I noticed that the sizing ring on my Hornady die (40 S&W) looked dirty. I tried cleaning it, and lo! It was brass buildup from the cases! I researched further and found out that Hornady inserts are Titanium Nitride COATED! Other die makers use SOLID carbide inserts. Based on my experience with nitride coated drill bits, it helps over steel, but the coating wears off and then it is junk. Not worth the extra $$ in that application, IMHO!

Anyone have experiences with both materials and know of differences? Should the nitride dies be building up? It has about 2000 cases through it, and gets a tiny amount of case lube when I am sizing. I get a drop of lube on the fingers I pick up and feed cases with, and it does help sizing force in my ancient single stage press.

CDH - I only have one set of Hornady Nitride dies, for a .41 Mag, and I've probably loaded about 1,500 rds in these dies. I've never been terribly impressed with them. In my opinion, there's no comparison between true carbide insert dies and the Hornady Nitride. Get the carbide everytime for anything you plan to load a lot of.

My hornady dies are doing the same to me. I was sizing 44 rem mag cases and noticed it was extremely difficult to size so I got a Q-tip and put a dab of oil inside the die. It got much easier to resize the cases but after about five or six cases it would get tight again. RCBS here i come.

I have used one set of Carbide dies in 38 Spl/357 for about 20 years. Must have loaded 20-30,000 rounds through them, maybe more. Never had a problem. Many cases have gone in the die in an as fired condition from the range. That is with wax/lead residue on the outside. I won't put a dirt covered case in any die. Never Sometimes I have to clean the inside of the die out as gunk builds up around the decapping pin and above the carbide insert. Never had any brass build up on the carbide insert.

With carbide such a satisfactory material, I don't see any reason to experiment with Nitride.

Hornady shows a lifetime warranty. Would this cover the Nitride coating coming off?

quote:

Originally posted by CDH:
I noticed that the sizing ring on my Hornady die (40 S&W) looked dirty. I tried cleaning it, and lo! It was brass buildup from the cases! I researched further and found out that Hornady inserts are Titanium Nitride COATED! Other die makers use SOLID carbide inserts. Based on my experience with nitride coated drill bits, it helps over steel, but the coating wears off and then it is junk. Not worth the extra $$ in that application, IMHO!<br /><br />Anyone have experiences with both materials and know of differences? Should the nitride dies be building up? It has about 2000 cases through it, and gets a tiny amount of case lube when I am sizing. I get a drop of lube on the fingers I pick up and feed cases with, and it does help sizing force in my ancient single stage press.

As to differences, I suspect you might find the following:

1. Solid carbide is usually finished much more smoothly than the nitride treated dies (and/or bushings) on the market.

2. Nitride is a much less expensive approach for the manufacturer than making & installing (cementing in) a carbide die liner in a steel die. He can then either reduce the price a lot and sell more of them for a larger profit, or he can reduce the price a little and get a larger bottom line with fewer sales.

3. Nitride coated dies are much less likely to break if dropped on a hard floor.

4. Carbide dies usually require NO lubricant. Not always true of nitrided dies.

5. It is possible to easily nitride coat a die for a bottle-necked case...not very practical to make solid carbide dies for bottle-necked cases. (Neither is always desirable.)

There's likely other differences as well, they just don't pop to mind at the moment.

I use hornady nitride sizing die for 45 colt, and it works fine. Yes it gets dirty if I run dirty brass through it, and yes it is easier with lube, but the same is true of my carbide dies.

Nitride coatings were developed for cutting steel, so I doubt brass is going to wear them out anytime soon.

Supposedly, the smoothest finished sizing dies are the reddings. They use titanium carbide rather than tungsten carbide, which has a rougher grain structure. I have not tried any myself.

I like the hornady seater dies best, especially for the money, and I usually just use the sizer die that comes with them.