I have a .450 NE double on the way and I am currently shopping around for reloading components. Hornady dies for the calibre seems to be the most reasonably priced but I know two guys who have experienced problems with them.

Main gripes seems to be a lack of neck tension afterwards, suggesting that the dies are either oversized or the expander ball is not the right size.

I am curious to know if anyone bought the same dies recently and have experienced the same problems or not.

Yes, and no problems; if you don't like the expander plug it is easy to make smaller.

Yes and problems. Not really the best dies for the money.

Interesting; I have at least ten sets of Hornady dies....no issues. What is your specific problem?

Not strictly related to the .450 NE, but I've found that less common cartridges are more prone to quirks regardless of die maker. The brass tends to be less uniform in neck thickness and other dimensions due to lower volume runs spread apart in time. Just my theory and experience.

I have Hornady dies for both 45-70 and .458 Lott. Both work as expected. Good dies.

I remove the expander plug entirely on the Lott dies and use a light mouth bell die just to help bullet seating. You get more uniform neck tension and less working of the neck if you do this. I do the same with other cartridges.

Jeremy

Mine has all the problems mentioned. Mine leaves little to no neck tension-requiring a good crimp to keep the bullet on. I guess I could have sent it in but it still works decent enough for my single shot. If I was going to take ammo on a expensive hunt I would probably just pony up and get the RCBS

They are my LEAST favorite dies, but at least they are inexpensive. No big problems with them overall, they are just "sloppy" and poorly made.

quote:

Originally posted by jorge:
They are my LEAST favorite dies, but at least they are inexpensive. No big problems with them overall, they are just "sloppy" and poorly made.

I agree with Jorge on this one. Very much my least favorite dies.

As with everything in life, one gets what one pays for.
Cal

I prefer RCBS and rarely have had issues.

They used to run a custom shop that would make dies for my doubles from fired cases when the chambers were a bit out of spec which was often on vintage doubles.

I believe a fellow named Stan ran it, last I heard they closed it down.

The RCBS custom shop is indeed closed.
Th only other choice for new dies is CH Tool but they are on a 2-2.5 year back order!
Best shot is to advertise for used dies.
Cal

Thanks for all the input. I've found a decent set of second-hand RCBS dies so no reason to bother with any potentially dodgy products.