Those of us who have Hornady 458 Lott dies suffer from the sizing die oversizing the top portion of the case.

The factory expander is useless. I used to seat bullets way deep to expand the upper portion of the case. This necessitated pulling the bullets, a very tedious and time consuming affair. These expanded cases produced ammo the looked just fine.

There is a better way

Get a Lyman 45-70 M expander die



Cut off about a 1/2" or so of the top of the die body



Now pull the expander plug and modify like so.
Being a graduate of the Afghani Gunsmithing Guild, I used a drillpress and a file.



This plug very nicely expands the upper portion portion of the oversized case and provides ample tension on the bullets. The rounds have a
barely visible little shoulder where the base of the bullet is, you really have to look for it to see it.



Now you can produce great looking 458 Lott reloads and not be stuck cussing the factory expander

I never used an expander before seating my bullets.I full length size and then seat.

Never use an expander? That makes it difficult to start and seat bullets with most calibers. Apparently not with yours.
The easiest and most versatile solution is to get a Lee expander die, and then make plugs in your lathe to any diameter you need or want. They aren't threaded and are held in by a screw top of the die.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Never use an expander? That makes it difficult to start and seat bullets with most calibers. Apparently not with yours.
The easiest and most versatile solution is to get a Lee expander die, and then make plugs in your lathe to any diameter you need or want. They aren't threaded and are held in by a screw top of the die.

Most rifle reloading die sets are two piece, a sizing die, and a bullet seating die, no expanding die. Most bottleneck cartridges don't need neck expansion after FL sizing. Straight walled cases and bottlenecks using cast bullets are another story.

Found as easier alternate method that involved re-purposing an old RCBS 458 WM die set.

Remove the seating stem from the seating die



Remove the decapping pin from the sizing die and cut off the end that holds the decapping pin.

I took an old locking nut assembly and turned
down the knurled portion to 0.458"



Screwed the new expander ball on the old
decapping pin rod on the end that was cut off and inserted into the seating die.

A few adjustments, works like a champ, produces a perfectly expanded 458 Lott case.

Craig, let's be clear. You are saying that you do not use the expander plug in your two piece dies? Every bottle neck sizing die I have, and I have at least 75 of them, has an inside neck expander in it. "No expanding die"? Of course there is an expanding die; it is part of the resizing, decaying, and inside neck expanding, die. Because sizing dies make the necks smaller than they need to be, so they need inside neck expanding.Unless you are recapping in a third die. They do make decappers only.
I didn't start reloading yesterday. I sort of understand dies, having made them from scratch.
Anyway, back to the OP problem; the Lee expander is the easiest to make plugs for and use; since there is no threading involved.

I think we might be be confusing/complicating the issue. Never said I don't use the expander ball in a two piece die set. What I said/meant is a separate neck expanding die is not normally/usually required when loading bottlenecked cartridges when using jacketed bullets.

I didn't start handloading the day before yesterday.

What you said; Most bottleneck cartridges don't need neck expansion after FL sizing.
Because they are already neck expanded.
I see what you were trying to say now.

I never had a problem with the NEW style expander in my RCBS 458 Lott die set, in fact it was far simpler to adjust than my OLD style expander in a 45-70 and 458WM set I had.

I really liked how the new style expander was set up and used.

Cheers.

quote:

Originally posted by craigster:
I think we might be be confusing/complicating the issue. Never said I don't use the expander ball in a two piece die set. What I said/meant is a separate neck expanding die is not normally/usually required when loading bottlenecked cartridges when using jacketed bullets.

I didn't start handloading the day before yesterday.

An expander is not required when using straight wall cartridges and jacketed bullets either.I have reloaded for the 45/70,458WM,458Lott,450NE, 500NE and never used an expander.