Has anyone ever encountered a set of bad dies? I am not talking about a perticular problem with a certain style or brand, but rather a set of dies that had something wrong with them such as manufacturer defects.

The reason I asked is because I just purchased a set of Dillon 30-06 dies, and I am having problems with the sizing die. The cases were once fired,polished in treated corn cob, and lubed with Dillon Case Lube. I realize that some resistance is felt in the sizing operation, but the resistance felt here is tremendous, and followed by loud squeeking from the expander. I tried 2 different cases before re-lubing the cases and trying another. The results were still the same.

So, what do you think? Am I missing something here or is it possibly a bad set of dies?

I have ran into a lot of problems but they were mostly minor.
I would first ask if you cleaned your new dies out to get rid of the rust preventative. Sometimes it is gooey and could cause your problem.
Sometimes dies are not polished very well and they cause a bit of drag when sizing. More often than not the first two or 3 cases can be a bit difficult to size until the sizer interior gets a full coating of lube.
You don't say how much loading you have done but you might start out with some clean cases that you consider sacrificial. If you get a bit of excess lube and dent them it will be no big loss. After a bit of practice you will get a feel for how much lube to use for reasonable sizing without denting or pulling the rims off.
If you continue have trouble with your dies just call Dillion. They have excellent customer service.

What you are hearing is the expander ball dragging thru the case neck. Using RCBS's lube brush, or an old bore brush, lube the neck with graphite, motor mica, or as a last resort case lube. When I use case lube, I tumble my cases twice so as not to contaminate the new reloads. It shortens media life, but media is cheap. Generally, the least amount of lube necessary works best as too much will dent the case at its shoulder.

P.S. Be sure to shake canned and liquid spray lubes well before use.

quote:

Originally posted by ireload2:
I have ran into a lot of problems but they were mostly minor.
I would first ask if you cleaned your new dies out to get rid of the rust preventative. Sometimes it is gooey and could cause your problem.
Sometimes dies are not polished very well and they cause a bit of drag when sizing. More often than not the first two or 3 cases can be a bit difficult to size until the sizer interior gets a full coating of lube.
You don't say how much loading you have done but you might start out with some clean cases that you consider sacrificial. If you get a bit of excess lube and dent them it will be no big loss. After a bit of practice you will get a feel for how much lube to use for reasonable sizing without denting or pulling the rims off.
If you continue have trouble with your dies just call Dillion. They have excellent customer service.

I have been loading for just over 2 years and own several sets of dillon dies that I have never cleaned before using for the first time. I guess I just took it for granted that they would be ready to use, considering past experience. I will try cleaning them and then go from there. Thanks!

Even the best die manufacturers make mistakes. I have a set of Redding rifle dies for 300WSM caliber that I bought new at Sportsman's W'house and the box had been opened but everything looked new and nothing was missing. When I tried to size ammo with the sizer die the necks wouldn't hold a bullet. A .308" bullet would drop into the case with the slightest touch. I called Redding and they had me send the sizer die with 4 fired cases to them for tolerance testing. Within a little over a week I had a new sizer die and my brass back. Before you cantact Dillon you might take the stem out of the die and measure the neck ball for diameter, as it sounds, by the way you describe it, like it could possiby be to large. If it is you could use fine emery to turn it down to proper diameter by spinning the stem in a drill. If you do this go a little at time and recheck the diameter often because once the metal is removed you can't put it back on. Hope this helps.

You might consider thinning the case necks. Sometimes they have a tendency to thicken when fired. During the resizing step the exterior deminsions are brought back into conformance. If the case necks are too thick you will experience "sticking" of the expander ball when you upstroke the press handle while removing the case from the die. Try reaming the inside of the case neck before you resort to turning the outside. A good case micrometer and some simple addition will tell you a lot.

However, like you said, you could have a set of dies that are not exactly right. Clean them and check them along with everything else.

