If it does not feel right....

it probably is not. A good first rule for reloading. Perhaps life as well. Here is my latest happiness:

I seem to have really cranked down on a cartridge not properly seated in the shell plate during decap/resizing. Bent the spindle, broke the holder for the decap pin, destroyed the pin itself, and generally made a mess. I have visually inspected the die body and it appears to be ok. Ran some cartridges through it and they size ok and are not scratched. They are carbide dies and I used case lube on the cartridges.

Can anyone tell me different? I think this happens frequently as Hornady sells a "Die Maintenance Kit"  that includes 2 spindles, 2 decap holders, 5 decap pins and a handful of retaining springs for the rest of the dies for about 8 bucks. At least the cartridge came out of the die, it was pretty done!  And Hornady is running the free bullet promo for dies so I get some bullets out of the purchase anyway.

I think that the shellplate spring is going to be the weak link in this system. But never fear! In my supreme anal state in all things reloading as a newbie, I have ordered a new .380 die set, the maintenance kit, and five shellplate springs. So, if things work out with simply replacing the stuff broke, anyone need a 3 die set for .380's?