Howdy,

Well, I'm no amateur. I've been doing this for 40 years+, and turned out some super ammunition. I've solved all kinds of problems, but this one has me buffaloed. I can't get anything better than .007 to .009 inch neck runout with Hornady New Dimension dies, that came HIGHLY recommended. The problem is that the spindle inside is held in place by a collet, and I can't for the life of me get it straight and tight. If I get it straight, when I go to tighten it it moves and it sure is frustrating. Anybody got any suggestions as to how to set these rascals up for the least neck runout???

Thanks,

Coach

Howdy again,

A little update, by taking the expander ball completely off the spindle and just neck sizing (outside only) I have found the problem. The best I could do without the expanding ball installed was .009. That tells me that the neck is machined off center. The press is a Forster/Bonanza with the standard jaw shell holder that has produced .000 on lots of other dies, so I know thats not the problem. Anybody got suggestions.

Coach

I would talk to Hornaday and I think they would replace the sizing die for you . I have a number of their die sets , and all have produced accurate ammo for me ...

Personally, I'd throw the sizing die in the garbage can and get a new one from Redding or RCBS. That stupid collet on the decapping pin drives me nuts Their seating die isn't too bad.

R-WEST

I just got and sent back a set of Hornady dies for the 7mm WSM. I don't recall if they were "New Dimension" or what.

The dies produced .005" runout. The seating die is a universal die for 7mm. It's the wrong design. It does not support the case.

I would not touch Hornady dies with an eleven foot pole. However I do have some of their carbide expanding button sets for RCBS dies.

The seating die doesn't have to support the case . It has to line up the case neck with the bullet , which it does.( presuming the neck is straight with the rest of the case)

As for the decapping stem collet , get some wrenches that fit and bear down on things , it will stay put where you set it .

The Hornaday dies may not be top of the line , comparable to say Reddings , but they are a good product for the money . For several reasons ,I prefer them to RCBS dies that I have used in the last few years ......

[ 09-16-2002, 19:13: Message edited by: sdgunslinger ]

Howdy,

sdgunslinger, I would like to know the reasons you prefer the Hornady dies to RCBS. I was told they were good dies, but I am interested in your opinion as well. Please explain.

Coach

I hate the collet system. I tightened my set with a two pair of vice grips, the damn rod would still go back up into the case after 30 or 40 rounds. The best thing about them is the tapered expander ball for necking rounds up.

Jim

[QUOTE]Originally posted by sdgunslinger:
[QB]The seating die doesn't have to support the case .

Coach , several RCBS dies I have used in recent years have had really rough expander buttons that tended to excessively strech the necks . They also seemed to be lacking in the quality of RCBS stuff I have used from ten years or more ago , and seemed to produce less accurate ammo .

I much prefer the seating die in the Hornadays , in spite of mr Don , , and also really like the elliptical expander in the Hornadays . It is very smooth in operation and works great for necking up cases .

Vicegrips won't work for tightening the decapping stem collet , you need real wrenches that actually fit the dies to get it tight enough .

[ 09-16-2002, 21:44: Message edited by: sdgunslinger ]

I've got about 4 sets of hornady dies--I may be lucky but somehow I've got all 4 sets making as good of ammo as my foresters. I just won a .308 blr in a raffel and ordered........you guessed it....hornady's. I'll let you know if this 5th set let me down. I work at a John Deere store and showed them to the mechanics at lunch break. I explained how these dies work and asked them to guess how much a set is. The average guess was $85.00. They were shocked when I told them $18.00. Maybe that's part of the problem we're experiencing here!!

Kraky,

I've bought a helluva lot of John Deere parts in 30 years of farming. I can understand why the JD mechanics would guess the cost of dies the way the do, since I usually think an $85 John Deere part ought to cost about $18! At least Hornaday doesn't slop that damn green paint in the threads.

Howdy again,

Thanks for the reply Mr. gunslinger. I too like the elliptical expander. I thought the collet was a good idea, but this one just does not cooperate. I did use the proper wrenches and every trick I know of to set the expander. It just moved every time I tried to tighten that collet. I have another set of Hornady dies in .340 Weatherby that make good ammo!!! I think this sizer die must have been a cull.
This is one nice forum!!! Thanks for all the replies.

Coach

Coach Hunt,
I don't think much of the Hornady dies, but there may be another cause for your problem. Tightening the lock ring on a die can misalign the die to the axis of the press ram. I've had this problem and this is how I solved it. I raise the press ram and adjust the die until it touches the shell holder, then lower the ram slightly, and screw the die in about 1/8 of a turn and raise the ram again. The ram should "break over the top". With the ram raised, I tighten the locking ring as tight as possible with a wrench and lock it in place. After lowering the ram I lossen the die and tighten it by hand. I do all depriming with a universal depriming die. When sizing, I lower the case about half the length of the neck and screw the expander button up until it contacts the case. The next step is too lower the case onto the expander button and still have about 1/4th of the neck still in the die, and then tighten the expander button stem. This forces the die to be in alignment with the axis of the ram, and the bore as well. This has eliminated my problems with runout. With the seating die, I screw it down on a metal shim spacer so the crimp ring doesn't touch the case neck and my seating die is in alignment. If I donot wish for the sizing die to touch the ram, I'll screw the sizing die down to the same metal shim spacer resting on the shell holder. It's kind of a pain to do all this but it does make a difference.
Now that I'm changing over to Redding competition dies, I'm still using the spacer shim. One thing you may try is to tighten your dies by hand and observe how it tightens. If the die is properly aligned, it should come to a dead stop all at once. If misaligned once the die lock ring touches the top of the press, the die will still turn a little. I hope that this is of some help. Good luck.

[ 09-17-2002, 06:00: Message edited by: BigBob ]

Big Bob:

If your method of die set up works for you, that's fine. The problem I see is that you are assuming (depending on) the shellholder face to be square and at 90 degrees to the axis of the ram and also the bottom face of the die to be square and at 90 degrees to the axis of the die. I'm not so sure I trust these two features to be closer to true than the threads of the die and press.

Anyway, as I say, if it works for you . . .

Had the same runout problem with a Hornady neck sizing die. Solved the
problem by getting the Lee 3-die set. No longer have the runout
problem and accuracy improved (surprise, surprise). I will, however, try
BigBob's suggestion.