If you do thin the case necks, be careful. Removing too much material will result in not being able to seat the bullet securely.

I've always turned the outside of my case necks to "true" them up. That will help to ensure consistent tension on the bullet when it is fired.

Bull1

"...resistance is felt in the sizing operation, but the resistance felt here is tremendous,..."

Is this resistance felt during the insertion or withdrawing of the case from the die? If it's insertion, you probably need more lube, or a better one. Be certain to lube the lower portion of the case, that's where lube is most critical.

"...and followed by loud squeeking from the expander."

For relief with this you need to lube the interior of the case necks.

I've heard of a few dies being shipped in mis-marked boxes but, other than tales on the web which may or may not be factual, I know of no actual defective dies.

There are times when dies must be lapped and expanders polished or get a better die.


One sizing die had a burr and sharp edge inside around the vent hole and was gauling brass badly but not for long. roger

lube the inside of every 3rd case neck using the dillon lube on a Q-tip.

I always tumble after resize.

I've had several sets of RCBS bottleneck rifle sizing dies that were bent in the middle. I noticed this one day when I was screwing them into the press and the top swept out a circle. RCBS said they sometimes warped during heat treating replaced them no charge with a set of new dies.

I had used these dies for some time before I even noticed they were warped. Worthwhile watching the tops of your rifle dies when you screw them into the press.

i had a set of 264 dies once that were sizing the neck down to .250 and then expanding it again. Pull the expander out of the die and size a case and measure to see if it is being sized down to far

Hi!
I bought a set of Hornady dies a few weeks ago at a local gun shop for 7mm-08, when I got them home and opened them (the paper label/seal was intact), I found 300 Win. Mag. dies in the box instead! Very odd... I still can't imagine what could have gone wrong at the factory!

quote:

Originally posted by Ammo_Dog:
Has anyone ever encountered a set of bad dies? I am not talking about a perticular problem with a certain style or brand, but rather a set of dies that had something wrong with them such as manufacturer defects.

Sure, every CH4D die I've ever used.

If you're using enough lube, the expander is the correct size (I'd measure it), and the die is clean, then the die is faulty, unless your chamber is way out of spec. Have you sized fired cases from this rifle in another die?
-----------------------------------------------
"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

The lazy way is to send them back to Dillon let them check em for you !. As IReload2 stated they have " GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE " !.

They wouldn't hesitate to replace them in a New York minute , they will also REALLY CHECK THEM for you and INFORM YOU of what the problem is or was !.

I personally opt for ensuring the expander ball is in Spec. and POLISHED . Case neck lubing is a PAIN in the KEESTER to me any way . Slows everything down !.

Shoot Straight Know Your Target . ...

I take it as a given that the expander button will NEED to be "polished" either by spinning the decapping rod in a dril while burnishing the button with a piece of fine abrasive

OR running a bunch of essentially "trow away cases that you first oil then coat with fine abrasive (the red rouge dust from walnut tumbling media works well without cutting too quickly, though fie aluminum oxide works better.)

If you do not do this you'll notice that older dies have "Broken in" by doing this through use
I'm just suggesting speeding the process along a bit.

I also take it as a given that as an absolute minimum
the inside of case necks will have to be brushed...
Not with a plastic brush and graphte or motor mica, but with a stainless steel bore brush (IMO the ONLY purpose of a stainless stell bore brush is case necks) preferably dipped in case lube.

Just running a bore brush into and out of a case neck makes sizing much easier, but as I said use a stainless brush, a bronze brush will lose all it's bristles fairly when used to clean case necks.

when all else fails lube the inside of the necks and wash them before loading.

Drag from the expander button is a major cause of case stretching.

AD

What happens when you try resizing with the expander removed, is it easier?

As mentioned the squeak is from the expander, but you may still have an issue with the die so it would be good to separate the 2 problems.

Well it's all said and done with now.

