What do you guys think of Hornadays seater dies with that slideing piece, compared to redding or RCBS type seater dies for seating a bullet staight/?

The hornaday seems like the case could be off center while starting the bullet into the case compared to Reddings but I only have one set of Hornaday dies for a 9.3. Most of my dies are redding

Gidday JD,

Are you loading for hunting or benchrest? I use Hornady seating dies (223Rem & 243Win)and shoot non-competitive benchrest; in other words for fun. The Hornady dies produce cartridges that are probably better than my limited skills could shoot. But, I've not seen any competitive benchresters loading at the range with Hornady anything!

the alignment sleeve, as its called, is slightly odd to get used to. Then you figure out that you don't crush as many cases, and begin to like it

That goes for fingers as well.

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What do you guys think of Hornadays seater dies with that slideing piece

That Hornady seater is simply a VERY cheap copy of the bonanza seater. By cheap I mean poorly done, sloppy fit of the sleeve to the die, and then a loose fit to the bullet.

I was wanting low run-out on some match .223 I was loading. The best the Hornady could do was .004-.006! That's with new lapua cases/nosler 69 match bullets. So I got the RCBS window seater. Again not much improvement. Now with my new forster seater, no run-outs over .002! Ya just never know til you try it.

I have no problems with it once I started keeping my fingers clear. However, it isn't what I would call a competition die.

Grizz thats what I noticed with the naked eye, runout. I am thinking when I anealed this 20ct batch of brass I got them to hot and the necks are too soft. But still the loose hornaday dies seems it would cause more runout than my reddings

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Originally posted by vapodog:

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What do you guys think of Hornadays seater dies with that slideing piece

I have the Creedmoor dies and

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That Hornady seater is simply a VERY cheap copy of the bonanza seater. By cheap I mean poorly done, sloppy fit of the sleeve to the die, and then a loose fit to the bullet.

Actually, the Hornady short sliding sleeve is a more of a slightly modified copy of the Lyman PA seaters from the 60s. They died then because they cost a bit more than conventional seaters but did no better. Still don't.

Ditto RCBS' short seeve 'side loading window' seaters are copies of the Vickerman and a Herter's seater from the same period, same disappearence, for the reasons you give.

Bonanza developed the spring loaded, full body-straight line seaters during the same period and it did/does great work. Forster eventually bought Bonanza but still make their seaters the original way.

After the patients expired, Redding copied it and there is no functional difference between them. Only they can justify the labels of "BR" or "competition" seaters. All of the others are distant wantabees, on average they're no better than any convientional seaters, IMHO. After all, standard seaters really do quite well.

The big advantage to Hornady's seating die is to Hornady. They don't have to make cartridge-specific seating dies, just several die body lengths and different caliber inserts. If you check a die parts chart, they use the same part number seating die for several different cartridges of the same caliber.

Bruce

Bruce, you have that "advantage" right!

The old Lyman PA (for Precision Alignment)seater I mentioned above even eliminated the need for various body lengths. They had a two piece die body that could be screwed in or out, like a telescope, to compensate for most any length of cartridge. Their sliding bullet guide/chamber could also be swapped for most any bullet diameter.

The only die set I could find for my 20 VT reloading was the Hornady. Redding is the only other one(of the big 4or5)that makes a seating die for the 20 VT.They sell for about $130.00.

On occasion my Hornady(20 VT)seating die will damage the case when starting to seat the bullet. Of course you can salvage the bullet etc
but not your frayed nerves.

I have learned thru bitter experience that I can
"feel" if the bullet is not starting properly and do a little jiggling.

I think the 'one fits all' is the culprit.

All my other die sets are Redding and Forster so don't know about other calibers.

If I ever can find a Redding seating die (20 VT) for a lot less than $130 I will buy it.

Yes the tapered base bullets work better but are not problem free.

berylh

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On occasion my Hornady(20 VT)seating die will damage the case when starting to seat the bullet.

Sounds like what happened with my 9.3 x57. These speer 270gr bullets have a "sharp edge" base with no roundness or taper to ease into the neck.

I pulled the bullets and powder on the 10 bad reloads and resized the brass, ran the brass in and out of the die 10 times in attempt to work hard the soft necks. Chamfered the inside of the necks some more and seated bullets again , but was real carful starting them. They look alittle beter
The hornaday seater dies are just crap

The seating die does feel funny to use, but at least I can load .450 Nitro Express 3 1/4" in my 35+ year old Rockchucker without unscrewing the seating die.

As to runout, I'm loading these for a double rifle with express sights, so I don't require benchrest quality.

RCBS wants more than twice as much for a file trim die than I paid for the whole Hornady set.

Redding is top line and my choice for single shot pistols or rifles but they don't make enough for revolvers.
That means only Hornady for revolvers and they make the most accurate loads of any dies.
I wish Redding would move more into making BR quality dies for the revolver.

It's been interesting reading all the posts with folks who hate these dies. I wonder if they have changed soemthing within the last 20 months or so. I have 4 sets of these dies, and they work flawlessly, and produce ammo with VERY LITTLE runout. I do use the KRAKY (infamous AR poster) method to 'tune' my dies, but I do this for all brands that I have.

Maybe for the first time ever I've just been lucky!