HEY'
I am wondering,if anyone shares the same experience,with Hornady Dies.I purchased a 6mmBR New Dimension Hornady Die Set.When I received it,I took it apart and cleaned it,as I do with all my dies.I reassembled it,and commenced to size some brass.I use a brush with Imperial Sizing lube,in the necks,to reduce friction.On my first pass,the entire decapping and expander assembly,was pull out by the case.I sent the set back to Hornady,requesting,an explanation,what would cause this.Has anyone had this same experience?
1geejay
www.shooting-hunting.com

i always clean the whole die, that includes the decapping rod and the friction nut that holds it. from my experience, it takes a bit of torque to hold the decapping rod in place. after trying to decap military brass with other die sets and numerous decapping pin bendings, i perfer the hornady system. no complaints from me

[ 01-23-2003, 16:15: Message edited by: exsanguinate ]

I dont have any experience w/hornady rifle dies but I have a set of new dimension .44 mag.dies and I am very pleased with them.They do a great job.w/regards

I had a set for one day so there are none here to check but I think the decaping assembly must be tight to stay in the holder. Perhaps that's the problem? I think the RCBS Reloader Special dies may be a similar design.

I sent them back because the seating die is universal for that caliber and not unique to the cartridge and it does not align the case with any precision. The bullet alignment system is designed wrong also!

The design of the expanding button is good I thought.

Overall these dies are junk.

I have a couple sets of Hornady dies, and I agree that the friction nut idea is not the highest on my list either.

same goes for RCBS friction type dies.

I like dies with threads and nuts better.

Tuesday I replaced my Hornady 270 dies with RCBS for this very same reason. Forget to lube one neck and the tension drags the whole stem out, and it is a bitch to fix. The RCBS were going for R300 (a steal) Normally they retail at R600.

Pete

YOU CAN'T HAVE ( but I guess you don't want) MY HORNADY DIES. i LOVE EM. Yes you have to put some torque on the stem nut. BUT not too long ago I took some .243 brass and used my 7mm hornady dies to take them to .284 and then my .308 hornady dies and took them to .308. AND the stem didn't move! Once you get the stem set right you can make AS GOOD OF AMMO with the hornady dies as you can with an expensive set of foresters. I know cause I own many sets of both.
I might not be so in love with the hornady except for that wonderful elipitical expander that goes through the case mouth like butter.
Last batch of 10 winchester cases for my .308 producesd 8 rounds at .001" and under and (1) at .002" and one at .0025". That was loaded ammo and it just doesn't get better than that.

1GEEJAY: Have you checked the diameter of the flash holes in the brass you are using, and the diameter of the decapping pin in the Hornady die you are having problems with?

In 6BR, I’d guess that you are using either Norma or Lapua cases? With both of these brands, the diameter of the flash holes in the 6BR (and 220 Russian and/or 6PPC) cases is often only about 1/16in, sometimes less. Your problem might simply be the pin getting stuck in the flash holes. This happened to me once, with some Lapua cases with what seemed to be extra-small flash holes. (though I was not using a Hornady die - it was another brand which already had a smaller than usual pin)

I don’t have a lathe, so I chucked the pin in my drill press, set it turning at high speed, and reduced the diameter of the lower section of it about 0.005in with a Dremel. The pin wasn’t very hard, so a sharpening stone or even a file instead of a Dremel may have done the job, too. Evan

1GEEJAY,

My only experience with Honardy dies is for my .50AE. I must lub all cartridges like rifle cartridges. Excpet that my Hornady dies are better thna my Lee dies.

Funny , I have necked up hundreds of 06 cases to .35 Whelen with a Hornaday die and it works great . Doesn't slip a bit . I think some of you limp wristed fellows need some exercise and a good set of wrenches ..........

I love my all my Hornady dies.

After I discovered them I dumped all my RCBS dies straight into the garbage. That decap friction has saved my day more than once where the RCBS on will just bend and break right when it�s most inconvenient. If it slips I just press the case back up and tighten it up. This has happened maybe twice in 15-20 years. I have bent and broken at least half a dozen of the threaded ones. I never lube my case necks on the inside. The Hornady�s elliptical expander is the smoothest one of its kind and the seating die is superior to most of them. It�s also very easy on the necks compared to the abrupt edges on the others.

The seating die has a neat floating shell holder that perfectly aligns the case and the bullet before any seating pressure is applied. I end up with near perfect zero runout every time.

I have a set of Hornady dies for the 270Wby and they work Great.. No problems at all.

The idea is to really crank down on the collet/nut. The internal geometry of the collet, when tightened sufficiently, is such to still allow upward movement of the assembly. The point is to eliminate broken decapping pins.

On my first pass,the entire decapping and expander assembly,was pull out by the case.I sent the set back to Hornady,requesting,an explanation,what would cause this.Has anyone had this same experience?
1geejay

YOU MUST tighten the collet on top.
Once you accomplist this your problem is solved.
Before you took it apart it was VERY tight.....Remember?

Fireball

[ 01-26-2003, 02:37: Message edited by: Fireball ]

Do they have a separate decaping pin or is it part of the stem like Lee dies???