, I'm wondering if they are occurring as I pull the case out of the die. Before removing the decapper, I checked a few more before and after sizing and did not see that happening, but maybe some are not lubed enough? I will re-inspect all the unsized cases for cracks before proceeding to figure that out. In any case, I guess it's time to order some new brass (after checking all the closets to make sure I didn't do that six months ago and forgot about it, again.)
I'll contact Lee and see if I can get just a new die or die body, or if I have to buy a new set. Any suggestions for bubba-ing up the old one in the mean time? My ideas so far are glue a piece of 600 grit sand paper around a 1/4 dowel or see what's in the Dremel tool box that can do some serious damage. I kinda doubt either choice is going to turn out well...
Two .32-20 problems!
1IMR4227: Zero to 900 in 0.001 seconds
I'm only killing paper and my self-esteem.
I'm only killing paper and my self-esteem.