My 9MM sizer is sticking. A complete cleaning has no affect. Any Ideas other than buying RCBS?

My experience with TiN has not been good in drills and other things.
However 9mm dies present another problem .The taper per lengthof the 9mm parabellum is significant unlike the taper of a 45acp for example .Could that be your problem ??

Use lube.

Carbide

quote:

Originally posted by 243winxb:
Use lube.

The object of using Carbide or Titanium Nitride is to not require lube on straight wall cases such as 9MM, S&W 40, or 45APC.

Carbide does not require lube - and lube can actually carry grit that will damage the carbide die. I have always used lube wit TiN. It reduces wear but it is not as hard as carbide and it is not "self lubricating" as far as I know.

I could be wrong on the TiN as my experience with it in dies is limited.

Titanium Nitride is a coating that may wear off with heavy use. RCBS uses tungsten carbide, better IMO. Many reloaders have problems sizing 9mm because of the larger amount of taper to the brass. Lube helps Titanium. Redding makes titanium neck bushings, there Tech Line & Tips
said to use a bit of lube. And 9mm is NOT straight walled.

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quote:

Note that 9mm is NOT included.

Obviously a bad assumption on my part.

RCBS had a tech tip about sizing pistol brass. Just neck size it. In other words, you can stop sizing just past where the bullets base would sit. Being that 9mm is high pressure, more sizing is needed, but maybe not the full length of the case?? May or may not work, so only load/test a few rounds. My RCBS die is about 1/16" from touching the shell holder/plate. Hope this helps.

Over cleaning of brass may remove the surface zinc that acts as a lube when sizing. Don't over do it.

Titanium nitride is a CVD or PVD applied surface treatment that is very hard but very thin. It is a ceramic coating and when subject to high pressure it can crack or flake if the substrate material flexes. I certainly would never used it for a 9X19 die.


Tungsten carbide such as used by RCBS is a solid bushing that is pressed into the die. In the case of the 9X19 it has to be a full case length bushing to accommodate the taper. Even with the full length carbide bushing heavily expanded 9mm brass often works a little easier if some lube is applied now and then. If you have as TiN die I would use a little lube with it too. You will also want to use very clean and polished brass for best results.

While I am sure the companies using TiN for bushings and sizing dies had the best intentions for their customers a 9X19 sizer is probably not a good idea.
The TiN probably is a good thing for bushing used in benchrest bushing dies since the neck sizing pressures are low. However in these applications I have good results with a plain hardened steel bushing.

I think the Tin coating suppliers have sold the reloading industry a bottle of snake oil when applied to sizing dies - especially the 9X19.

Many cheap drill sets use TiN coating nowadays and the TiN does absolutely nothing for them, they are still cheap drill sets and a waste of money. I would imagine this will apply to dies too.

This has been most enlightening. Appreciate all the input. Should get the die back from Hornady in a week, although not sure what I will do with it.

Looking for an RCBS set.

Send the die back to Hornady.

1-800-338-3220

No risk lifetime warranty.

We seem to have posted at the same time. You already sent it back.

I use that same die. The only time I've had problems with cases sticking, I didn't use lube. I sure hope that using lube wont mess up the die!!??

I talked to Tech support at Hornady and he said he does not use lube and does not have a sticking problem. I told him I tried their cast lube which made the operation easier. At that point he asked me to send him the die, no mention of lube harming the die.

IMHO purchase a Lee carbide die and your problems will be over. My RCBS carbide die failed to resize the case down to specs (as verified by a Lyman case sizing gauge).

Another possible solution would be to tumble clean and shine your brass before resizing. Brass tends to re-size easier when they are shined up before hand.

Yea Kevin, all my brass is run through the walnut shells. Also have used corn cobb media, no difference.

Shootshellz, I have a Lee Carbide coming Wednesday. I called Hornady today was was told it would be 2 weeks????? They sure are not fixing the die,who knows, glad I ordered the Lee as I shot up my 9MM ammo yesterday.