I was at the gun show over the weekend and one of the vendors showed me a hornady bullet seating die that was pretty slick. The seating portion was threaded on the top and you could screw on a micrometer and have a micro-adjustable die and the micrometer was universal, it can be used on any of the Hornady dies. Anyone out there use these dies and if so how well do you like them. I'm sure they've been around for a while but its the first I'd seen of them. I wished I'd knew about them before I bought my RCBS dies.

I have all reddings, but had to buy a hornaday 9.3x57 this year because they are the only ones that had that caliber.

The slide sleeve on the seater threw me off at first but the hornaday die seems to be very good. I like the one I have. Its well made and quality.

Yes, sold my RCBS to get the Hornady as I was seating a lot of different projectiles in the one calibre. Redding have the same thing for a small fortune.

The Hornady is great, except the bloody thing is labled upside down, so I have had some amusing attempts to decipher the micro reading and even how to record it as it's a baseless number, but yes it works well otherwise.

Anybody else out there used these dies?

I use them in 6.5 Swede and 270, they work as well as any RCBS I`ve got (sizeing & bullet seating) except I`m not real excited as to their decapper stem system. I know they`ve "improved" them but mine is the old style......There rings let them fit in my Co-Ax also, a plus in my book.

You can buy a zip spindle upgrade kit for older hornady dies.

Forster dies also have optional micrometer and sliding alignment sleeve, at a price between Hornady and Redding Competition series. But they are for rifle only, no pistol.

Hornady seating dies are also great because they can crimp while seating (no other sliding alignment sleeve seater does that), and they can disassemble for cleaning without affecting the settings for crimp or seat depth (fantastic if you use a lot of lubed, lead bullets).

Andy

quote:

Originally posted by cobrajet:
... I wished I'd knew about them before I bought my RCBS dies.

Hey cobrajet, If you own a pair of 0.001" capable Calipers, then you can use the OCL to ODL Method and accomplish the same thing - without the added expense.

Best of luck to you.

quote:

Hornady seating dies are also great because they can crimp while seating

Any time you crimp and seat simultaneously, you are pushing the bullet deeper into the case at the same time as you are constricting it with the crimp. This may or may not show up in the performance of the ammunition (did you ever hear of a benchrest competitor crimping his ammunition?), but the process cannot help but stress and deform the bullet jacket. Any way you cut it, this ain't good.

If you must crimp (and the circumstances under which crimping is advisable are truly limited), then do it in a separate operation, either with a dedicated crimping die or with your conventional seating die reset to crimp-only after the bullet is fully seated.

Pistol and rifle cartridges are often crimped for reasons other than accuracy.

A properly adjusted seat/crimp die for roll crimped cartridges can actually stress the bullet jacket less than separately crimping with a conventional crimp die. The case mouth rolls into the same point on the bullet as the bullet is seated further. The relationship between the crimping ledge and the seating stem is fixed as the cartridge is advanced into the die, and the rolling lip of the cartridge mouth also maintains a fixed relationship to the crimping ledge. Contrast that with separate crimping with a conventional (non-collet) crimp die, where the bullet is not moving (unless pulled down by the progressively rolled case mouth, which would change COL), thus the rolled lip of the case mouth scrapes down the side of the bullet as the crimp is applied.

However, with bottleneck cartridges, a collet type crimper such as the Lee FCD will generally work best because it does not use the cartridge to provide the crimping force, and does not scrape the side of the bullet like conventional crimp dies do.

Taper crimping cartridges is a slightly different process, and perhaps can be done more accurately separately.

Andy

About the only thing I like about Hornady dies is the elliptical expander. It does reduce case runout.
Otherwise I find the decapper stem difficult to set and adjust (I have the two hornady wrenches made for the purpose) but I haven't tried the zip stem.
They occasionally sit too tall to work in my older model CO-AX press (with the shorter "Y" yoke).
Also I've found their quality control to occasionally be lacking. The last set I bought (458 Lott) were incapable of loading a single round of ammuntion - the expander was manufactured waaaayyy to short to work in any press.
I think the dies had some good ideas about them but I think there are better made alternatives out there (but I wish the better made alternatives had the elliptical expanders I think you might be able to buy and retrofit them to some dies).

Oh and I do agree with Stonecreek. You should (almost) never crimp and seat in the same operation for the reasons he mentioned...............................DJ

I favor Forster and Redding.

However, I need a 9.3x57 (see above), a 416 Taylor and a couple other dies that would cost a fair amount of $$ and time to order from Redding.

Word of mouth in my circles (I travel in less reputable circles than most of you guys) is that Hornady is getting pretty serious about their dies.

Grafs has most of Hornady's line (including the more esorteric models) on the shelf.

Guess I'll buy a set or two and see how straight they load. If I'm not happy I'll just praise them to heaven for several months, and then quietly list them in the classifieds.....

I have dies from most of the major companies. Overall I prefer Forsters and reddings, but Hornadys are a solid third place. There not as fancy looking as the first two and are harder to adjust but the bullet runout is just as good (.001-.003). I have quit using RCBS dies for rifles; they seem okay for handguns.

Re crimping, I doubt I move the bullet the length of the cannellure, so if done properly I doubt I do any damage. It doesn't take much movement or pressure to get a good crimp.

The much vaunted Lee crimp at full on leaves a hell of a dent/ring/ding/distortion, and it's praised? (Well if it's not done in a cannellure, that is.)

When I crimp for 30-30 in one go, sometimes by feel rather than pound on the press, any slight inaccuracy would be less than the carbine.

If for the .458wm, less than my flinch.

But for sure, doing it seperate, either system would be much easier and simpler.

quote:

I have dies from most of the major companies. Overall I prefer Forsters and reddings, but Hornadys are a solid third place. There not as fancy looking as the first two and are harder to adjust but the bullet runout is just as good (.001-.003). I have quit using RCBS dies for rifles; they seem okay for handguns.

Thanks for that feedback.

The best of all worlds might be a Forster sizer, a Redding seater (easier to see with old eyes) and the Hornady price point .

LD

quote:

The much vaunted Lee crimp at full on leaves a hell of a dent/ring/ding/distortion, and it's praised?

Not by me.............Never did understand how damaging a bullets jacket could improve accuracy nor degrade its integrity.