For one thing ramjet I would't think you would have to trim brass that was only shot once.You could of just got a bad set of dies.Or you might of mis cut your brass.

I just recently tried to load 50 Hornets using once fired Remington Brass . This brass came from a box of loaded ammo I bought from Walmart .I neck sized these with a Lee collet die after after trimming and tumbling . I load 13.3grs AA1680 with a 40 gr. Nozzler BT (Continder Carbine).Of the 50 rounds 5 would not hold bullets . My guess is there is some inconsistancy in the Remington brass .Any thoughts or comments? The accuracy of these loads was similar to what I have been getting using Win. brass .I have not had any problems with Win. brass.

Combination of Collet die and brass. As much as I like the Collet dies, they can be irritatingly inconsistent about sizing brass sufficiently to hold the bullet. Work-hardened brass is obvious, but sometimes you get the above result with brass you believe should be almost new. Why? Don't know.

What you can do is either polish down your mandrel (chuck it in a drill), or order an undersize mandrel from Lee (about $5). That normally does the trick, although I sometimes wonder for how long? The Collet die instructions contain advice on how much to polish down the mandrel - is it something like .001" - can't remember. Once you size part of the brass with the undersized mandrel, I would size it all the same way.

The Collet die works the brass a lot less than most dies. I'm sure that contributes to the excellent results people get with these dies. The drawback is what you have experienced, sometimes one has problems getting the necks to hold the bullets - for no apparent reason. Or maybe there is a reason, and I just have not caught onto it??

- mike

I've always full length resized with regular dies and had positive results. Not to step above my experience, but I understand that some people have not been able to get as much powder into a WW brass as other brands. I've not had a problem with any of my brass, but if that's true then maybe the Remington brass is slightly thinner at the neck. Just a guess as I've never researched this aspect of the .22 Hornet case.

My small comparison of Win. and Rem. brass(1 lot of each) revealed that the Rem. brass was heavier and had thicker necks. They also had much less consistant neck wall thickness. Don't put a lot of weight on this though, both lots were over 20 years old when this was done.

As to the issue at hand, you need a slighly smaller mandrel, and I'd order one rather than turn the one you have down. Measure it and ask Lee for one that is .001 smaller. It will give you more latitude in dealing with different brass in the future. The neck tension the Lee collet dies create in the brass is to some degree affected by the neck wall thickness of the brass you're using. The only other issue that may influence this is work hardened brass which will not size as well. If this is the issue, annealing will cure the problem. BTW, I'm not going to take the time to check the manuals but your load, but it seems like it's max or close to it. If that is the case, you may need to anneal.

The necks on most Hornet brass are indeed very thin. In order to get proper neck tension you may have to get a smaller mandrel or turn down your existing one. One trick you might try (and I do this with all my Lee Collet dies) is to rotate the brass one-eighth revolution after the first pass through the die (without removing the brass from the shellholder) then size it again. This results in tighter, more uniform necks in any caliber and quickly becomes second nature in using this die. Also, be sure that your die is adjusted so that the press ram cams over T.D.C. ever so slightly just to make sure that you are transfering maximum force to the die collet.

Hello Ramjet. There are noticeable differences between R&P and Win. brass, in rim thickness, base diameter, and neck thickness. You must be sensitive to the resistance involved in seating bullets when loading, and sort the loaded rounds accordingly. They will shoot to a little different impact, but if you test before shooting varmints of targets you soon get accustomed to tweaking your scope a little. If your loads are at the top, become sensitive to primer seating pressure also. I never punched a hole in a hornet primer but I have made many leak, and I find the pockets enlarge and leak rather than the the cases otherwise self destructing. On brass like this, fired a few times, shoot it up, because it won't hold neck tension very long and then your work is wasted by accuracy going north. I always remind hornet shooters that the SAAMI standards have moved downwards several times now and published data IS anemic. I usually load WW296 and the like, and enjoy the Hornet. Lastly Rem. 6/2 primers seem to do better for me than pistol primers. Good Shooting, ned

Hello. I did not anneal any hornet brass and after 3-4 loads, used to load several 100 in total for next years hornet shooting and when I shot some of them late in the year the accuracy had changed compared to the batch fired only once. I think this happens with my .25-20 also, again thin brass, so in these I changed to an anticipated 3 month supply. No problem in 5.56 but I never load more than 3 times total before discarding and they are much thicker. Necks on my .17 (formed always from new .223 Win brass, not annealed, crack after being loaded a year also), but this is very stressful forming and neck reaming I think. Absolutely a rare instance in many, many calibers I reload, but if you shoot much you will see neck cracking in lots of surplus, but only 1 or 2 of hundreds in a lot. I rarely crimp loads, but the military almost always does. I don't think properly annealed new brass will lose neck tension except over a long, long time, but worked brass will. ***You know some hornet brass is work hardening out of the batch you are working when you start to notice the bullets that seat very easily. The others will soon lose tension.*** Some of my loads are "hot" but sensible and I don't worry about brass lasting x times anymore. Its velocity, accuracy,safety, not brass salvage that's important.

Oh, and just one more thing about the Lee Collet die: The "petals" of the collet can have shavings or other material stuck in between them which prevents them from fully closing. Remove your collet and check for foreign material (or unremoved metal shavings). If you clean up your collet, it may squeeze your brass more firmly.

I have read reports where old reloads put up for many years suffered a high percentage of split necks. It was assumed the brass changed over time. The exact reason wasn't known for sure but one writer suspected that the brass reacted with primer/powder residues over time that are in the pores of the metal even after cleaning. This was different than work hardening that is immediate. Anyone know more about this?

I reload around 1,500 Hornet rounds a year. I started off with a Lee collet die, but just didn't find it very consistant. I tried many of the suggestions in this posting, but it never really gave me the warm fuzzies of consistancy.

I now use a Redding die set and neck size and decap in the same stroke. It provides a very consistant size. I dip the neck of every three or four cases in graphite for lube to reduce die wear and stretching. Part of this success may be that I bought 500 pieces of brass at once of the same manufacturing lot in an effort to reduce the physical variability of this "fragile" case.

I am currently on my 7th use of RP brass and have not had a case seperation. (yet!) One thing I do use to assure very consistant bullet tension is the Lee rifle crimp die after the bullet is seated. I think I paid all of $8 for it through Midway/Midsouth/Natchez (don't remember who).

Through testing with my Chrony, the rifle crimp die has reduced standad deviation significantly. I am very careful with powder charges and the crimp die really helped support my efforts for a very tight velocity band.

Best $8 I ever invested (in a die that is) !

Dino, just read your post. As you might tell from my "board name", I absolutely love the .22 Hornet! I don't know exactly how many reloads I get out of my brass, I sort of stopped counting after 5 or 6. I do use the Lee neck sizing die and have had excellent results with mine. When I first purchased it, I polished .001" off it and that made a remarkable difference in consistency. Then like you, I purchased the Lee factory crimp die and I am sure beyond any doubt that that was the best $8.00 I ever spent on a piece of equipment. My groups went from 1" - 1 1/2" before crimping to 3/4" to 1" after crimping at 100yrds. I get the best results with 40gr v-max, 13.4gr Lil'Gun, Winchester Brass, WSR Primers and seated to 1.900". The velocity is right at 3000fps. Thanks

Any of you guys ever try 11.4 grs of AA #9C with a 40 gr. Vmx & a small Pistol primer? It's very accurate in my TC Hornet with the 21" Barrel and the MV is right at 3000 fps. Godsdog.