I'm having a strange issue with 404 Jeffery Hornady brass & wondering if any of you guys have had problems or may know the cause.

I bought some new brass from Cabelas & ran it into the sizing die to make sure the necks were straight. I almost got them stuck in the die. There was plenty of lube on the cases but it was tight going in & took both hands on the handle to get the case out of the die. After I sized them I checked to make sure they would chamber & everything was fine.

I seated a few bullets, & the same thing. Super tight going in the seater die & really had to put some ass into it to remove the case. Now they won't chamber in the rifle. I then tried new & once fired Norma brass & everything was fine.

Do you think I just have a bad batch of brass, or is something else going on?

Thanks
Euge

I've had the very same problem - and they won't chamber after resizing. Cases were sized using Redding dies. I haven't had time to work with them to see where the problem lies so any ideas are welcome.

800 338 3220

mic the base of your brass .. wanna bet it is .545, and your other stuff is undresized?

jeffeosso

I'll have to measure it tonight. What are you saying the problem is?

Necks seem kinda thick on my Hornady .300 H&H brass. Had to really put the chamfer on 'em after fully resized and length checked prior to first use.

I had the same problem with Hornady 300H&H brass. I even pulled the case head off of seven rounds. I tried different case lubes. Finally called Hornady - they had me send them the brass.....I sent them 100 rounds. Called them and they said they have received the brass and that was that. They haven't called, emailed nothing.

I switched back to my Remington 300H&H brass.....No Problems.

Hi
what about their 375 H&H cases? any problem ?
yes

I've been using their .375H&h brass with no issues.

No issues with their 458 Lott brass, either.

It seems like there was a bell on the mouth of the case after sizing, & it was still quite hard to seat the bullets. I think BNagel is onto something with thick/tight necks or something.

I packed them up & shipped them back today. It may just have been a bad lot, but I guess I'll have to stick with Norma for now. Jerking around with poor quality components kind of takes the fun out of it for me.

Thanks guys
Euge

As was identified with Bill Ruger’s #1 chambered in .404 Jeffery, I think back in the 1970's, there were a multitude of commercially acceptable cartridge and chamber specifications for that round. I feel fairly confident that Hornady’s 404 Jeffery ammunition conforms to the current May 15, 2002 CIP maximum-cartridge and minimum-chamber specifications however your chamber may not.

quote:

Originally posted by MHC_TX:
I had the same problem with Hornady 300H&H brass. I even pulled the case head off of seven rounds. I tried different case lubes. Finally called Hornady - they had me send them the brass.....I sent them 100 rounds. Called them and they said they have received the brass and that was that. They haven't called, emailed nothing.

I switched back to my Remington 300H&H brass.....No Problems.

I got a call from Hornady today.....they apologised for the delay and Mitch was real helpful.

They tested the brass hardness and it tested within spec. Mitch had resized the brass that I had returned with their Hornady dies and did not encouter any problems. He was returning my brass, plus some extras and a Hornaday resizing die. He thought my Redding resizing die might be on the tight side and maybe causing the problem. He was enclosing his card and said if I had anymore problems to give him a call.

He also said that the process that Hornady currently uses to clean (pickle) their brass tends to blunt the case mouth necks. If you chamfer the case necks it will take care of this issue. They were also looking at changing their manufacturing process to help eliminate this issue.....not a issue if you chamfer.

He said he had heard about the 404 Jeffery issue (I had emailed a link to this site yesterday) and he was wondering about the 404 Jeffery chamber deminsions.

If you have any problems/questions call them their phone # is on their website. He did say they were a little short-handed right now, hence the delay. However, they want happy customers.

Thanks Hornady/Mitch!!!

I had the same problem with my 375 ruger brass from Hornady exact same problem and I was even using the Hornady dies. I thought I might have bought a bad batch and then the next 50 i bought had the same issue
I've had nothing but bad experience with hornady reloading products, granted I've only tryed them for my 375 ruger, but I never experienced these problems with any other brand of dies or brass

I haven't tried any of the Hornady .404J brass but I have used their .416 Rigby brass with no issues. Maybe I'll by a box of the .404J stuff and see what happens. I really don't need them as I have at least 200 BELL and a bunch I made from.375RUM brass. All that I have, work without a problem.