I gave the sizer die a good cleaning and was amazed at all of the black crud that came out of it. I also honed the expander ball with extra fine emry paper for good measure. I just finished re-sizing 60 cases without so much as a chirp from the dies. Also, there was a big difference in the resistance felt.

As I stated previously, I have never cleaned the inside of brand new dies before, and I guess I have just been lucky. Looks like I have learned something new today! Thanks everyone for all of the responses and suggestions.

quote:

Originally posted by Ammo_Dog:
Well it's all said and done with now.

I gave the sizer die a good cleaning and was amazed at all of the black crud that came out of it. I also honed the expander ball with extra fine emry paper for good measure. I just finished re-sizing 60 cases without so much as a chirp from the dies. Also, there was a big difference in the resistance felt.

As I stated previously, I have never cleaned the inside of brand new dies before, and I guess I have just been lucky. Looks like I have learned something new today! Thanks everyone for all of the responses and suggestions.

roger

The Hornady bullet seating stem on my New Dimension .204 dies is out of alignment, causing the necks on my cases to be bent. I initially thought that my shell holder was at fault, then I used it on my mates press and he was loading with .001 runout. My Redding .280 dies load my ammo on my press with .001 - .002 runout, so its not my press out of alignment. (Lyman Orange Crusher). Actually, every press I tried the Hornady dies on, exhibited the same problem with crooked necks.

I am taking the dies back to the shop for a refund. I am waiting on my Redding Comp neck dies and shell holder to arrive over the next couple of days from Sinclair International.I'm looking forward to seeing the accuracy I have experienced before previously with these dies.

Regards,

Michael.

quote:

Originally posted by Ammo_Dog:
Well it's all said and done with now.

I gave the sizer die a good cleaning and was amazed at all of the black crud that came out of it. I also honed the expander ball with extra fine emry paper for good measure. I just finished re-sizing 60 cases without so much as a chirp from the dies. Also, there was a big difference in the resistance felt.

As I stated previously, I have never cleaned the inside of brand new dies before, and I guess I have just been lucky. Looks like I have learned something new today! Thanks everyone for all of the responses and suggestions.

I was running into the very same issue and was told that I should clean the inside of the die. Sure enough, the problem went away... I also noticed a little extra drag after cleaning with treated corn cob so I cleaned any leftover "treatment" off of the cases before resizing and that problem went away as well...

Ken....

Ammo dog where in KY I live near Cinci? Have you been to Kentucky hunting forums lots of gun talk too. I use Rcbs dies with my Dillon. Think rcbs makes better dies!

I have had a hornady die sizer that didn't size enough. they replaced it. I had a rough lee die which they replaced. I had an RCBS die decapper break. I replaced it.

everybody makes mistakes and sells a bad piece once in a while. what matters is what the seller does about it. all the reloading manufacturers I have dealt with have made it right, right away.

I have one set of Lee 30-06 dies that provide horrible runnout. I forget, maybe 7-9 thousandths.

I have used Lee dies in 308, .223, and a bunch of odd military rifle calibers, they have given me excellent results. The 308 and .223 dies, I would measure case neck runnout after sizing, and a lot of the cases were .001"

I tried changing spindles, rotating this or that, the die is a looser.

Out of the many brands, RCBS, Lyman, Redding, Bonanaza, that is the only rotten die I own.

send it back!

Once the neck is bent by an expander ball, sizer dies cannot straighten it out, as the neck engages first, and aslo it would have to be bent back. The only know fix is to fire form the bent cases in a chamber and then size without the expander ball.

Or not?

I have a pen pal who has a crummy Lee size die that is crooked. He has the orientation of the bent die marked. He marks the bend of the brass in the concentricity gauge, and then straightens the bent brass with the bent die.

Two bents can make a straight.

But personally, I have made all kinds of gizmos on the lathe to try to straighten bent necks, and I do not have anything practical at this time. I have even made two lever dies that do not size the neck until the body is fully engaged.