Anyone else having trouble with the expander being too SHORT to let you expand at "full" stroke?

My expander says "hornady 45 cal rifle" and is non-adjustable other than overall seating depth. WIth ONE thread holding it in my die, it GROSSLY over expands the lott brass

jeffe

Are you using the Forster press? Seems someone with a Co-Ax recently had a similar problem with a Hornady seating die. Hornady replaced the die body. Don't know how to fix your situation since Hornady only makes the single die for all .45 caliber rifles, but they may have a remedy.

This is not a die or expander problem.This is the larger, ruger thoat that is working the neck of the brass too much.

Shootaway, You don't have the slightest clue what you are talking about here.

Jeffeosso you aren't the only one with a bad set of Hornady 458 Lott dies. My set of Hornady 458 Lott dies was totally incapable of loading a single round of ammo due the same problem you had. In 4 different presses the expander die grossly overbells the mouth of the case - it's not a forster press thing, it's incompetant engineering at Hornady.
I bought a set of Redding's and of course have had zero problems since......................DJ

DJ, thanks for the info. I have a note into Hornady to ask. The press is an RCBS Supreme, and I've got the seated out nearly as far as humanly possible. I CAN use it, by feel, but not by full stroke .. which is something I plan on doing with my LnL AP .. in fact, HAVE to do, to make it work.

Interestingly enough, hornady now has a new part number for their newest lott dies set .. I'll find out monday or tuesday

I love hornady dies, and have them on nrealy everything I own that they make, including the AR wildcats ..

that being said, I am not against getting a different expander if I need to

I don't know if were speaking of the same issue.It sure sounds like it.I had expanded cases come out the same way, except when they were fire from another rifle ,a CZ lott.

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:
I don't know if were speaking of the same issue.It sure sounds like it.I had expanded cases come out the same way, except when they were fire from another rifle ,a CZ lott.

oh, wow --- no george, we aren't talking about chamber variaions

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:
q on hornady 458 Lott dies

Anyone else having trouble with the expander being too SHORT to let you expand at "full" stroke?

My expander says "hornady 45 cal rifle" and is non-adjustable other than overall seating depth. WIth ONE thread holding it in my die, it GROSSLY over expands the lott brass

jeffe

Just talked to hornady -- told me that might be the short body, and to send it in, and they'll replace it with long body.

nuttin to do with a ruger, shoo

Not to hijack your thread but I have a question along the same lines. I am a pretty experienced handloader but for the first time loading for the straight wall case in .458 Win Mag. I thought the expander die was just to flare the neck as the case w/ a pistol die but find that when I seat the bullets they are VERY MUCH visible in the case. If I use the expander in this manner I have to nearly screw the expander it self nearly out of the die. My accuracy is absolutely great w/ the loads loaded in this manner. I am no BS keeping 450gn X-bullets inside of an inch at 100yds. My friend says I should use it for my woodchuck rifle this year. I am not getting any sooting or anything to make me think that I am not getting a good seal. Thanx for any help. Also the die set is a probably 25 year old set of RCBS that were brand new.

K20350,this is exactly what I've experienced with the Lott.I used the same die for both of my Lotts and only get cases whose bullets are visible in the mouths with the cases fired from my Ruger.If it was a die problem,then both cases expanded from both rifles would show this.

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:
Just talked to hornady -- told me that might be the short body, and to send it in, and they'll replace it with long body.

nuttin to do with a ruger, shoo

I don't think they or you, know what you are saying.

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:
Just talked to hornady -- told me that might be the short body, and to send it in, and they'll replace it with long body.

nuttin to do with a ruger, shoo

I don't think they or you, know what you are saying.

You are correct..

And it is the expander die being too short causing my issues whilest loading.

I do not flare my .458 Winchester cases when loading. I chamfer with a .50 caliber VLD chamfer tool from Lyman. With the Lott. I ordered a set of RCBS .458 Lott dies with a spare seater from Huntington's. I then made up a dummy round which I sent with a check to Lee. They made up a factory crimp die for the .458 Lott. I threw away the Lee lock ring and replaced it with a Hornady lock ring. Again, I do not flare the case mouth with the Lott or the Winchester. Just a promenent inside chamfer is sufficient to allow seating without bulging (collapsing) the case. Try it.

I always have at least two seaters for the calibers where a soft and a solid is required. Less monkey business required.

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:
Just talked to hornady -- told me that might be the short body, and to send it in, and they'll replace it with long body.

nuttin to do with a ruger, shoo

I don't think they or you, know what you are saying.

You are correct..

And it is the expander die being too short causing my issues whilest loading.

Jeffe
Why do you bother to post here or call Hornaday when you could just PM shootaway directly?


If I get a chance I am going to send you a "greatest hits" PM in a day or two.

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:
Just talked to hornady -- told me that might be the short body, and to send it in, and they'll replace it with long body.

Just send it back to Hornady, or to someone's attention @ Hornady???

I get about 2 1/4 turns on my Rockchucker.

Keith

Keith - I sent them in, with a note explaining that I could not use this expander, and asked if they check to see if it was the "short body"


Hornady called today, tey said yes indeed it was the wrong expander, as that one was designed for the 458 winmag/45/70, and the would correct that and get it out.

I am pretty darn certain the die maker, with the dies in hand, did have a CLUE what they are talking about. Which means, well, SOMEONE in this VILLAGE has no idea what was happening..
1, 2, 3 -- not it

The 458wm and lott take the same expander,so I don't know what he is talking about?

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:
The 458wm and lott take the same expander,so I don't know what he is talking about?

No you obviously don't and also are completely unfamiliar with the way you setup the expander on a Hornady die. But look at the bright side you make everyone else in the Village know that they aren't the one.....................DJ

quote:

Originally posted by djpaintles:
But look at the bright side you make everyone else in the Village know that they aren't the one.....................DJ

LMAO!!

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:
SOMEONE in this VILLAGE has no idea what was happening..

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:
... I don't know what he is talking about?

any comment on my part would just be gilding the lily, wouldn't it?

dies arrived .. expander marked 458 LOTT ... previous expander was marked "458 rifle", and was, at hornady's word, an "early set that may have received a 458 winmag/45/70 expander" ...

If it works please let me know if it works and perhaps who I need to talk to to get mine fixed also......................DJ

The expander plug on my redding 458 lott and 458wm dies are the same.I've used one for the other to try and correct the bulge in the neck of the lott cases and it didn't work.So unless the Hoernady dies are different then the issue may be the neck chamber dimensions.It should be a simple thing to figure out.You could see how far down the neck you are sizing with your first expander plug.It should be able to expand the case neck for the length of the bullet.If it doesn't,you obviosly have the wrong plug and you don't need to call the company for that.

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:
The expander plug on my redding 458 lott and 458wm dies are the same.I've used one for the other to try and correct the bulge in the neck of the lott cases and it didn't work.So unless the Hoernady dies are different then the issue may be the neck chamber dimensions.It should be a simple thing to figure out.You could see how far down the neck you are sizing with your first expander plug.It should be able to expand the case neck for the length of the bullet.If it doesn't,you obviosly have the wrong plug and you don't need to call the company for that.

If you had half enough intelligence to read the other posts on this thread you would have realized that HORNADY DIES ARE DIFFERENT! Their expander plug is fixed and you control the amount of casemouth bell by how far you screw the die into the press. Some of the early 458 Lott dies were sent with the wrong fixed plug expander.

If you want to be a legitimate poster you should learn to not comment on things you obviously know nothing about - which is most of time...................................DJ

DJ
he's part of our village -- and cements his position with nearly every post..

the dies work great, and allow me to set them up properly ... happy day!